> I recall reading something a while back about Ty Kora Tek priestess
> all being mad old women, is this correct?
Old women is correct. Mad old women is the stereotype, and ain't necessarily so. (OK, so she's a scary old hag who lives in a hole in the ground, likes dead people better than living people, and talks to ghosts -- but does that make her mad?). An utterly pleasant and rational TKT acolyte is about as likely as an utterly pleasant and rational shaman, IMO.
> Also, are there any earth cults that men may join without losing face?
You've been misinformed: you don't have to lose your *face* to join those earth cults...
The ones that spring to mind are the Husband-Protector cults (though these are possibly not what you're after), and perhaps Flamal (in Esrolia, maybe).
In Genertelan Orlanthi society, there aren't many "positive" earth/masculine roles (underhusbands, sacrificial kings and the like don't count IMO). There are lots of Praxian remnant Golden Age weirdnesses at the Paps, but those are rather strange by tribal standards. There are the male cannibal virgins of the Old Tarshite Earth Shaker's cult (among others), but again most folk I know don't think they're all that amazing, and likely their membership involves other hideous ritual requirements. In Peloria, the nearest equivalent to a powerful male earth deity is Lodril, the god of peasants, volcanoes, big spears and mud-wrestling. But most people think of him as a fire god. Heigh ho...
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Nick
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