>What do inititiate and devotees do with all the time they dedicate to their
>gods?
>
>An initiate spends 30% (and a devotee 60%) of their time "in worship" (HW:RiG
>pp. 184). That is, if we exclude eight hours of sleep, 5h 20min for an
>initiate, 10h 40min for a devotee, each day.
>Let us say an Orlanhti spends the whole of Windsday in worship, 16 hours.
>That leaves us with ((5:20 x 7 -16) / 6 =) 3h 30min the other days.
>I cannot really imagine the ordinary heortling spending more than one full hour
>absorbed in prayer each day. That still leaves 2h 30min, for what?
I have always interpreted this requirement as "doing things that enhance the presence of the god" rather than "worship" per se. So when an Orlanth the Warrior initiate is "doing his time" he is teaching other clansmen weapon skills, or patrolling the tula, or guarding the clan trader. When an Orlanth the Farmer initiate is at work she is helping clansmen with her superior farming skills and feats. I think the key is the idea of serving the community, rather than simply doing one's own thing.
>And what does the local temple do with all this potential work force?
>Let us take what I think is a rather small clan, 500 people. Approximately 60%
>will be able-bodied adults, and roughly half of these will be women. The
>proverbial all, 85%, of the men worship Orlanth.
>That gives the temple around 125 initiates, each spending 5h 20min every
>day worshipping. Let us consider if one of these hours are spent maintinging
>the physical temple, a good act of devotion. This makes 875 man-hours of work
>given to the temple each week, the equivalent of a modern company with 22
>employees (working eight-hour days, five days a week).
>
>By this I would assume that even a "small" Orlanthi shrine is quite
impressive..
It is important to bear in mind the difference between the general communal worship and becoming an inititate of one of the specific aspects of the gods. I think most heortling adults become "initiates" of Orlanth and Ernalda (i.e., they have the Worship Orlanth and Ernalda keyword) but most probably don't become initiates of Ernalda the Mother or Orlanth Lawspeaker. These inititates are sopecialists, who get some level of material support from the community as a whole in return for using their special skills for the benefit of the community as a whole. A devotee is someone who has gone even further down the road of specialization. Thus, most heortlings do not devote 30% of their time to the gods.
>What I really suppose is that most of this time spent "in worship" is spent
>working and doing other things. It would otherwise have rather ridiculous
>consequences for the whole economy and daily life among the heortlings.
>
>And why does everybody have to be initiates? Okay, lay members are a God
>Learner idea. But why can they not be communal worshippers? (Who only (!)
spend
>10%, 1h 30min, a day worshipping.)
Given that Orlanth and Ernalda are the central figures in all communal action, I think that this time spent "worshipping" is time spent helping other people in the community raise barns, clear new fields, etc... Also, much of this time is probably spent on projects that the clan ring proposes, such as a new watchtower. All actions benefiting the community act to strengthen Orlanth and Ernalda's "way."
>In my Glorantha I think I will replace "Most Heortling adults are initiated or
>devoted..." with "Many Heortling adults are...". (HW:RiG p. 45).
>
As always, its your game! :)
Gerald Bosch
gbosch_at_...
"Control the children of Earth!"
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