>I read about the magical mirrors that stand in the Temples of Somash and
>that are used to communicate with each other. Compared with the difficult
>and slow journey through the jungle this gives the Somashi a advantage in
>communication above all other cults.
It does not follow that the Somashi will use their advantage to set themselves above other cults and the use of mirrors prevents the orders from being misunderstood by ordinary Somashi.
Here's what the Genertela Book said about Teshnos:
GOVERNMENT: Theocracy, centralized, weak.
[...]
Somash [Yelm] is the god of [...] adminstrators [...].
Most government functions come from supporting
the temples and performing the many religious
functions properly.
The Glorantha: Intro
The King is so esteemed that special Zitrs, collectively
known as the Wheel of Governance, divine his will
to avoid disturbing him. [...] The Wheel's prime concern
is that the gods receive their ordained sacrifices. [...]
The Temple of Somash are the closest that Teshnos
has to a government. The duties of the Somash priests
include seeing that all other temples perform their
obligations.
So the Vessel of Light's Will is not concerned with ordinary governmental functions but with the proper observance of religious functions. The announcements of the Wheel are more like announcing that today was a Calyz Low Holy Day or that next week would be a period of Furalor mourning. The Somash priesthood makes it their job to receive these messages and tell the appropriate priests about them.
When a Zitro Argon Prayer-Day is declared, they not only have to tell the Zitro-Argon temple about the declaration, but also to go around to the local markets and announce that no food would be sold (as well as hang around to ensure that their edict is obeyed). If they find that a Temple is being derelict in its observances then they send out messengers to inform the local Noble so he can take appropriate action.
What they cannot do is take unusual action, like go around to a noble and say the Vessel of Light commands that you give up all your wealth. Firstly any Noble outranks any Somashi Priest, secondly it would be blasphemous for a Somashi (or anybody else) to misrepresent the Will of the Vessel of Light.
>The Voices say about Somash Temples, that they're "spreading his
>[Vessel of Lights] will throughout Teshnos". So spreading orders or
>something like that seems to be a special field of responsibility for
>Somashi.
The will of the Vessel of Light is not the Will of the Somash Priesthood. The Somashi are spreading the Will because they are imitating in Teshnos what the Sun does in the Sky.
>Somashi seem to have
>a natural drift towards administrative and ruling position.
Administration only goes so far and even the typical ramshackle Orlanthi tribe has better administration than the Kingdom of Teshnos. Secondly Somash is far more than just administration - he is also the God of Poets, Healers and (not very good) Warriors.
>This is part of their life flame until they recognize, that the
>flames are all the same fire (3rd teaching if I'm right).
All Teshnos knows the Teachings of Chal say that all flames are one. Mastering the third teaching is not mentally recognizing this fact but spiritually discovering that your life-flame is indeed One.
>So isn't it likely to meet a Somashi in an controlling position,
>because it is his personality?
There's a difference between control and administration. The Somashi do not give out orders but inform other people what the Vessel of Light has decided.
>The merchant in the Voices is looking down on the Solfites and
>wants them to be driven out by the guards. So there isn't much
>tolerance for his fellow brothers how worship Solf ...
He's only a student of the First Teaching. As he becomes more experienced, he will see that his earlier prejudices were wrong.
> By the way: Are Zitrs still connected to a specific cult? They seem
>to be aware, that all flames are of the same fire, so they have a
>awareness above the layer of the cults. But still they recognize the
>Vessel of Light as an avatar of one god ... hmm ... must think
>about this :-)
All fires are One. It's just that the One Fire appears within the world in five different ways. There is no contradiction between Garusharp being the Greatest Somashi Noble and a Zitr.
>>Secondly there is little need to identify the life-flame of new born
>>babes. In Teshnan funerals, when the body is cremated the
>>officiating Priests take a flame from the pyre and magically
>>embed it within the soul of a new born babe. That's how the
>>Teshnans keep track of who was who in a previous life.
>I understand the Voices part "What happens after we die" as
>follows: You've to die to be scrutinized by your god and then it
>is determined how long you rest and whene you'll be reborn.
That's the Zitr speaking about what happens to the soul between incarnations, a period which he describes as short in the world of mortals. The Glorantha: Intro says:
When a Teshnan dies a young child is identified as the new
incarnation and inherits all possessions, debts, obligations,
marriage partners and criminal guilt. An exalted few remember
their previous incarnations while the rest only know of their
previous accomplishments through their flame-poem, magical
inscriptions in the flickers of their life-flame.
Glorantha: Intro p201.
>Then the zitrs can trace the former lives.
The Zitrs (the exalted few in the above paragraph) can remember their own past lives and see visions of the past lives of others. But the Teshnans know the basics of their own past lives at the same level of detail as the "Events of My Life" in King of Sartar p211-213.
>If the body of a reborn person is known in advance, will it ever happen
>that someone is reborn as frog or bug?
No. Teshnans are reborn as humans while extremely bad Teshnans are cursed never to be reincarnated as a human. Nobody knows what happens to its soul then but reincarnation as evil foreigners is a common belief.
>Also the last vessel was found amongst the beggars (I don't
>remember where I read this), so he had to be found, too ... or
>is this a special case for the Vessel of Light, as the last one
>has left the cycle of rebirth?
The Vessel is found among orphans (ie kids with no life-flame), not beggars according to Genertela Book p86.
>But you've to wait until you die, to join a new caste, right? The
>merchant in the Voices said to his scholar, that he has to master
>the First Teaching to be reborn as priest. Or his he not honest
>with his apprentice?
Heroic Teshnans can improve their caste when alive. That a shop-keeper says otherwise is further evidence of his limited knowledge.
--Peter Metcalfe
End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 196
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