At 02:39 AM 04/18/2000 +0000, markmohrfield wrote:
>Andrew Dawson
>>>Beyond the contradictory discussions taking place on this list:
>1. Devotees to a god cannot also be devotees to a hero.
>2. Only devotees to a god can be devotees to a hero.
>3. No time obligations overlap.
>4. Time obligations can overlap (3&4 said by same person at different
>times, IIRC).
>5. Etc.<<
>
>I've been trying to follow the discussions of 1 & 2. I think some of
>the confusion seems to stem from whether there is any difference
>between a "subcult" ,such as Hedkoranth being a subcult of Oralnth
>Thunderous, and hero cults, such as Asacar the Black being a subcult
>of Bisos the Hazar in the Wesley Quadros character writeup. Could
>someone please clarify this?
I'm going to take a stab at this:
- Hedkoranth is an aspect of Orlanth. You generally worship an aspect of a
greater god. I think that it may have been a mistake to name Orlanth
Adventurous as a subcult in the Keywords chapter. The other aspects aren't
called subcults and the Theism chapter states that subcults focus on a
single affinity or even feat. Any comment on this mention of OA as a
subcult being an error from Those Who Know?
- As stated above and amplified (from the Theism chapter), subcults focus
on the worship of petty gods or heroes and/or focus on a single affinity or
feat.
By these guidelines most (if not all; I'm not one of Those Who Know) hero
cults and single affinity/feat cults are subcults, while cults like
Hedkoranth are full-fledged cults/aspects of a greater god with three (or
maybe more) affinities. I recall that Hedkoranth had only one affinity in
the original chapters that appeared on the GTA website and this may have
added to the confusion in this case.
When I use the word subcult, I am referring to single affinity/feat cults
of which only hero cults seem representative so far.
Thanks,
Andy