>[...] nevertheless a great
>deity (spirit, whatever materialistic entity fits) ought to be able to
>encompass alien concepts within its whole and express them in its own
>mode.
I don't see any example of this in existing religions (such as the TR cults of Orlanth and Ernalda). Kolat, for example, is not a subcult of Orlanth despite his close kinship and membership of the Storm Tribe.
>And Orlanth the Boar (a deity) and Mralot (a spirit) are entirely
>unrelated?
They are different beings with their own separate realms in the otherworld. The Mraloti that have forced to become civilized (True Earth Mraloti) still practice the ancient ways of worship and connections with earth and fertility spirits. There's no mention of them becoming Wenelians or any relationship with them.
>I'd sooner believe the God Learner teachings still are correct.
But the side you are arguing against _is_ the God Learner PoV. Mralot is a great pig spirit from the Spirit Plane while Entra is the pig-deity from the God World and the pig equivalent will have its taxonomy described in Zzabur's Blue Book. Therefore they have separate origins.
One could propose alternative theories to the God Learner Four Worlds but these theories will still have to account for the distinct nature of the entities.
That said: whether the Wenelians were originally Mraloti or Greymane's clan Basmoli in ancient days is still IMO an open question. If so, the peoples concerned converted to the strange new (Orlanthi) traditions because it offered a continuity between their old lifestyle and the future (where the alternative was further dispersement).
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