Re: Sacred Days in an Army

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_mail.utexas.edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 10:09:47 -0500


Wesley Quadros asks:

>The 28 major days are attended by all heortlings. What happens if the
>Free Army of Sartar is besieging Furthest when Reaping Day comes along.
>Obviously the entire army can't abandon the siege lines to attend
>ceremonies. Would it be acceptable for the initiates to rotate through
>during the day? Devotees and priests have to spend all day doing their
>thing and so would be out of action for the duration. This could prove
>problematical for the initiates if all of the priests are tied up unless
>they could fudge their time and start in batches to serve the initiates.
>
>Thoughts?

        Yes, a few:

  1. For the Sartari, this specific situation only really applies after Agrath. Before then, you would be unlikely to send out any large number of men during Earth Season-- they are needed, not just for Reaping Day, but for the reaping itself.
  2. That aside, I imagine that part of fielding armies in Glorantha is somehow assigning "proxies" for many of their worship duties. This should not be too difficult in Dara Happa. where most worship seems to be "proxied" anyway -- most people are Communal Worshippers with the "business" of worship done by priests. How it might work for Heortlings, I'm not sure -- maybe the ancestors can fill in so the warband can fight, or something.
  3. For the more martial gods, I imagine that fighting on their holy days would be worship. "Sorry, I can't kill today; I must worship Death...." Of course this doesn't help with the communal duties.
  4. Missing a holy day or two can't be fatal to the worshipper; there must be lots of times when a worshipper can't do his/her religious duty (they are imprisoned, trapped in a cave by bad weather, under attack). I think missing a holy day is probably dangerous; the worshipper risks the god's displeasure. Missing two or three in a row is probably increasingly bad (penalties on using affinities and the like), and continual absence will likely result in the loss of the connection to the gods, but the serious worshipper probably has enough "credit" for previous deeds that an extra large sacrifice or two will restore the god's favor after missing a worship day.
  5. Maybe there are prayers that help: "Durev, you know that I honor and respect you. You are the Good Carl who tends the land and feeds the clan. I am a weaponthane, sealed to your brother Starkval, and my duties to our Chef and clan have taken me far from the tula. Although I cannot stand with the other men and praise you tomorrow, know that I honor and respect you; I fight for the clan." By giving the god "advance warning" (as much as gods have any sense of days passing) and perhaps making a token sacrifice, the worshipper might suffer less negative (or have less to "make up") than if they just don't show up. "Forgive me Durev, for I have been on campaign. It's been 3 seasons since I performed the clan rituals...."
  6. I suppose to a certain degree, generals plan their campaigns to avoid as many crucial holy days as they can. And to attack the enemy when they need to be sacrificing. The Heortlings have a disadvantage here, because they mostly fight each other, so they don't attack on holy days for the most part.

Peter Larsen

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