From: alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk
Date: Wed 06 Apr 1994 - 11:25:44 EEST
A final (?) belated (!) shot in the Initiation firefight...
David "Autofire Find Weakness" Dunham (<g>) said:
> Alex asked me
> >I take it means you think initiation into tribe and religion is done as a
> >_single_ ritual, then, not merely that both are required for Adulthood?
> Or at least two rituals virtually back-to-back (depending on holy days). It
> just seems that you're not an adult until you're a religious initiate. I
> haven't worked out all the ramifications (e.g. the Lhankor Mhy apprentice).
I'm certainly not inclined to get zealous about this issue; rather I think the published information is so vague as to admit no definitive conclusion either way. Perhaps it needs to be Gregged.
The only clear reference I find is in the RQ Magic Book, of all places, which states that "it is a traditional sign of adulthood", which is still some way short of an absolute requirement.
I note that the annotations to Argrath's Saga say there are "several initiations to qualify as adults" (annot. 10). This leaves open the question of whether cult initiation is one of these steps, and if so, whether it precedes or succeeds the tribal/clan initiation.
Certainly, however, it seems clear being an Adult Non-Initiate would not be a common, and much less an approved of, state, even if it is possible.
But note that if you're a 15 year old, trying to join a religion other than that of your parents', your chances aren't great. A back-of-an- envelope calculation for a boringly-average Sartarite of this age trying to pass the Orlanth skill test, one of the easier due to high(ish) skill bases, suggests he has about a 10% of success. What happens if he fails? Does he get bounced out of the clan, have to wait until the next lot of clan initiations, and try the whole thing again, or simply wait a year, and retry joining the cult (or even try joining another in the meantime)?
It seems more likely to me that certain `traditional' clans would require initiation to a _particular_ deity (most obviously, Orlanth or Ernalda, according to chosen path), while in more `modern' clans it would be (at least theoretically) optional. The requirement `be initiated to a diety, any deity' seems a little artificial to me, given the differing importance of different deities, and the differing meanings of initiation into them. (Presumably initiation into Voria or Voriof `doesn't count', at least.)
One thought that occurs is that particular bloodlines might have this requirement, for their particular `family' god. This would make some sense if initiation were into one's own bloodline primarily, and only secondarily into clan or tribe. This is a bit rough on people not wanting to follow the family tradition, mind you.
On the subject of bloodlines: someone stated that tribal kings had to belong to particular royal bloodlines; anyone have a reference to this in published material? (I found one declaring this to be the case at the Kingdom level, but not that I could see otherwise.)
> BTW, I'd consider it sad if Griffin Island is let go out of print.
It could be rereprinted as G, Mountain, right? I'm sure nobody much would mind it being `deblanked'.
Alex.
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