Re: Vithelan and foreign gods

From: Nils Weinander <nils_w_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 13:14:25 +0100


Peter:
>
> >> Are there any foreign gods who are considered Parloth or
> >> gods in the Vithelan sense?
>
> >I don't know of any specific case, but I'm not prepared
> >to declare it impossible either.
>
> And so because of this need to keep options open, the
> Vithelans do not declare foreign gods to be another class
> of antigods?

Keeping options open is not as important as me simply not knowing. More below.

> The foreign gods are antigods because they do not embody
> Vith's wisdom in some way whereas Native antigods/Adpara
> work against this wisdom.

A sensible view. What I'm not sure about is whether the Vithelans recognize any deities as being foreign in this respect.

It seems reasonable to do so, but as I read the cosmogony myths, all gods are seen as descendants of Vith. An unknown "foreign" god who shows up (through visiting sailors for example) would simply be seen as one of the rebels who left Vith's house in the High Gods Cycle. Any deity who doesn't abide by Vith's cosmic order works against, although in varying degree.

There is however a small passage saying that the Parondpara can be gods, antigods or yet something else. This sows some doubt.

There is also a possibility that some Vithelans think that there is only one class of antigod, as I write above, while others say that the deities worshipped in foreign lands are a different kind. When they left Vith's house they changed and forgot all about the wisdom of Vith.

Since doctrinal unity is hardly common in the East Isles, I find this rather tempting.



Nils Weinander

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