>I think this entire Uleria thread is about a misconception.
"Uleria is about misconceptions," as the Ernaldan said to the chior boy....
>Uleria evidently is not a native Heortling cult. The power of Life she
>embodies is worshipped by the Heortlings, through the Ernalda cult. Any
>invocation of "Life" or "Fertility" is an invocation of what remains of that
>Gloranthan Court deity.
>
>The Uleria cult we have encountered in Apple Lane, Alone (Griselda's
>grandaunt) and Pavis most probably has mainly non-Heortling members. Any
>Heortling boy or girl with the intent to worship Uleria likely will be
>kicked out of the clan and end up in the cities or with influential
>sponsors.
>
>Which brings me to Gringlestead, better known as Apple Lane. It has been
>described (correctly, too) as a waystation on the way to adventure. IMO this
>is simply because Gringle is an eccentric who has surrounded himself with an
>unusual ring of companions and followers and who serve his purposes and
>preoccupations. Two Ulerians probably indicate that he (a bachelor IIRC)
>likes diversity; an expert ironsmith is almost as good as a duck laying
>golden eggs, and those two veteran Humakti probably are followers from
>former expeditions as well.
>
>
>The number crunching Greg provided (c. 900 members of each speciality cult)
>refers to the native, tribal Sartarite Heortlings. Minority populations like
>durulz or Telmori aren't included in this calculation, nor are Lunar
>settlers of Wulfsland, Lunar slaves on the manor in Colymar lands, garrisons
>of Lunar occupation forces or mercenary forces like the Army of Tomorrow,
>camp followers to either, etc. etc.
Well, yes. I really don't have a problem with Ulerians in Sartar as much as Heortling worship of Ulerians. (On the other hand, the general conception (!) of Ulerians seems more like estactic priestesses and "Grand Horizontals" than the sort of prostitutes you'd expect to find in a conquored country.
>I suppose a volume "Strangers in Sartar" could easily fill a book the size
>of Thunder Rebels and provide interesting characters, scenario hooks etc.
Yes, please!
>In the (for now hypothetical) marriage within a clan, giver and receiver of
>dowry/bride price would be the clan. Maybe a few cows would be redistributed
>among various steads or households, but that's about it.
Another good reson to ban intra-clan (and especially intra-bloodline) marriages: there's no economic percentage in it.
On intra-clan marriages: I suspect that much of Gloranthan reproduction and genetics has as much to do with mythic and spiritual issues as biological ones. Jane Williams has suggested that Heortling teens are infertile until Initiation -- the process of initiation makes them, literally, adults. Now that's not canon, and the age disparity in initiation throws a wrench in the process, but it's an interesting idea. The prohibition against incest may be because of spiritual pollution not fear of birth defects. A child born out of incest would have a chance of being infected with chaos. Several generations of inbreeding would turn a family into Broo or some other horror. One purpose of the matchmakers would be evaluating potential couples for this sort of thing. Breaking the Colymar into five clans would have involved, in this model, a ritual that made them "not kin" and safe to marry (and, coincidentally, kill and raid and all that stuff that makes the Heortlings so admirable).
>>If it does, then having a casual affair with anybody from the
>>same village as you will count as incest. The only way for young
>>Orlanthi to indulge in sexual experimentation will be to sneak off to
>>another clan's tula - 20 miles away.
I would think relations within the stead are bad, within the bloodline almost as much, and between bllodlines somewhat more acceptable, as long as you don't do something stupid like want to marry the oaf.
>There's always guests, inter-clan-contests, market days, and herding on the
>border of your tula (oops, I guess I have to clarify: so that you are close
>to young people of other clans).
Another good reason for inter-clan communication. Send the young men and women along to help guard the gifts....
>>In such a situation, Uleria
>>cultists might have a major social role to play, especially if as
>>worshippers of a "demon" they are treated as beyond the laws of kin,
>>like Tricksters, and sleeping with one doesn't count as incest...
But there are others who would be happy to introduce you to a nice boy or girl. As a matter of fact, an idea for a story would be escourting a matchmaker to the nearby clans so she can get a look at the newest prospects. Of course, you'll have to deal with those Black Oak bullies you showed up at the fair last season, and Helmgast of the Thorn clan is still sore about that cattle raid, and Old Knut wants a word with you about the sheep, and the matchmaker? Well, she wants to know why a couple of strapping young people like yourselves haven't found husbands and wives yet. "Don't you know you'll break your poor father's heart? Who will care for your mother in her old age? You're not a Humakti are you? Haven't you been saving for your bride-price? What happened to those cows you got from the Thorns? You killed that Troll last year, that should make you a catch for any man, of course if you don't wash that tunic you'll never find a nice husband, probably have to marry a Black Oak...." It'll be a long couple of weeks.
>Sleeping with a trickster definitely counts as adultery, and by
>extrapolation where there is a total (Yelmic All) taboo as incest as well.
>Bloodline restrictions will forbid such activities, too (though likely not
>prevent them from happening). Where Trickster gets no license, why should
>Uleria?
I see this as an argument against Uleria. Niskis and Yinkin (as Seducer, not Hunter or Alynx) are young men's cults. Whatever the Ernaldan equivalent is, it would be part of Ernalda the Healer. While the Heortlings don't have many problems with pre-marital sex, they have serious objections to adultery, which threatens the marriage bond, which reflects the joining of Orlanth and Ernalda. Unpunished adultry strikes at the heart of Orlanthi life and threatens to return the clan to the discord befor Orlanth learned "other ways." Anyway, young men (and women) have very little "capital." What they do have is horded for the marriage deal. I can't imagine a situation where family heads would tolerate their young people wasting money on whores when they could be having decent sex with potential marriage partners and saving up for the next step of their lives. Maybe a dad, shortsighted like most men and thinking with those parts that become as swollen as his windy boasting at the moots, would think this was OK, but a pragmatic mother with one eye always on her kid's marriage prospects would be considerably less lenient. Besides, if you want estatic sacred sex, why not win the Bachelor's Contest and play Orlanth the Wooer in the Sacred Time rites. Then at least you would be pouring your youthful ardor into the holy mating of the Air and Earth and not pissing it away on some chilly foreign goddess with weird ideas. Ick. I'd rather have my daughter marry a Humakti!
>Ulerians as clan cohabitants (but non-members) might alleviate the
>situation, but in the countryside a clan-operated Uleria temple (for clan
>use; as a service point along the royal road I cannot say) will be about as
>socially acceptable as a Eurmal temple.
It would also require more than a hundred Ulerian worshippers to support. Not too likely. (Same reason, I suppose, you're lucky to find an Eurmal shrine, and they have to be protected (too some degree), by the clan cheif.
Peter Larsen
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #336
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