The e-sacred e-clay, is more like it....
>>
>> Yeah, but you don't pick the god; the god picks you. I'm sure there
>> are plenty of disappointed initiates (well, not really; they all ought to
>> be pleased with who calls them). "Oh great, I get called by the god of
>> Plowing and toil, while my brother gets called to the god of fornication
>> and sleeping late...."
>
>God also calls priests and rabbis: for some strange reason they tend to be
>Catholics and Jews respectively. What I'm wondering here is whether the
>belief in being 'chosen' by a god is merely a normative belief within
>Heortling culture, or whether it is true in some absolute and meaningful
>sense. PCs, of course, tend to choose their cults.
Certainly there's room for debate. I suspect that Heortlings always believe that their god has called them, although some take this on faith ("I've always liked hail, I guess that was Hedkoranth calling me"), some remember a clear call that others might see as chance ("I woke up in the middle of the night and all the sheep were staring at me; Voriof has called me"), some get an unequivocal call ("At the initiation, a cloud hawk swooped down and said 'Heller calls you' to Frekor and Aud's son"), and so on. Is the god always acting? I think so. What players do in deciding their character's cult is playing the role of the god who called that character, after all...
>New Adults are communal worshippers. By this stage, their particular skills
>and proclivities will be well recognised - the sword and spear
>proto-warriors, the skilful healers, the Roitina dancers, the eager skalds.
>According to TR, the initiate 'nominates' the god they think has chosen
>them, the elders later assign not-necessarily-the-same deity, and if
>everyone is still unsure at the end of a few years, then 'obviously' Orlanth
>and Ernalda have chosen them.
Remember, the god is the "sphere of influence" to some degree. So the boy who is really good with sheep, cares for them diligently, intends to be a shepherd when he grows up, etc is already worshipping Voriof by doing these things. The chances of Voriof calling him when it's time to be initiated should be pretty high, although another sheep-oriented god night get involved, too. I can imagine that the practice for Heortling children is to "rotate them" through many different duties to let "all the gods see them" -- the child gets experience with sheep, cattle, alynxes, fowl, fish, planting, hunting, crafts, learning, weapons, leadership, storms, earth, water, justice, etc -- which, coincidentally, trains the child to be a decent generalist, a useful thing when most Heortlings are going to be "basic steadfolk." Sure, the followers of Pella are the best potters by far, and those called to Odayla and Ormalaya hunt the best, but many Orlanthi will need to hunt or use clay at some time during their lives.
>Given that (especially the minority) cults are niches for the socially
>liminal - eccentrics (LM, Odayla, Vinga), sexual minorities (Heler, Nandan,
>Finovan) the mentally disturbed or wounded (Humakt, Urox, the Gori) and
>stark raving lunes (Eurmal, disciples of just about any cult :))
Unless your having those qualities is part of worshipping that god. Do you seek Humakt because you have life sickness or did you get it when the god laid his hand on you? Is your unwillingness to settle on a single sex partner a moral/emotional quality that leads you to Niskis or is that Niskis laying his hand (ahem) on you?" ("I was inappropriately touched by Niskis!") You can struggle against it
>I tend to play deities actively 'intervening' in a person's cult membership
>later in life, usually after some traumatic event that tears them out of a
>certain lifepath into one radically different - either for peace or war,
>solitude or herodom.
That's certainly one way to do it. Most Heortlings probably do not experience any really dramatic call -- as kids they develop aptitudes toward certain kinds of work/experience; as initiates, they worship the appropriate god; as adults, the do the work, learns the abilities, and make the sacrifices that make them more successful in life/better worshippers of their gods; their gods bless them in turn, which leads to a repeat of the cycle, and so on. For the non-dramatic, where was the point when the god called them? If working with wood is worshipping Orstan when does whittling stop and worship begin? Where does the desire to kill time with a knife and twig on a summer day out watching the sheep become a call from the God of Carpentry? I suspect the real answer is, in each case, between the worshipper and the god. From the outside, it'll be a chicken and egg thing unless the god went all "big budget" on the worshipper with flaming pillars, talking animals, and spontaneous tattoos ("Did your son always have an air rune on his back?" "Puberty. You know how it is....")
>Either way, there are some nice storytelling and campaign possibilities.
Definitely. I think the god does call (only to the open heart?), but, in most cases, the objective reality of that call can't be "proven." Going with whatever makes the best story, case by case, whatever the "cosmic truth" of the matter, seems like the best way to have a fun game.
Peter Larsen
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