Re: Runic associations: Humakt, Vinga, Nandan and fertility

From: donald_at_Z4J9b6PbbwMLqxci79SkgqoDyOW-us1YRO2aT2aG87D69VsbxZP39qB_LbGI57U8lEjA_
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:57:02 GMT


In message <fkavpq+lusi_at_eGroups.com> "ileskela" writes:
>A question or five...
>
>I'm trying to figure out the degree runic associations (Death, Earth
>and Air/Storm) effect individuals. I've understood Nandans cannot bear
>a child, and that Vingans cannot father a child. If I'm right, the
>runic associations actually cannot change biological/mythical sex. Am
>I right?
>
>Can Humakti father/mother a child, or is their fertility power dead?
>
>Can Nandans father a child, or are they essentially women without wombs?
>
>Can Vingans mother a child, or are they essentially men without semen?
>
>Is there a difference between initiates and devotees of these cults?
>
>Thanks for any answers & insights.

This is an area where there is a great variation between different Gloranthas. One that has been hotly debated in the past. So whatever your answer is it will agree with some and disagree with others. The best guide is what makes a good story for your game.

As a rule of thumb I take the view that cult membership doesn't change anything physical. It is mainly a matter of behaviour patterns both for the individual and those they relate to. At higher levels of commitment it also affects the mental state of the individual.

So while a Vingan could bear a child they generally don't, other clansfolk would regarded her poorly and she will have problems enacting myths.

Same with Nandani, he shares women's space (the loom house) so the social consequences of fathering a child on someone else's wife would be dynamite.

Remember that a Vingan marries a woman and a Nandani marries a man - if they get married. I'd best be clear - that doesn't assume homosexuality. It is a practice for handling the social problem of an imbalance between the sexes. The quote from KoS about all childless widows of the Kheldon dying their hair red is generally assumed to refer to them taking up the spear for revenge. Another interpretation is that there were so few men left that Vingan marriages were a way of keeping the clans together. Without husbands the widows would have returned to their birth clans causing enormous disruption.

With Humakti the emphasis is more that few women would be prepared to bear a Humakti's child. They are banned by law from sharing the hearth of a pregnant woman so any closer involvment is bound to cause problems for the mother and/or baby. Childbirth is risky enough without increasing the dangers.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/

           

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