> This has been bothering me as well. Who is the sun seems to be such a
>basic thing, I find it difficult to imagine that people could get confused
>about it, especially since the sun can be, in effect, theistically emailed
>for a ruling.
Not really. You get a Grazer Shaman, an Elmali Thane and a Yelmic Priest together and get them to ask their gods who is the real sun. They will all say their own god is. Who do you believe? Once you start speculating about how each god is a mere aspect of the Real Sun, you are halfway to the road to damnation/lunar philosophy which is really no help if you are an Orlanthi or a Grazer.
Orlanthi were mythically conditioned to believe that the Sun is Elmal. But they struck problems with contacts with the Dara Happans. They too claim to worship the Sun, but at _face value_, the Sun has seen fit to bless them with unheard-of riches while the Elmali are second-best to an uncouth petty-chieftain. This alone creates a tension within the Elmali. Once some of them start trying to pick and choose the good things from the Dara Happans, they are already fighting among themselves.
A good way to view it might be the impact of Hellenism among the Etruscans, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Jews (cf Book of Maccabes) and the Persians.
>Is it possible that Elmal is only associated with the sun and not
>the sun itself?
Some Orlanthi can interpret him that way. This however is not the the traditional Orlanthi interpretation as any Lawspeaker worth his salt can point out.
>In the myth, as I recall, Elmal receives the solar torch
>from Orlanth at the Dawn, so he isn't the solar torch himself.
He only received a sacred torch which allowed him to patrol the Great Tula instead of being cooped up within its walls.
>In a related point, was the Emperor the sun before the 1st Council?
No in Orlanthi myth. The identification was made during the Second Council and cemented on the Orlanthi side by Harmast Barefoot.
Yes in Pelorian myth. However they didn't know the true name of the Murderer until the Second Council.
>Did Orlanth kill the sun in early myth, or did he kill the Emperor >which
>resulted in the sun going out?
A synopsis of the early belief about this might have looked like this:
Orlanth slew the Emperor. Unbeknowst to him, this brought about the disappearance of the Grand Order (cf KoS) which in turn caused the doom of the world. Orlanth set upon the task of retrieving this Grand Order, only to find that he had to make peace with the Emperor.
>How close are the pre-fusion Heortling and Pelorian myths?
Not very.
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