> > Peter Metcalfe insists that Waha founded a new culture from scratch. Did he?
>
> That is what the Praxians themselves believe as recorded in numerous
> gloranthan publications. Moreover your analysis is flawed in that it
> obsesses over Waha's heroic deeds rather than Praxian culture, namely
> the laws and customs of society which Waha established.
I believe that one should lead to another. Waha did clearly established a new society from the rag tag survivors. His heroic deeds were about bringing together all of the leftovers into something new. All the survivors survived with the help of others, who now make up the spirit societies of the Praxian Tradition - Storm Bull, Foundchild, Helpwoman, Daka Fal, the elemental spirits and others. He met those helpers and added them to his new society as they helped people survive. He added new things to the mix, by his heroic actions, Eiritha is in the Tradition, etc, and bound it all together into something new. I call these actions the Tasks of Waha, and it's a big list, with most of them being meetings with those that help people survive, some being heroic fights, other being needed actions (dharma).
> The moment I see pseudo-anthropological jargon ("quasi-cannibalistic"?), Wakboth kills a shadow-kitten.
That made me laugh Peter.
> You would be better off indicating your source.
Sources are great for all of us. It means we can go and look at the texts ourselves in context. If it's an out of print book, you can quote from it for illustrative purposes as long as it's not huge chunks. Those that don't have these books will be grateful for the insight. Please also give edition info (where appropriate and page numbers.
> > Waha's cult may well claim this, but only by virtue of subsuming the Founder cults.
>
> Except that the Founders are not part of Waha's cult. The ranking Waha Khan may know the secret of summoning the Tribal Founder, there's very
> little Founder magic in his cult.
Where the Founders sit in the Praxian tradition is an interesting question.
There was a document on the Glorantha website that listed some of the places in the spirit world of the Praxians:
The Great Herd: "When a normal man or woman enters the spirit world of their own safe circles, they visit the Great herd. There is Eiritha herself, a huge cow of whatever herd the visitors are members. She is surrounded by others less spectacular in size, but each with her own splendor. They are cows of the other great herds, as well as a variety of the visitors' kinship animal. So a bison tribesperson would see a huge splendid Bison, who is Eiritha, and around her a black bison, a long horn bison, an ordinary bison, the star bison and even a white bison, as well as a high llama, an impala, etc.
I think they are in the Great Herd as well, in their proper place for their kind of animal: High llamas and herd-men - mixed in, sable and impala - in as the single male in the herd and bison in the bachelor herd.
The magic that Waha uses brings the founder into the inner world from the spirit world, it's manifestation magic. What the founders do when summoned is another question.
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