[I don't know who wrote the above because LC doesn't list his name and I haven't found the original message.]
> > Since Babeester is also the Avenger, I've personally split them in my head
> > as Vinga - avenging wrongs against family, Babeester - avenging wrongs
> > against the Earth. (Holy wrongs, in other words.)
There's a rather more obvious difference to the people around such characters: Vingans are still part of the stead and clan, work in the fields, tend the sheep, flirt with whomever their tastes lead them to, etc. They "Orlanthi all" marry and bear children and can ultimately move on to progress through the Ernaldan cycle of women's roles using associate cult transfers. People from her culture might think she's odd and different from "all" other Orlanthi women but she isn't necessarily separate or frightening.
Babeester Gori are ritually and practically separate blood drinking paladins of vengeance
who have sacrificed their fertility for dark cthonic powers. They are forbidden to touch or
be touched by anyone of another cult except in violence and they all hope to die in battle
many years prior to earning the sad rare but honored title of "Axe Mother." ( I made up
that last bit.)
Everyone in the tribe except her kaylings (if she has any--doubtful) and maybe the
priestesses of Ernalda and Asrelia are frightened of a Babeester Gori. Pregnant women
avoid her, she's asked politely by the priestesses to leave during the spring fertility
festivals and she's never invited to parties.
But I think either could avenge the earth or a family--it's just that the BG Maiden probably doesn't have a family of her own.
An odd statistic just occurred to me: I think it is likely that as a clan or tribe grows smaller, the percentage of Babeester Gori per capita goes UP. Because as bad things happen to a clan, the odds that a former steadwife will seek to bathe in the River of Blood goes up.
Then again, most of those women don't last long.
Mike Dawson
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