> Hi Miko
>
> >There is no info on how recent this is, but I'd assume there was no
> >Yelmalio temple in the city before the Lunar Occupation. Yelmalio
> >enduring is even named as the Patron God of the city.
>
> Short answer: the Temple complex that is the heart of Alda Chur is ancient,
> dating from the Youf Empire. It was dedicated to a 'son of the sun' when
> the first Far Walkers resettled the city. Everyone will tell you this God
> is and always was called Yelmalio.
It just doesn't seem to fit the Yelmalian pattern. These guys aren't Heortling or Alakoring tribesmen living happily as a part of Tarsh or later Sartar. Aren't they supposed to form a fiercely independent mini state of their own?
An Elmal temple, that got re-consecrated into a Yelmalian one after the invasion. That I would buy much easier. Propably an EWF era Dragon Sun temple before that then.
> Long answer: the longevity of Yelmalio is one of those enduring
> controversies that I think can be solved without too much difficulty, but
> the answer has yet to be given definitive form in the arc. The 'scandalous'
> entry about Making Gods in KOS is likely to be at least partially Elmali
> (or even Eurmali) propaganda.
I have no trouble with Yelmalio / Elmal. Elmal fit's the Heortling culture to a tee, Yelmalio is clearly an outsider. I have no wish to go back to the RQ-II days.
> There is no definitive answer 'on the ground' - this particular religious
> controversy is the cause of an ongoing civil war in the Far Place between
> the dominant Yelmalian tribes of the Sharl Plains (Princeros, Vantaros,
> lowland Tovtaros) and the Elmali/Orlanthi clans of the wild uplands
> (Tovtaros, Tres, Amad, Bachad) - egged on in a significant way by
> priestesses from Lunar Religious & Cultural Engineering. Harvar Ironfist is
> a barbarian Yelmalian trying to be 'more Yelmie than the Yelmies' and is
> attempting to reforge his Princedom in this image.
And this was going on (or simmering) already when Alda-Chur joined the nation of Sartar?
> And of course the Sartarite cult of Yelmalio **in the form he is presently
> worshipped** is a recent innovation dating substantially from the
> heroquesting of Monrogh.
>
> 'Old religious and social conflict of the traditional and innovative sun
> worshippers had weakened many kingdoms'. - Jalk's Book. (KOS 197)
But those born-again Yelmalians moved and formed the sun-county. So that would make the Alda-Chur temple stay an Elmalian one, wouldn't it?
> "Before the glassling walls the heroes fought, blade against claw, spear
> against tooth, blood for blood and courage for courage. Three days and
> three nights they battled without rest, until Vantar and his thanes
> slaughtered the last of the Red Tooth Company. The beast tribes howled in
> the hills, but came no more to battle. By hero-right, Vantar claimed the
> Spear Greatspark and the Three Coiling Torcs, one-time servants of
> Floodborn Half-Horse. In mark of their victory, the company re-dedicated
> the Blue Flame Sun Temple that was the ruined city's heart, and the Powers
> of Aldachur stirred from their ancient sleep. Within the temple, Vantar cut
> the Knot Inexpiable, and saw three visions of his kin to come. He slept no
> more, forever."
Nicely written. The Alakorings & Yelmalians link still bugs me. People who have fought so long and hard against a (pseudo) Dara Happan Empire don't seem like the type to worship a loyal son of Yelm.
-Adept
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