I'd say Barntar is an 'earth god', personally. In about the same sense that Ernalda is connected with 'earth', in fact. In broader fertility terms, there's also Heler, of course.
About Lodril I don't see even what the question might be.
> Thus I can't imagine a Heortling losing face for worshipping Barntar.
Absolutely not! Well, apart from the fact that the weaponthanes grumble about the boring, stay at home carls (almost as much as the carls complain about the trouble-making, beer-swilling weaponthanes).
> Furthermore, while the earth goddesses may
> have (almost) female-only cults, I think
> that both men and women worship the grain
> goddesses in areas where cultivation of
> grain is the most important source of food.
I think Barntar _is_ the usual route for this 'grain goddess' type worship for men, normally. Frex, in the Elkenval clan ring we have a 'grain seat' which is occuppied by a devotee of either Esrola or Barntar, depending on 'other factors'. (I shall share the sensitive of disposition some of the messy realities of Orlanthi politics.)
Slan,
Alex.
PS, my memory is twitching nervously, and is telling it might actually be a 'herd seat' (Uralda/Barntar, since that's more economically important to us -- to be honest I forget, since the person in question hasn't come up much in play.)
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #83
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