Re: Initiation for Heortling women

From: Stephen Tempest <gd_at_stempest.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 13:17:31 +0100


I know following up your own posts is dangerously solipsistic, but I just thought of something else:

Stephen Tempest <gd_at_stempest.demon.co.uk> writes:

>Seems logical - but then you'd expect the men's initiation to be based
>on the stories of Orlanth's youth (the wicked uncles and the
>Strangers' Pit) and the Lightbringers' Quest. However, it isn't -
>it's based on a new story about Heort, Second Son and the Star Heart.
>Something which would only make sense to Heortlings, rather than being
>a common heritage of all Orlanthi.

Of course, this is the _first_ initiation, which teaches boys to become men. They might go on to worship Orlanth, or Issaries, or Humakt, or even Kolat, but they'll still be Heortlings. It makes sense, then, that the first initiation revolves about the mortal man who learned to survive in the Great Darkness and became the ancestor of all the Heortlings - not a God.

By analogy, the women's myth should also therefore be the story of a mortal woman who survived the Great Darkness. Perhaps Heort's wife, or his daughter, or his mother Drenyan (who was a Vingan, apparently, which complicates things a little) or some more distant figure who can still be argued to be the original female ancestor of the Heortlings. (Perhaps Sartarite feminists insist on calling themselves Drenyanings instead of Heortlings? :) )

 If the young woman chooses to initiate to Ernalda, then the _second_ initiation will draw her into Ernalda's own myth, just as young men who initiate to Orlanth will presumably experience his story directly in their own second initiation.

Stephen


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