<< How much do gods know about their worshippers? Are the requirements
to become an initiate (and then a priest or rune lord) enforced by the god
itself, or just by the cult heirarchy?>>
The requirements for initiation are determined by both the cult and the god, as far as I can see, since apostasy gets punished by spirits of reprisal. The requirements for priesthood/rune lordship, however, seem to determined entirely by the cult, and are *much* looser than RQ would have you believe. If your clan needs a Sword of Humakt, and you're the best Humakti they've got, you'll likely get the job regardless of whether you meet the 90% skill requirements. OTOH, its possible to get the potent magic whether or not you actually take up the job of being a full-time priest, with all the ministering-to-your-flock that that involves.
<< For example, suppose we have a Thanatari cultist who doesn't (for various
reasons) much like Orlanth. Would it be possible for him to become an
initiate of Orlanth?>>
He'd have difficulty with spirits of reprisal, IMO. And he's going to have to act like Orlanth while assisting in religious ceremonies, heroquests and the like, otherwise not only will mortals smell a rat but he might not even meet the requirements for initiation into the cult.
You can be a pantheon initiate/worshipper/lay member though, IMO. I wouldn't try calling on divine intervention if I was you, but if you want to hide your real cult affiliation (as a Heortling Thanatari would bloody well have to), that's the way to do it.
As you said yourself, this all assumes you're not illuminated, of course...
<< And later a Wind Lord,>>
He has to act like a good Orlanthi to get that far, which is presumably not going to be very easy.
<< so that he could (eg) go on various Orlanthi Heroquests and deliberately
fail
them badly?>>
I don't think deliberately failing Heroquests is a terribly bright idea. Succeeding in the *wrong* heroquest (e.g. Thanatar Kicks Orlanth's Bottom) might be a different matter, but people would cotton on pretty sharpish. And you're still going to have to cope with spirits of reprisal and the fact that the Orlanthi magic everyone expects you to have is actually going to be cack unless you've been acting like a good Orlanthi, making the right sacrifices, etc. - which you presumably don't want to.
Forward the glorious Red Army (so long as its not being infiltrated by secret Krarshti)!
Trotsky
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