Ian Cooper:
> > but 20% is 1 in
>> 5 people (1 in every 2.5 adults, 200 magical
>> specialists in 500 adults!) who are supported by the
>> labor of others. That feels very, very, wrong to me.
>> However, YGMV
>
>Please explain to me how the case in point, of a Barntar-devoteed
>Orlanthi carl who, as both an act of worship, an essential of
>emulation, and a necessary steadly chore, plows (et al) numerous
>hydes of arable land, can possibly count as being "supported by
>the labour of others".
Barntar is an especially bad example here because he is the "Great Carl," not the "Great Farmer." A devotee will be an excellent (striving for perfect) carl -- he plows, plants, harvests, tends the animals, etc, etc, plus serves as a good father, husband, and stead leader, does other necessary chores (digs latrines, mends barrels, whatever), and serves in the fyrd. He does not necessarily have magics that specifically deal with some of these duties, and he is obviously not as potent as a specialist god (Orlanth the Herder, Dar the Leader, Humakt, etc) in many areas, but for general carl-related duties, Barntar's your man (Durev and Orlanthcarl are also good). There should be no penalty for man, family, stead, bloodline, or clan in having a Barntar devotee around. Now the Barntar devotee is not going to have a lot of free time to run off adventuring; any patrolling he does will be in the immediate environs of the stead; he doesn't have a lot of free time to hunt; he's only so-so at herding; as a warrior goes, he'll do OK in the fyrd line, but he's no champion (although I've had one or two in KoDP who were -- well -- frightening in combat), if the Issaries Merchant needs a guard, you'd better send the Destor son or Vinga daughter instead of the Barntar dad, and so on, but for the broad range of stead life and duties, the devotee should excel at all of it.
There is, as I said in a Hero Wars list post, a real difference between the devotees of different gods -- the adventure-oriented ones (Humakt, the Orlanth-warrior types, Lhankor Mhy, etc) mostly require complete support and fit Ian Cooper's model of "devotees are a drain on the clan's resources." The craft-oriented ones (Pella, Orsten) are not a drain but require resource management (too many and you will starve). The providers (Uldra, Barntar, Durev, Odayla, etc) should be pretty much an undisputed blessing to any stead and clan.
So why aren't all carls devotees? Because the gods haven't called them -- they are close enough to the god to be an initiate but not to make the step to devotion. Devotees are really nothing like priests, although they have religious duties; they are more like true aficionados -- devoted to both the god and their "profession."
Peter Larsen
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