To my mind there are two fundamental issues underpinning the nature of holy sites, shrines or temples (hereafter “temples”) both in RW and Glorantha (and more specifically among the Heortlings)– the identity as a site (which may be a deliberately built location) and the identity as a community.
IDENTITY AS A SITE.
I would suggest that a site may be counted as holy for one or both of two
reasons. First by virtue of the fact that some mythological/cultic events
have occurred in that place, allowing it to be recognised as “holy”. IMG
such an example among the Balkoth tribe would be the waterfall and pool of
Orventili’s Tears in Enothea’s Cut (from passing reference in under
“Devil’s Glove” in DP:LoT). It is recognised as a temple because of the
healing Balkoth Browncloak received after his escape from Lokamayadon at
the Battle of the Verge. I would suspect that among the Heortlings this
would be the dominant form of temple – holy by mythological association. A
further possibility related to this is whether a daimone is already
resident in the location, acting as a local agent of the deity and focus
for the cult’s activities. A place of this nature might be termed
“subjectively consecrated” to adopt the Godlearners (GL) mode of thought.
Conversely a place may be regarded as a temple by a deliberate act such as the summoning of a guardian. Made holy rather than inherently so – possibly the walls of Boldhome might loosely be covered under this model,(objective consecration in GL speak.)
The categories may not remain separate, however, as Jeff observed:
>I personally have assumed that most places of traditional worship
>have been decorated over the centuries. Standing stones, carvings,
>stairs cut into the stone, and so on. We got a lot of history at
>these holy places.
Jane similarly noted that a temple might be
>a site that may have things built on it. Open-air
>worship is the norm for Orlanth, underground perhaps for Ernalda, bt I'm
>sure it can be "decorated" with standing stones and things
If you add into this the possibilities of the immortal remains of a local hermit or god-talker remaining resident at the site in the service of the deity you can begin to see how these an mesh together.
As soon as the acts of embellishment and identification begin there arise the questions of the temple as a built place.
The process of delineating such a place, marking it as a particularly sacred part of the landscape would be entirely logical for a "respectable" cult. Somehow I can't see an Eurmali site being made so obvious unless there was a considerable amount of clout available to protect it (but see also the example of the Eurmali Temple in Slontos before the lands were changed at the close of the previous age!)
It is possibly our RW familiarity (at least in Western, Judaeo-Christian derived culture) that leads us to associate a temple with a building. (As an OT aside it could be argued that such a process opens up the danger of fossilisation, a hardening of the attitudes). Which leads neatly to the second fundamental of temples –
IDENTITY AS A COMMUNITY
As Jeff noted from TR:
>"Every clan has a temple to Orlanth Adventurous in the
>bodies of its fyrdmen and weaponsthanes."
RW temples often spring from the gathered community, those who hold a common cultic allegiance and may well go so far as to use the language of the body corporate as a temple (certainly true in the Judaeo-Christian tradition again).
So in this respect the temple is wherever the people are, and at its simplest it is even arguable that a hero band, complete with guardian, forms a temple and has cultic characteristics – the guardian provides assistance and effectively receives worship for these to continue.
In the Heortling context this is maybe represented by the charismatic leader who embodies the virtues of the deity and thus provides a focus, for worship.
PRACTICALITIES & SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
A temple, may as a result of these two foundations, be either deceptively
simple, fiendishly complex or anywhere in between. It may be highly mobile
or static, depending upon its nature. Obviously there will be a number of
cult-specific features, but at its simplest it might appear no different
from any other windy hill-top, hidden valley, spring or cave. That is,
unless, an individual is suitably well-versed in the mythology of the deity
and/or especially blessed, it would be impossible to distinguish it as
"holy." In the terms of HQ mechanics such a place might not even rate as
the simplest form of shrine.
Only once it has drawn the attention and gained familiarity, and some form of visible “constructed” features, such as standing stones or another similar focus might it receive the status of a shrine. It might be that features of this scale are what actually rate as clan temples, especially among a non-dominant but culturally common cult. (Perhaps even a particularly prolific corner of the clan farming lands might be recognised as holy to Barntar, for example).
Increasing in complexity a site might need to extend beyond merely being recognised in purely mythological and constructed terms to include the recognised dwelling or retreat of a god-talker, whose personal devotion contributes to the holiness of the temple, especially if as suggested above he remains on the site once the mortal life is over.
The process would continue, and presumably at its most extreme (Heortling example anyone?) grow to a completely constructed temple of such a scale that it wholly encloses, or even hides the site from which it sprang.
Beyond the physical there is the social impact. The interplay between the cultic hierarchy and worshippers has already drawn comment. The conflict of interests between devotees (“religion geeks” who can genuinely transcend clan or tribal squabbles in the name of their god) and the priests (the “institutional” powers who may actively promote their clan and tribal goals and prejudices through the use of the cultic apparatus) could form a very satisfying story arc for a group of heroes (in fact I feel an adventure coming on: how do you reconcile the dictates of your god with the agendas of the hierarchy? Who do you fear most?
A temple developed enough to spawn this sort of intrigue might well have passed beyond the cultic “movement” that might (rightly?) be thought to typify an Orlanthi temple into something which could only be called an “establishment”. Given the nature of Heortling society the creation of such an establishment would be quite an achievement!
If Orlanth, at least in some of his aspects might be thought to support fragmentation and smaller-scale institutions then the more minor cults, which would need to draw from across clan and even tribal boundaries might be found to provide an interesting counterbalance, forging alliances. It would be ironic if the strongest cultic force for resistance to the Lunars were a lesser deity. (Elmal?)
In a similar vein even tribes with clans who vehemently disagree might have one common temple in recognition of the founder-hero. IMG Balkoth Browncloak’s temple in Harnafal’s Rest is one of the few places for Penbal and Daldari clansmen to meet without aggravation.
FURTHER GAMING POSSIBILITIES
Discussion has already suggested the possibilities for inter-tribal
conflict in cases of shared, or disputed, ownership of a physical site, so
I'll leave that alone.
However given the Lunar occupation of Sartar and the prohibition on worshipping Orlanth, there must arise the question of how you can destroy a temple. I would suggest that both the site and the community would similarly need to be targeted.
Destroying or desecrating a site would entail more than the physical destruction of any constructed features. Knocking down the physical would be unlikely to compromise the spiritual and mythological (there are plenty of RW examples to draw upon). In some manner any guardian would also need to be eliminated or enslaved.
The task would be even harder in the case of a local site – and so I suspect would not even be attempted. To destroy a temple desecration of the site is insufficient, in addition there would be the need to break the mythological link between the site and the deity. As long as there are a sufficiently large number of the faithful carrying the tradition the site will surely continue to function as sacred in some manner (possibly as a bonus to community support?)
So for the Lunar’s to destroy a temple they need to destroy the community that constitutes or contributes to it – which explains the harshness of policy towards senior Orlanth worshippers. Ultimate success can only come from an eradication of the population, their conversion, or suborning the mythology (see Mark Galeotti’s thoughts in UW Tarsh in Flames for how that might look).
It’s late, and this is long, and maybe losing focus.
Thoughts?
Quadruped Erat Demonstrandum
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