Horn of Plenty

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_quicksilver.net.nz>
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:41:09 +1300

Joerg Baumgartner:

[moved from the Heroquest list]

>Me> The land is still dead and the Praxians can't contact any fertile
> > earth spirit. Surely that counts for something in suggesting
> > that the Praxian Sartarites have similar problems?

>The Praxian Beast Riders don't care about agricultural (or
>horticultural) spirits. To them, it is unnatural to plant something
>and watch it grow.

So why does Aldrya/Redwood give Eiritha the magic of accelerate growth in Cults of Prax?

>The oasis folk (including those at the Paps) have a quite functional
>agriculture or horticulture which provides sufficient surplus to
>survive being plundered by the Praxians.

They do so without the aid of agricultural spirits and are reduced to penury. Doesn't it strike you as odd that there are no earth spirits to be contacted outside the Paps and Pavis?

>They are restricted to places
>unravaged by the Wildfire, though, where sufficient water flows.

The Oasis folk are restricted to places where sufficient water flows. This has nothing to do with the Wildfire.

> >>The Fourty-Eight Old Ones - the
> >>agricultural spirits of the Oasis People - still reside at the Paps.

> > The 48 old ones are the shattered fragments of the Horn of Plenty.

>CoP p.30:
>"These are the remnants of the old agricultural spirits still attached
>to the cult at the Paps. Each may be gotten as an allied spirit by
>priestesses of the Paps."

Which does not have the interpretation that you place on them given other Praxian lore.

> > Hardly agricultural spirits.

>Where does that Horn of Plenty reference stem from?

Look at Nomad Gods and compare with the Eiritha writeup in Cults of Prax. Three Bean Circus, the Good Shepherd and Ronance are both present as subcults of Eiritha and as Spirits of Paps in Nomad Gods. The only exception (apart from the serpents) is the 48 old ones in Cults of Prax and the Horn of Plenty in Nomad Gods.

         The Horn of Plenty was [...] said to be the tip of
         one of Eiritha's horns left on earth when she was
         buried.  Ragnaglar shattered the horn but it
         repaired itself, and was full of enough food to
         support many clans.
                 Nomad Gods.

>And what
>makes the Horn of Plenty separate from agricultural spirits?

The fact that its magic lies in providing food rather than growing it. In the Good Old Days, the Praxians did not have agriculture for they had no need.

--Peter Metcalfe

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