Everybody is a member of Orlanth & Ernalda and usually is initiated into another cult (ie Barntar, Humakt, Eurmal) which suits them best for their day job.
>And specifically how common is membership in the Orlanth religion?
All men worship Orlanth and all women worship Ernalda. This is a consequence of being initiated into Orlanth & Ernalda.
>[...] (and indeed the Issaries trader claims to
>be a lay member of the Earth Mother cult at one point).
And the Priestess believed him!
>Elves, for example, generally ALL are initiates of Aldrya.
This is incorrect. Many elves are only Children of the Forest which is equivalent to lay membership, although Pantheon membership would be a better word. Runners and female Green Elves rarely progress beyond this stage.
>Is it the same for Orlanthi? That is, would non-membership in the
>Orlanth cult be regarded as suspect in Orlanthi society?
It basically means you are an outsider.
>In other
>words, would most (say) Chalana Array, Issaries or Llankhor Mhy
>initiates also be initiates of Orlanth? (I can see Humakti being
>sufficiently strange that they wouldn't be,
All initiates of the above cults would be viewed as part of Orlanthi society because they worship a God of the Orlanthi Pantheon.
>given that Humakt severed his Storm
>dies in GodTime, are Humakt initiates even ALLOWED to join Storm
>cults?
They can although some Humakti geases prohibit this.
>(maybe Llankor Mhy, too,
>although I'm leery about a beginning PC having a 90% anything),
This is really only if you are pursuing a career as a gray sage. One can worship Lhankor Mhy while outside of the knowledge temples and I think the initiation criteria is less rigorous.
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