Peter:
>I think Martin errs when he suggests Seven Mothers for
>Rufelza. The Seven Mothers is really the Lunar Provincial
>Church which would not be worshipped within the Heartlands.
>I don't know on what grounds Martin doesn't think the
>Rufelzans aren't numerous but as Jillaro is a lunar city
>and is large enough to have a mob, Rufelza would seem
>perfect for them.
Cultural and historical grounds really. The Rufelza cult is potent in the Osliran Heartlands due to the nature of DH society and the inclusiveness of the lower classes within the cult, empowering them against the nobility and the Yelmic power structure.
Sylila is not DH, it's Orlanthi and was conquered a century after Rufelza rose. So they were first converted in large numbers in the 1400 period and that would have been by the 7Ms. The Rufelza cult is a "class" cult at core, but the Odaylings had such a radically different class structure to the DHs that the Rufelzan doctrine has little appeal for them. They are already free and they are already part of the whole.
So although Sylila is a Satrapy, it is far more like the Provinces in style of worship, though perhaps its age as a Satrapy and the central role it played in the Sheng wars have given it a thicker Lunar layer than the Provinces, except perhaps Tarsh.
I would agree that Jillaro is large enough to have a mob, though I think it has a _small_ mob at that. Therefore I think that the Rufelza cult is also small and localised to perhaps one temple in the city's poor quarter, while the 7Ms will have a much more imposing presence. I also think that Jillaro is the only city in Sylila with a full Rufelzan temple.
As for Hwarin Dalthippa, she is worshipped on several levels, as a patron of
the arts, as a war leader, as a magician and builder of heroic roads and as
the founder of many noble families. So though widespread, it is not a
"large" cult. Many warriors in Sylila worship Odayla or her husband hero -
Ingkot Axe-and-a-half, who is considered a premier wargod in Sylila and a
great heroic figure in his own right, as from the Sylilan POV he was the main
focus of the campaigns to conquer Saird and was the cunning and clever tribal
king who married a powerful Imperial princess and subjugated the tribes of
the haughty
highlanders.
Martin Laurie
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #187
Powered by hypermail