Don't get me wrong - many of Belintar's servants believe precisely what Peter is suggesting and there have been plenty of actions by Belintar to support it. There has been actions that contradicts it as well, however.
> This doesn't mean that RW analogies can't be used to try and get a handle on the organisational _structures_ of the Holy Country, and why Belintar's politics appear to have worked so incongruously well as compared with those that you can find elsewhere in Glorantha.
Out of Glorantha observation:
One huge advantage the Holy Country has is the presence of an undying Living God that serves as a sovereign for all the lands of Kethaela. And unlike the Red Emperor, Belintar is not in conflict with the traditional cults of the area. Kethaela's relative isolation also helped - Sartar was a (largely) friendly neutral (the earlier Quivini were raiders only), Tarsh was too far away to project force (and had bigger problems to the north), Wenelia was a backwater managed by the friendly Merchant Princes, mountains kept the Praxian raids to a survivable minimum and the Grazers were raiders only.
The costs of Belintar's infrastructure were very cheap. No huge armies maintained by the God-King to keep him in power and awe opponents, no rapacious allies that needed to be kept bought, and few wars, all meant that Belintar's expenses could be easily met (and probably paid for out of the dramatically increased trade resulting from his rule).
> > You know that there are multiple priesthoods of Belintar, each with different claims and rituals? Even the priests who offer sacrifices to Belintar do not agree as to his goals or origins! There are schools that study his words and actions in order to understand the Cosmos - naturally they disagree on matters of interpretation as well. There is even a school that holds that Belintar himself does not *know*!
>
> Praise Belintar !!
>
> We humble petitioners crave forgiveness for trying to set ourselves up as if above Belintar, we are merely acting in accordance with our own desires to serve the God-King's inheritance as we see it !!
>
> <grovels and bangs head seven times on the floor, reciting the Seven Virtues of Six>
That is exactly right! I strongly encourage folk who want to explore Belintar's Holy Country to approach it from within Glorantha.
> > These people have set up various administrative bodies to carry out Belintar's requests. Governors, deputies, counts, dukes, and teams of scribes, priestly orders, and so forth exist to carry out Belintar's commands. These officials compete with each other (as is only natural) but almost never challenge Belintar's authority (with a few notable and illustrative examples).
>
> I think what we have been discussing is : how *these people* organise themselves ;)
The most straight forward are the governors of the Sixths, with their deputies and companions, along with the military dukes. Belintar invests somebody as the Governor of the Sixth and he (or she) appoints his Deputy and companions.
Belintar established the Final Information Library on the City of Wonders which serves as the training ground for his scribes and also the repository for information. Talented Lhankor Mhy worshipers from all over Kethaela and beyond flock to the Library, incidentally providing Belintar with a cadre of scribes.
There are lots of ad hoc offices created by Belintar. Sometimes Belintar appoints someone to stand in for him - and that person appears exactly identical to Belintar (although without the power or knowledge). He has many guards, strange magicians, and much much more.
Incidentally, the City of Wonders was unlike anything else in Kethaela. Before Belintar disappeared, it had an estimated population of some 50,000 people, with temples to the each of the great elemental gods (Air, Darkness, Earth, Sky, and Water) and others as well as markets, docks, a theatre, zoo, and much much more.
Jeff
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