Re: Exclusive Worship

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_EfYeUCBqu0QP9E-d6uEnRyDsNYT7s4WyxUu26xj2M66b9-4vMG9zgmvgJVzROb2Kf9C2>
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:34:40 -0000

> While I can see individuals treating converts this way it seems very
> intolerant for this type of society to do so. Heortling culture is
> bottom up rather than top down. The primary loyalty is family, then
> bloodline, then clan, etc. So when your cousin comes back with some
> strange new idea you tell him he's daft and to help with the weeding.
> Routinely excluding able bodied adults because their ideas are wrong
> is a sign of fanatics who are either in power in a top down society
> or minority groups in a larger society. So your description does fit
> the odd clan run by Uroxi but not the typical clan of Durev farmers.

It is extremely rare in normal Orlanthi society for a clan member to decide to initiate to a hostile demon like Jagrekriand, Shepelkirt or Malkion! These are not "strange new ideas" like shaving your beard - these are folk who are offering sacrifices to strengthen the enemies of your gods and of your ancestors. Believe me, farmers would be the first folk who would demand outlawry of such folk!

Keep in mind, few Gloranthans are even remotely tolerant of "strange new ideas" - such thinking has always been disasterous in the past: Gbaji, the EWF, the God Learners and now the Lunars. Many Orlanthi believe that the Lunar "strange new ideas" are nothing more than the return of Gbaji and are inspired by Wakboth the Devil. And the Orlanthi are one of the less xenophobic cultures in Glorantha.

> >With the Lunar Conquest, that's harder to do - most Lunar converts
> >are under the protection of the Lunar Army. Kill them and you pick
> >a fight with the Empire.
>
> Which is little or no protection in a rural area like most of Sartar.
> Sure Lunar missionaries can call on the army if their temples are
> threatened but who is to know if an ordinary convert dies - "He was
> kicked by a cow and the healer was too late to save him".

If the convert was under the support of the local Seven Mothers cult, that clan better be ready to give that cow - and fifty more - to the tax collector next year.

Jeff