> Now the Way of Orlanth offers, as possible prizes, Orlanth's crown,
> Issaries' wealth, LM's knowledge, Humakt's renown, Lambril's booty.
> (Eurmal's fun??)
I have to start by quibbling with his list a little; I don't think Issaries is at all 'gender-aspected' (if you listened to our weaponthanes, they might tell you that all this 'Conciliator' guff sounds a tad Girly, but fortunately, no-one listens to our weaponthanes, as they themselvces will rather aggrievedly admit). Sovereignty is another tricky one, lying in different senses in either 'camp', whether or not one has a tradition of female or male chiefs. (Our Elkenval clan embodies this in a thoroughly confusing way: the tradition here seems to be 'Have male chiefs; earth mother actually runs place'. Our current incumbent, Erstar Ironhaft, has a somewhat 'easier' time of it than some of his predecessor, since Grysten is obliged to spend lots of time 'running' the tribal council too. <g>) Look at how one becomes 'King and Queen of Dragon Pass' for a neat demonstration of this duality of sovereignty.
Eurmal and Lanbril I'll leave well alone, since whomever I ascribe stupidity and kleptomania to, they might be mildly peeved as a group...
> The Way of Ernalda offers the honors of Chalana Arroy, the matronly dignity
> of Ernalda, the pleasures of Uleria. Is this list equal? If not, what else
> is there?
The wealth of Asrelia, the solace in vengeance of Babeester Gor, the comfort of having your feet up in front of Mahome's hearth-fire while the fyrd is out in the rain on yet another _pointless_ raid on the Black Oak... The 'having it all' of Vinga? ;-)
The dread 15% is of course just notorious Greggly hand-waving. How does one draw the line between 'male path' and 'female path', anyway? If you asked our male 'hard core devotees' of Barntar, or of Heler even if they were on the 'female initiatory path' they'd probably look very confused indeed, but if one wants to stereotype, in a sense they are, as they're primarily exercising a 'fertility' function.
OTOH, are earth-cultists, female-path cultists, of either actual gender persuasion, great 'adventuring' characters? That would depend very much on your idea of 'adventuring'. (FWIW, the characters in my game are 50/50 m/f (as are the players), and approximately none are devotees of a 'stereotypically female' cult...)
Cheers,
Alex.
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