>I) Given that the Lunars have outlawed worshipping Orlanth (and,
>presumably, his sub-cults and hero-cults) have many Sartarites
>continue to worship him in secret?
One can worship subcults and herocults without worshipping Orlanth, as is done in Tarsh. Moreover the Sartarites can worship Orlanth in the rural places as the Lunars are far from being everywhere. So long as one doesn't worship Orlanth when Lunar troops are about or participate in massive worship rites to him, then one should be safe.
>II) The Torkani tribe is described* as being 'Darkness-worshipping'
>while the people in or around Far Point are 'Sun-worshippers'. What
>is meant by each term? Is it something a simple as replacing Elmal
>with Argan Argar and Yelmalio respectively or is there more to it
>than that?
>(* Dragon Pass: A Gazatteer of Kerofinela, page 38 'Lizardwood Wilds')
Barbarian Adventures describes this in more detail.
"The Torkani worship Argan Argar as their main men's god
instead of Orlanth and worship many other troll deities."
As for the AldaChuri overtribe, the Duke and his retainers worships Yelmalio but few others do as Yelmalio isn't pervasive as it is in the Sun Counties of Prax or even Dragon Pass.
>III) Is there any canonical works describing Telmori or Poljoni
>society?
Dorastor: Land of Doom (OoP) had the only canonical look at the Telmori although it's written for the savage Dorastran Telmori.
Put simply the Telmori run about in packs lead by a leader "deza" and he-leader "dezaker", who rule their respective sexes and have mating rights with anybody else in the pack. In practice, they reserve this for each other and assign coupling rights to followers within the pack. They have no marriage rights but consider the act of coupling to be a ritual suitable for a years commitment.
Men and women perform generally the same tasks of hunting, tool-making and domestic duties. Pregnant women and women with children form a social elite within the pack.
The Telmori generally take their wives from neigbouring pack and in times of crisis form an overpack with an overleader. I assume the Sartarite Telmori have permanently taken this step. Everybody obeys the Overleader.
When Telmori males grow old enough to be initiated, they are expelled from the pack. They generally join one of the hunting packs which cause trouble for the telmori and non-telmori since they have no land or females. One can leave a hunting pack provided one finds a pack willing to accept it.
There's also two classes of magicians, a shaman and the other cursed individuals affected by the horror that is Dorastor. I doubt the Sartarites have them.
The PolJoni are several clans of which only some are PolJoni proper. They are Orlanthi nomads while the other clans are strange.
--Peter Metcalfe
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