>>The cool thing about Orlanth, though, is unlike most of his
>>brothers (most gods, really), his movement powers let him change. I can
>>accept that this is how the Humakti see it, but it would be weird if the
>>Orlanthi central mysteries had (one of) the most vital lesson of their god
>>enforced by someone else.
>But it's not Orlanth's central mystery we are talking about, but a
>central mystery of _Humakt_. And by having Orlanth redeem himself
>without Humakt's intervention cheapens the "most vital lesson".
>Ergo Orlanth had to be forcibly redeemed by Humakt.
Returning from the Land of the Dead after saving the Universe isn't a central mystery of Orlanth?
>The fact that the Orlanthi see it differently is neither here
>or there. Given that the Orlanthi and Yelmites do not agree
>on when Orlanth redeemed himself either so why should the
>Orlanthi and Humakti have a complete and clear understanding
>on when Orlanth redeemed himself?
But this can be turned around, too. The opinions of a bunch of death-obsessed yahoos intent on elevating one of Orlanth's weaponthanes (even such a good one) to center stage of one of the most vital stories of the Storm Tribe shows more than a little hubris. Humakt's place
>>If Yelm is the Sun, all other sun gods depend from him, which
>>they don't seem to.
>
>It depends on what you mean by this. If you mean that
>solar worshippers all over the world _must_ recognize
>that the greatest Sun God is Yelm of Dara Happa then
>such is not the case. It merely means that the solar
>worshippers must recognize a solar deity greater than
>their own as being the Great God, _if_ their own god
>is not Yelm under another name.
I really doubt this. More likely the vast majority of people see their god as being just fine, thank you, and if that other god over there seems to have more power, it's some filthy trick. Elmal is a second stringer in the Heortling pantheon, but he has a noble and distinguished place; that's something a worshipper can hold his head up about. If it's common knowledge that Elmal is just a cheap Yelm impersonator, well, where's the honor in that?
[some good stuff on Teshnan's approach to Somash cut]
>If there were worshippers of a Lesser Sun God in and
>around Teshnos (perhaps among the Yellow Elves), they
>will acknowledge their god's inferiority to Somash
>but will have some valid reason for not worshipping
>Somash.
Like, it's a bizarre human thing and unfit for Elves -- they use evil magic to corrupt our pure solar powers.... What we might know as relatively omniscient observers of Glorantha is not necessarily going to be common knowledge or even cult secrets.
>> >I fail to
>> >see the point about the privileged worldview. All the Orlanthi
>> >are getting is Orlanth's biased viewpoint about the way the
>> >Cosmos should be (and this is true for other Great Gods).
Humakt is a pretty specific apprach to death. So much so that Ty Kora Tek (at least) has to take up the slack -- Humakt can't even serve all the needs of the Heortlings to deal with the Big Truth of Death, how's that narrow viewpoint supposed to be universal across cultures? Accepting that Humakt is Death, then what the Heortlings worship as Humakt is a fairly insignificant part of the whole.
>In worshipping Veldru, you are still worshipping Orlanth
>collaterally. See the excerpt that Herve Ancelin quoted
>before. Orlanth is an enemy god to the Vithelan Pantheon
>and known to them as Bitador or Serakaru.
This may be so (actually, apparently it _is_ so, more's the pity), but I the Vithelan wouldn't know it. If it was suggested, I'd deny it (knowing Storm worshippers, probably violently). The only way I'd be likely to discover it would be through the most intense heroquests, and the result of that would be a crises of faith. "Oh hell, I've been worshipping a demon all along." If worshipping Elmal is supporting Yelm, and that's easy to figure out, why in the world would any Heortling worship Elmal? If they did, who would trust them? Loyal Elmal, indeed, more like back door for Yelm.....
Peter Larsen
Powered by hypermail