>I was (and still am) hoping (praying) that Nandan is just Greg pulling our
>collective leg, to see how much we're prepared to swallow ...
I have to agree, surely this interpretation of Nandan must make him the most obscure and irrelevant god in Glorantha! A god whose sole reason for existence and worship occurs in when a clan is cursed by lack of female fertility.
If we're going to have a cult of men dressing and acting as women then let's have a reason which makes sense on a reasonably frequent basis in their society.
The obvious one is not so much giving birth, as attending a woman giving birth. If we assume that Heortlings regard birth an Ernaldan mystery with magic to ease the birth and ensure a safe delivery for both mother and child then a problem occurs in two situations:
1. It is a difficult birth and the only healer available is male. 2. Due to the remoteness of her family home only her husband is available to assist.
So Ernalda solves the problems by initiating[1] male healers and on rare ocassions other men into the cult of Nandan and allowing them to use her female magic provided they dress and act as women for the duration of the task. Even more rarely a man may be accepted as a devotee of Nandan and permitted to act a priestess of Ernalda.
[1] Probably involves mind-linking the prospective initiate with a woman giving birth to show him what it's like. Should be enough to put most Orlanthi men off.
We can still have the myth of Nandan actually giving birth, but it becoming a heroquest for the rare priestess of Nandan rather than a cult secret.
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