Many thanks for your comments. Most helpful and enlightening.
>> In a culture where
>>social functions are expressed through cults, a cult of children must play
>>some social function associated with children.
>
>Social functions are not expressed through cults in Orlanthi
>society, they are expressed through the individual and the
>clan first and foremost. Orlanthi do not drop their kids
>to receive cult training at the local vorian school, they
>teach their own kids with the assistance of their stead and
>their clan officials (lawspeaker, god-talkers etc).
Of course they are. By defining deities according to the classes of people they are worshipped by, you're (used impersonally) defining social roles. Orlanth is, among other things, the god of adventurers, Humakt the god of soldiers, Issaries the god of trade, Barntar the god of farmers, etc.
Additionally, by insisting on the distinctions between various worshippers (those who worship Vinga vs those who worship Babeester Gor, those who worship Urox vs those who worship Humakt, or whatever), you're making distinctions about social roles and functions.
The best way to see this is to look at RW ancient religion, which did not define social functions as cultic. The majority of people worshipped all deities (excepting Greek mystery cults) without regard to the social status or economic role of the worshipper. Individuals might make special sacrifices to particular gods to get a specific favor (a sacrifice to Poseidon for a safe journey by sea, for example), but they did not have the sort of 'personal relationship' with one deity that Gloranthans do. There were no initiation rites for deities, except for the Mystery cults. The Mystery cults are the closest RW parallel to Gloranthan cults in many ways, but even here, most were open to any worshipper who cared to join. The cult of Mithras (and the less important cult of Sol Invictus) were male only cults, and were most popular among soldiers, but they were not restricted to soldiers the way that the cult of Humakt. The benefits they offered were theoretically of interest to all, whereas the benefits of worshipping Humakt are pretty much limited to those who want to be soldiers.
Another good parallel would be the worship of saints in the later Middle Ages. Most trade guilds had a patron saint that whose cult they promoted with processions, dedications of windows and altars to, and so on. The worship of a particular saint expressed (among other things) the social and economic ties that a person had. The saints preferred by the tailors were not the saints preferred by masons, for example.
So, yes, Glorantha cults express social functions. Any RW historian or sociologist would conclude that upon a brief study of Gloranthan culture.
Andrew E. Larsen
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #199
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