>I am quite fond of Nandan the Birthing Man, based on the few bits of
>information from both playtest and the assorted comments made here on the
>Digest. Sun County crossdressing is as naff, if not moreso, because it
>lacks in my mind the mythic qualities found in the Nandan descriptions.
Well, both came from the same font of wisdom - Gloranthan cult writeups. After all, why would Yelmalio have religious strictures against wearing women's clothing, if it wasn't something they might otherwise do? it's not that I find transvestitism laughable, I just find the way that MOB deduced that it is practiced by the prudish Yelmalions rather amusing.
In any case I find the mythological link betweeen Heler and homosexuality far more subtle and compelling.
>Given how readily acceptable Digestees find the transgenderism of Sun
>County, what is the problem with Nandan?
Suppose Sun County gave 'Womanly Disguise' as a common skill posessed by many Yelmalion men. Surely that would be OTT?
The problem I had with it was that when I first saw the Nandan keywords, they were one of only a small handfull of keywords then provided for generating Sartarite characters. The implication being that Nandan was considered to be a common keyword for Heortling characters. "Which kind of character shall I play - A Hedkoranthi, a Dovildan or a Nandani?.... Decissions, decissions!"
I don't think anyone has any objection to the idea that some sartarite clans have some members who are Nandani. However it is apparently the case that practicaly all sartarite clans have many members who are Nandani. This seems rather silly especialy since if Nandan was such a core part of heortling life, how come we've never heard of him before? Hedkoranth and others have come under similar fire for the same reasons, so you can't claim that Nandan is being singled out.
Another oddity is that Nandan is supposedly the principle manifestation of homosexuality in heortling culture, yet the desire by men to bear children is very rare among homosexuals. It's similar to making the goddess of penis envy the main cult for lesbians. I'd find that equaly silly.
Finaly, I don't see that any of this has anything whatsoever to do with homophobia. It's been pretty widely accepted on the digest for a long time that many Gloranthan cultures find homosexuality and transgenderism acceptable, including some Heortlings. I don't ever remember anyone objecting to that.
Simon Hibbs
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