Hi Jeff, thank you for posting this! I have pretty extensive notes of everything I could find about Seshnela during the Serpent Kings and there are some nice new nuggets here.
One thing I'm dying to know is: will the upcoming mapbook have a detailed map or three covering Seshnela during this time?
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
From: richaje_at_4KwUR0S4Cu1hkxd0izR0JdPQH9AVhnDdmX-itJGVdSO6aA6ywaqxeA_BGUbgaMIUl1CIUfdP3w.yahoo.invalid
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:43:52 +0000
Subject: Re: Hrestol's knighthood initiation
> That was _after_ Hrestol's revelation, and a result of it. As for the
> Seshnegi being henotheist before Hrestol's revelation, the issue is open
> as far as I can see.
Here's some notes from Greg and I:
Most of the Malkioni colonies in the west were casteless at the Dawn. Hrestol and his followers (the Men of All) were very open and flexible, and served both as a liberating force for their people and as warrior leaders who freed the colonies from the evil lion people who oppressed them during the Ice Age. The cult was open, flexible, and growing, with many people from all the former castes (and outsiders) qualifying and joining.
In the early First Age, the Men of All were the all-around leaders, able to put their best skills to use in whatever was needed. They generally did not hold permanent positions but moved frequently around in Seshnela. In the earliest days, they did not discriminate between those descended from the exiles from Brithos and other peoples. They fought and taught and what they brought was a new culture, wrought for the good of all, both big and the small to bring the one thing that is all: the Joy
Exult, high and low
Mean and rich--in Joy we are One
We are the Same
We are the Same
---prayer of Hrestoli
Note: Celebrating Joy is like Pentacostalism. The ceremony brings waves of Joy. You cry. Fall down to your knees. Thank the Creator for allowing a peek at the True Joy that awaits.
When they embraced Hrestolism they totally broke away from all remnant contacts with the Brithini and their laws (they had already lost all physical contact with them in the Ice Age). Imagine those people, who one year earlier had participated in a great ritual and then witnessed the Dawning.
Things sorted itself out so that the people who want to be farmers were farming, the ones who want to be merchants were trade, and the ones who thought they were warriors were all dead, except a few who are full fledged Men of All now too. Then they went among the newly conquered Basmoli residents and told them, "you are nothing now that you are crushed and abandoned by your leaders and your gods, but you can be one of us." The Basmoli generally withdrew from the territory they had lost. Some stayed, more withdrew.
The Hrestoli never insisted that people become like them, but the way of the Men of All seemed to offer the best chances. The few old school wizards clamored for a return to the Old Laws (since the old zzaburi magic required the zzaburi laws), but they were unsuccessful. At least until the Brithini returned. And when a Brithini zzaburi showed what they could do and blasted a foe to smitherines with Zzabur's magic, lots of folk said, "Where do we sign up?"
Jeff
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