Me:
>>One thing that irritates me is the issue about misplaced nodes in
>>the Storm Realm (Aeolus) and similar occurrances. If I (as an >>Aeolian)
>>want to go from Aeolus' node to Stormstead, which way do I have to go?
>Why does an Aeolian want to go to Stormstead?
E.g. to deal with Taurox using stick, lariat and grimoire?
>If he really wanted to visit a pagan realm, he would go from Aeolus's node
>to Worlath's (false) node.
Who's that Worlath god? Why would any Kethaelan want to visit him? Next thing you suggest the Aeolians visit Genner?
The Aeolians are Kethaelans, sharing a distorted version of the Heortling myths. They know about the barbarian gods - probably better than they like. There are some Heortling converts (practically everybody's ancestors were), and probably there will be some more when Tatius pulls his temple stunt.
>Then he would find a way from Worlath's node to the Storm Age
>and from there find a way to Stormstead. But for an Aeolian, Worlath's
>node contains all the magic that he needs.
Aeol's node contains all the blessings and spells he needs, you mean?
Sure, but there still is the issue of getting the nice magical plunder on the side, like those lightning weapons taken from overcome enemies.
>>Another thing which really really really bugs me is how do I get my
>>companions along?
>Well if your companions are Aeolians, there's no real problem in
>getting into Aeolus's node - use the holy rituals.
This was a more general question, not limited to the Aeolians.
>If they are from a different religion, then they don't visit Aeolus's node
>for the same reason that outsiders are forbidden from the holy places.
Somehow, this "outsiders are forbidden" doesn't quite fit.
Outsiders may be invited to join as spectators or collateral participants. Cults like Issaries have little choice not to, and any holy procession through a mixed religion area will be a holy ceremony with outsider participants.
These outsiders may be limited to "well-behaved, sworn" visitors (e.g. of a city).
For instance, I cannot see how Aeolian inhabitants of a Heortland city would fail to participate in at least some of the more colorful festivals of the Heortling majority. To them, the masks may be more of a carnival than a religious ceremony, but as long as they treat the ceremonies with due respect, they will aid it, not inhibit it.
Whether to partake of sacrificial meat from Heortling ceremonies or not may well be an ongoing religious debate among the Aeolians, but I can't see how the poor would miss such a chance unless orthodox beyond reason.
>The best way for people of different religions to heroquest together
>would be to find some way onto the Hero Planes (which are common to
>all religions).
There would be some timing problems, unless you have lots of myths "How Orlanth (or insert appropriate Storm Brother) joined forces with (insert the appropriate deity or leader for this group)". It is pretty clear that no Heortling would tag a Telmori along to the Plundering of Aron even if they were blood brothers due to soem very harsh experience against the Lunars, but there is little reason not to have one along to Thrinbarri, and even less to tag one along to the Unity Battle.
>The Road that exists in Sartar is a good example of
>this. One can enter the Otherworlds (where Aeolus's node and
>Stormstead are) through special places there.
Is questing through these special places regarded as unsafe?
Yet we find famous hunting chiefs of the Grazers chasing metal deer in Ernaldi, i.e. just outside of Aedin's Wall.
>Allowing followers
>of strange religions into the place of your hero's god might be
>blasphemy but then again some religions might allow it under
>certain circumstances.
Most great religions make provisions for "those not of us" coming before the "ruler of the (relevant parts of the) world". So if an Orlanthi was to go along on a Loskalmi quest, he might be cast into an odd, neutral Worlath role, or as one of the guides of the otherworld.
Orlanth's stead is a collection of all kinds of oddballs. Many of his ordinary followers are from the Fire Tribe (almost all the husbands of Ernalda's handmaidens are brothers of Mahome), Heler's spawn abounds, Yinkin is a "last-minute" deity, Kolat remains a spirit, and I really really doubt that Torvald is the only inhabitant of Stormstead who tampers with the Essences.
Did Orlanth ever accept hostages from enemies for peace settlements?
The Harandings knew the custom from the subject side.
Alex Ferguson
>Joerg, replying to me:
>>>So (a) "Heroplane" is, then, anything part of the Shared/Centre/Middle
>>>World, that is _not_ the mundane world of the "present moment" (or the
>>>Underworld?), is that a feasible working definition?
>>I.e. including the magical valleys and slopes up the Quivin Mountains?
>I suspect those would be not so much '_not_ the mundane world of the
>"present moment"', as both in that, and in... some other place.
>(Barrier- weakening, co-location, etc.)
In my campaign, there are valleys among the Quivin peaks which don't exist on the purely mundane plane, but which fill the necessary gap in the mundane maps.
>>One thing that irritates me is the issue about misplaced nodes in the
>>Storm Realm (Aeolus) and similar occurrances. If I (as an Aeolian) want to
>>go from Aeolus' node to Stormstead, which way do I have to go?
>I feel your pain... It makes no sense to me that such cases would be as
>"discrete" as Greg's model implies. Not only are some practices "more
>correct" than others given a particular method of worship, but seemingly
>there's a clear, unambiguous "crisp" transition from "completely correct"
>to "completely wrong", corresponding to a "change of world" requiring some
>overt act on the part of the HQer -- shades of grey being
>cosmologically impossible.
I can live with a bridge of testing between Aeolus' hall and the rest of Stormstead where passants are thoroughly shaken and assailed by the winds of doubting, but I still think that there should be a representation of Aeolus in some odd and forbidding niche within Aedin's Wall. If nothing else, the misapplied veneration of the Aeolians does go to Great Orlanth as the transcendant end.
Certainly, there can be less friendly regions of the godworld for an Aeolian than the Storm Realm...
>>Another thing which really really really bugs me is how do I get my
>>companions along? Will I get my Enferalda supporter back"boy" through
>>Karulinoran to Thrinbarri, or do I have to meet her somewhere on the way?
>>Is there any way to bring an adopted stranger (say a Yelmalio warrior)
>>with me by casting him into the role of an accepted stranger known at
>>Stormstead?
>>What about non-theist followers a Heortling returning from a
>>circumnavigation might want to take along on his next quest?
>I don't know that that'd necessarily ruled out. They might not be able to
>help much in the "entering ritual", but could (I'd presume) still be one of
>the subjects of it. i.e., they get "carried in", if they co-operate at
>least minimally.
So Argrath could bring Hunralki through Karulinoran and boast "this is my Red Dagger I took in plunder from the distant Malkioni port" (possibly while Hunralki bears that knife)?
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