The Glorantha list ate this, so I'm trying again here.
"Uroth the Blue Ram is the primary form taken by Heler. He has shaggy blue wool, brass thunder hooves, and powerful horns. In this form, he leapt from mountaintop to mountaintop across all of Genertela. After each leap, he married a goddess and fathered sheep, clouds, or other creatures." (ST, p.85)
Specific question: what might "marriage" have meant in this myth, and how might it have been contracted? This is before Heort, before the stranger's wedding, and possibly even before Ernalda and Orlanth were wed. It obviously wasn't a lifelong monogamous bond, but "marriage" makes it sound like it was more than a casual fling. Maybe Uroth is polygamous. Maybe these are term marriages. Maybe the marriage gives Uroth a claim on the children that he wouldn't have if there were no marriage. The key question is "If you were sucked into this quest in the role of one of the goddesses, what might it be like?"
Related general question: is there a form of words which is required/expected in Heortling marriage? Something as simple as "Where you are master, there I will be mistress" would do just fine, thinking of Roman models. Or is it just about having a feast and reciting the marriage contract in public? Or primarily about a marriage quest? I might have asked this before, but if you wanted to get married in a hurry -- one partner was going off to a battle or duel that might prove fatal -- what's the minimum ceremony/declaration/action that would form a valid marriage?
(I'm aware of http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/1481/marriage.html, and I'm particularly interested in what you do when (a) you don't have time for a heroquest ritual marriage, and/or (b) the partners are some combination other than Orlanthi and Ernaldan: perhaps Helering, Humakti, Vingan or Elmali.)
Cheers,
Jennifer
-- Jennifer Geard
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