All kinds of idols are crafted. The simplest ones are just bits of wood put together or even are painted on a surface. Some idols are one-use, though you can built a new one with the same purpose. Others, like those carved rows the Maslo folk use on their outriggers, are permanent.
In Elamle, Aldrya is the Great Tree High Goddess. Only the embyli know about her and can hear her Song, for she's simply too big for humans to deal with. However they know how to craft idols that intercede with Aldrya's lower servants. When a hunter paints the Chameleon-Man on a tree-trunk, for example, the Chameleon-Man asks the tree to hide the hunter in its shadow so that his prey doesn't see him. Of course preys can smell him, so he'd better know how to build a No-Smell-Man with stones and earth and a little flag or feather, who intercedes with the Lord of Winds. All of this idol-making is possible because the hunter has made friends with Chameleon-Man and No-Smell-Man, two ancestors/heroes who were hunters too, and they taught him how to make idols for them to come and temporarily inhabit. When the idol is built the godling comes in it and intercedes with a tree or a wind spirit so that they use their own talents to help the hunter.
Those folk have no shamans. They are taught how to craft idols by ancestors and heroes they meet during the annual rites dedicated to the High Gods. For example, during the Great Serpent Festival which is dedicated to Serelazam and Sevabos, a fisherman may meet the Old Man in the crowd. If he says the proper words and makes the proper promises, the Old Man will take him to a place apart and show him how to make an idol that will drive away sharks. Then the fisherman will be in the crowd again, and now will show proper devotion to the Old Man who showed him how to make that idol (otherwise the Old Man won't come to inhabit it when he's needed). There are some totem places too, where ancestors and heroes can be met outside the festivals, but it's dangerous to try and get there, because without the protection of crowds and festival magic many evil spirits roam about such places.
Some say pacts can directly be made with the great elemental powers, and huge idols crafted in the landscape for them to inhabit and act in the mundane world. They also say such practices have been proved to be terribly dangerous, just look at the Kimotians.
Many evil spirits emanate from Debadai. When bad omens show an evil spirit is awakening, the people make an idol to keep it quiet.No need to insist on how superstitious they are about that.
cheers,
Jerome
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #557
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