Providing Devotees

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 10:41:35 +1200

Ian Hammond Cooper:

[On the example of a Barntar devotee]

>But surely this is how economic specialisation always
>works. You relieve me of day-to-day stead work so that
>I can concentrate on what I am really good at being an
>'expert farmer'.

But day-to-day stead work is what comes from being an expert farmer. And it's even more appropriate if the devotee is not to Barntar but to Durev or to Orane. Occupational gods encompass all tasks associated with their work.

Hence the concept that the devotee has to have economic support falls down if the devotee is a provider.

>The same argument applies to mailing the best
>potter the clan's pot maker as opposed to everyone
>making their own pots.

But the topic wasn't potters nor carpenters, the topic was _providers_: hunters, farmers, fishers and herders.

>Now sure for a Barntar devotee
>this can include practical activity, when you 'act as
>Barntar', but IMO being a devotee involves commitment
>beyond everyday life, a commitment that only leaves
>you with 40% of your time to spend on yourself.

Yet most of this sixty percent can be spent on tasks in day-job which is about the same as what other initiated farmers do with their 30%.

>An 'economic specialist' figure of 20% seems
>unreasonable for a culture of the sophistication that
>we are talking about. It is higher that urban
>populations, full time warriors, clerics etc.

But he also said that most of the devotees would be providers, which means they are out in the field providing for others and not requiring food.

--Peter Metcalfe

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