Me:
>Could you tell me about the Westfaring? Has it anything to do with the
>Lightbringers' Quest or is it a name for a migration? What are Aron and the
>City of Miracles?
This sentence should stop after the word "Aron", of course. :)
David Dunham on Umathela:
>The Umathelans were cut off from their traditional sacred sites, and
>probably even had to switch to a different species of pig (which
>could survive in the different ecosystem). That they could survive
>this does speak well for their flexibility, but that very flexibility
>could be turned against them -- remember they were convinced to
>worship Jorampur, an "imaginary deity."
Being cut off from their traditional sacred site seems to be much of a problem for Orlanthi. They have all those sacred hills where important mythical events happened, and places where important natural powers reside. The Umathelans probably had to discover new sacred places in Umathela, where the Storm Gods did things indeed (the land's called Umathela after all). They would have discovered new myths with great local importance, because no Orlanthi had lived there before whereas their gods visited the place.
In an old post, Sandy Petersen suggested their 'tulas' were grouped along rivers. Powerful tribes held a whole water system whereas minor clans lived near a small stream. Compare this to the Wenelians who seem to be gathered along rivers too : Nimistor, Solanthi, and the Ditali. The river gods are probably important for them. Of course the Umathelans had to switch rivers gods. I'm drifting, but the Lascerdans were said to live along rivers too. Maybe those Orlanthi made a pact with ancient Lascerdan powers.
The idea of Nine Lightbringers is pleasant. When did those Orlanthi reach Umathela? The Seshnelans sent by King Nepur are said to be the first human settlers. Maybe they imported many Harandings from Slontos for the Jogrampur Project, trying to add an eigth Lightbringer. But when the Orlanthi tried to perform the Lightbringer Quest, something went wrong, and the Lightbringers proved to be not eight, neither seven, but Nine! (and Jogrampur wasn't even one of the two others -sometimes mythology experiments can have strange results:)
Jerome
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