> I'm still not 100% clear on the relationship (or rather the differences)
> between the Esrolians and the mainstream heortlings.
Check the article on the Esrolian government to start. The upcoming UW will have more on them, too. The cultures are similiar in many ways, but distinct as well expecially in their preference for the fiminine powers over the masculine. This results in some major differences.
> What sort of initiation(s) do the Esrolian boys go through? Do they meet
> Heort and Hengal in their first initiation, and do they face chaos in "I
> Fought, We Won"?
Good question.
First, remember that initiation into adulthood is a clan function.
I think that some of the Esrolian clans could have IFWW as their
initiationrite. Most, however, would have rites in which the young men
perform the myths that their ancestors had when they assisted in the
survival and awakening of Imarja.
I'll put the story in a different letter, following this one.
> (I'm still a bit annoyed to learn that female heortlings
> don't do that. What about Vingans and the (bebeester) Gori then?
Most Vingans would still be initiated as women first, and so not undergo IFWW. There are always the esceptional indiiduals of course who begin their adult life as men with women?s bodies, and the Orlanthi culture is flexible enough that they would experience IFWW.
The Gorites would not. They have their own compeltely different myth of surviving the Darkness.
> On a related subject, I've been wondering what sort of Solar worshippers
> are to be found in Esrolia. Is Elmal one of the protector husbands of
> Ernalda there? What about Yelm (I'm guessing not)?
Yes, Elmal is one. Yelm is not, but Yelmalio has worked his way in.
The Esrolians consider the sun to be ?the great egg? that Imarja laid, and from which Imarja emerged. It is the source of life. When the Darkness came it had disappeared, and its reappearance at the Dawn signalled the reappearance of Imarja. When it sets now it is hatching, and the young life from it spreads out during the night and invigorates the world.
Issaries, Inc.
c/o Greg Stafford
1942 Shattuck AVe, #204
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
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