The distinction is a subtle one, and largely besides the point, if you ask me. In 'god or hero' terms I don't see much of a distinction between her and Vingkot, granted, but then again, I don't see much distinction between her and (say) Barntar, either. Where does 'hero' stop and 'deity' begin? But Vinga's is what one might call a 'Hero Cult', in the sense that it's a 'sub-sub-cult' of a 'aspect sub-cult'. Magically it's functionally the same as Orlanth Adventurous (or whatever your clan calls that fellah), or at least, well within the range of 'experimental variation' you get between one clan's thunder-god-sticking- pointy-things-in-people cult and the next, with the main exception of Identification, and doubtless some secret cult magic not known to the 'generic' OtW.
By identification, I mean that "But you're a mere slip of a girl!" would be a disadvantaging objection in a mythic scenario (and thus by extension, any magical one, to some degree) in which one were attempting to establish one were acting in the role of Orlanth, which is more than negated by self-identification with Vinga. (Conversely, the identification contest tactic of "But you're a great galoot of a bloke with a black beard and what's worse, don't even have red hair!" would be a distinct problem for certain Vingan-wannabes...)
> It may be that the
> Vingan cult of Orlanth Adventurous is not precisely the same as the male
> Orlanth Adventurous cult, but I still think they all worship Orlanth.
>
> Alternatively, perhaps Vingan women are part of the Orlanth Adventurous
> cult, but undergo a different initiation into it than the men.
It depends what you mean by 'cult', i think. For example, our clan has one (uno, eine, aon...) bona fide Vingan, and no 'formal' shrine to Vinga. For most magical and ritual purposes she's to all intents and purposes her 'role' is Orlanth the Warrior, as is true of most of our other weaponthanes. We also have some (undisclosed number of) female warriors in the fyrd. This isn't entirely what the term 'cult' suggests to me, but nevertheless there's some Vingan sacrificial worship, initiation, and devotion kicking around here. In some cases, there are actual Vingan warbands, or clans with established Vinga shrines, in which cases the term 'cult' seems to apply more readily. But magically much the same thing is goinf on in either extent, I believe.
I trust I make myself obscure.
Slan,
Alex.
Powered by hypermail