> I suppose a Vingan takes a more active role in her womanhood initiation and so on.
I'd suggest a woman who is going to be an Vingan would fail the Ernaldan initiation. Just as a man aligned to Nandan would fail the Orlanthi initiation. Now given that inititiation failures can be lethal that suggests several possibilities. Firstly that such youngsters are discouraged from initiating to what their elders think are the wrong god(dess) for them. Secondly there's an early stage of the HQ which sifts out youngsters who aren't suited and kicks them back to the mundane world with nothing worse than the embarassment of failure. Thirdly rather than being thown off the HQ they go down an alternative path which leads to their god(dess).
> Also, I suppose a lay member of an unusual rune is expected to initiate to an appropriate
> god sooner rather than later. Certainly there doesn't seem to be as much place for them
> as there is for conventional lay members, although this is just a general impression.
Many of the unusual gods have a very specific place in Heortling society. They don't get the choice of occupations that followers of Orlanth and Ernalda have. It's probably obvious to others that they have a particular aptitude before initiation.
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Donald Oddy
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