I agree with the above. Though I think that devotionalism and 'priestly' functions dovetail to a somewhat greater extent than the above suggests.
> The way i see it, the priests of _Orlanth_ (specifically the clan chief)
> are the leaders of the 'cult' of Humakt in most clans. The clan Orendanae
> are the leaders of the 'cult' of Vinga or of Babester.
Leaders in what sense? If the clan wants to make a sacrifice to Humakt, then yes, the ceremony would be 'led by' a godi of Orlanth, in the typical case. But any time the clan performs a ritual where the myth involves a 'Humakt part', of the above sort or othewise, it'll be much more magically effective if a 'devotee' (or at least initiate) of Humakt performs the appropriate portion of the rite. Doing so strengthens not just that participant's identification with his god, but also the clan's Humakt (or whatever) magic. Thus for example, while our clan doesn't have a bona fide 'shrine' to Humakt, we have, as you say, a Humakt 'tradition' (perhaps what RQ3 might have called a 'site', for whatever that's worth), currently manifest largely in that we have as de facto head of our weaponthanes a Humakti, who acts as described above. While this is a long ways from having a Humakt shrine, much less temple, it means our Humakt magic is stronger than (say) our Uroxi magic, for which we have no tradition, no devotees (at least that I know of/worth mentioning), little in the way of rites involving, etc.
> Where there is a temple to a god other than Orlanth or Ernalda, there may
> actually be a functioning priesthood, performing rites that only involve
> people with association to that god (or who want to become associated with
> that god), i.e. not a communal worship for the clan.
There certainly would be; when this happens, it's because either your clan is a 'strange' one, that worships some odd deity as its main god, and hence it is communal worship, after all, or it's some sort of tribal (or higher) level temple, which can draw similar numbers, just from a different constituency. Even in this latter case, the location of the temple will almost always be where it has a strong 'local base'; our shrine to Yinkin doubtless entertains Furry Friends from other clans, but its primary reason for being is the established pattern of worship locally, esp. by our hunters and one of our lineages.
Cheers,
Alex.
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