With a classic assortment of oddballs! Sounds like fun.
>
> Anyway, after last nights play I am kind of curious as to what sort
of
> role Vinga has in Esrolian society, with its focus on the Earth
> Pantheon, as opposed to Orlanthi society.
I Heortling society, at least much of it, life is chancy at the best of times, so adventure can come to anyone. If a woman is a little more inclined this way, as a healer she'll be in on some very daring exploits. Also, women usually move to a new clan when marrying, which is an adventure itself. There are still some to whom the adventuring daughter appeals, but they are more like the 1% exception.
In Esrolia, life is for the most part more settled. Men join their
wives household. A healer is an honored thing, but more apt to deal
with farm accidents than to be creeping through the woods on a
raiding expedition. There are other warrior women, but they tend to
have a focus that is more mystical than practical. So I think there
would be a fair number of young women (One in seven-ish?) who would
choose to follow Vinga. She is still part of the earth pantheon,
still a protector, but also an adventuress. In other words, I think
she serves as an outlet for those women who are not excited by home
and hearth, at least for some time. There is probably a not uncommon
pattern of the 'five year vingan,' where a certain portion of young
women initiate into Vinga, join a regiment, see a bit of the world,
then muster out and switch to Ernalda worship (not that all vingans
mustering out from a regiment would do that, some would re-join their
community, or at least some community, and stay Vingan).
>
> I imagine that being a daughter of Orlanth is played upon quite abit
> less than her status as progeny of Ernalda
I would imagine the view is something like "Ernalda used Orlanth to help create the adventuring but protecting daughter that she needed."
(is Imarja another name for
> Ernalda?)
No, Imarja seems to be more of a mystical concept that a god that one can worship directly, something like the primal femininity.
> Also with women in a dominant position I also imagine that
> Vinga probably has a much more prominent position locally than she
> does in say Sartar.
I would think so. More respected, more numerous, and also more in demand, since any one paying for an armed force in Esrolia probably wants at least some Vingans who can be trusted to keep their heads on straight, not like those unruly men. I think most military forces are headed by Vingans, from village militia to a queendom's armies. I get the feeling that Vingans don't become queens, though--that in Ernalda almost by definition a Queen is a follower (probably a devotee?) of Ernalda the Queen. But I'm sure ruling it otherwise in your game wouldn't create any major problems.
>
> Also, how has the heavily urbanized nature of Esrolia changed the
> nature of the traditional tribal structure? Are cities home to
> multiple tribes or is tribal status pretty much ignored?
>From what I've been able to find, the building blocks of Esrolian
political structure aren't well defined. At the high level it is
ruled by various queens. At the bottom level by various village
councils in the country (in the city it could be neighborhood
councils, or it could be trade guild councils, or it could be both or
neither).
Although the queens are numerous, it seems unlikely to me that the councils are directly tied to their queen, I suspect there has to be an intermediate step. It could be that there are a couple of level of queens, lesser ones operating at something like tribal level, greater ones being major players in the political factions. Or there may be something like a higher level council, bringing together several villages or other smaller groups, which then pledges its support to a queen. (I think this latter has more scope for role-play and politics).
What term the Esrolians would use for the level between village and queendom, I'm not sure. They seem to have rejected most heortling political language (i.e. they have councils not rings, nobles not thanes, etc), so I'm guessing they wouldn't call it a tribe....but then again, none of these language are english, so you can "translate" it however you want :) Anyway, I'm sure this is still a your game WILL vary type area, so do what is most fun for your players and yourself.
Have fun!
--Bryan
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