Re: Founders as Wyter

From: jorganos <joe_at_Hwd-MkW4Z6nH1sMMsfZX4m-zPerZr-u-eHwFBYKnTFzM_DXbeWAELQmTihh31JsDlw-nKSHQ>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:45:24 -0000


Jeff:
> I'm moving Joerg's points around to address them in a different order:

>> Sartar apparently took over as the wyter of the Principality during his apothoesis from whatever entity he brought back from his Westfaring quest upon founding the Principality of Sartar.

> The magical guardian Sartar brought back from his Westfaring was his protective deity, what the Romans would have called "genius," although I don't know the Orlanthi name. It would have been worshipped in cult as "Sartar's Protector"; upon Sartar's apotheosis, Sartar's Protector was revealed to be an early manifestation of the Divine Sartar.

This refers to the wrong magic system, but basically something like "awakening your fetch" - another case of two souls (ok, spirits taking that role) for a single body.

> Remember, the Orlanthi do not have difficulty imagining that someone or something might have 4 mundane souls and 1 divine soul. Or that a hero's breath might manifest itself as a petty god, which is worshipped by others in its own right.

In case of Sartar, who definitely qualifies as a hero receiving worship-like support when he was alive, and who was a Larnsting, I have less problems with the Westfaring as a quest to awaken another soul.

>> I finally found the time to read Sartar Companion more closely, and once more it struck me that there must have been a change in the city wyter of Jonstown from whatever entity Sartar instituted when Hauberk Jon became mayor of Jonstown to adopting Hauberk Jon after his death.  

> Again, think like an Orlanthi. Jonstown was protected by a petty god, revealed by Sartar and worshipped by Jon. Upon Jon's death, that petty god was revealed to have been a divine part of Jon himself - we were worshipping Jon's divine breath all along!

Yawn... thinking like an Orlanthi who was another member of the city ring and as instrumental in bringing forth that wyter (or rather a descendant thereof), I beg to differ in this case.

Otherwise, we will describe the wyter-quest as "our leader is looking for a lost shard of his soul".

> It gets even more complicated, since Orlanthi believe in the reincarnation. So it is entirely possible a petty god long worshiped by the Orlanthi might turn out to also be manifested as a living person.

I have no real problem with this, either, as long as it isn't done posthumously. There ought to be a good reason why this founder is part of that deity (or vice versa).

> Remember - the Orlanthi are not Western philosophers, obsessed with categorization and dissection!

However, they are obsessed with their achievements and those of their ancestors. It is called boasting.            

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