From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Sun 15 May 1994 - 22:55:03 EEST
10% time, 10% tithing. This is giving us lots of grief. "Take two lots of time and tithing requirements into the shower? No, I just Pantheon'n'Go!" Let me do a quick take on this subject:
Rampant God Learnerism. _All_ these cults, whatever local conditions, with very few exceptions, have the same mundane requirements? Not bloody likely. Note that when we get to see longforms, they sometimes turn out differently: frex, Humakt and the Seven Mothers both differ somewhat from the 10%/10% thing. Other cults might vary too, once we get the details, or at least be subject to some intra-cult variation.
While not all cults are going to end up equal on a cost-benefit analysis, I think some are likely to be considered less important, even by their own worshipers, and accordingly require, or be afforded the luxury of, less in the way of material support. Look at the city god cult, say. Which brings me to:
Cities. I've noted that city-dwellers are an irreverent lot. Weakened clan structure, competing demands on your religious energies, the (ahem) distractions of city life. Is it likely they are as zealous as their Thunder and Brimstone country cousins? Nup. I think where a community is less than bursting with religious zeal, the mundane requirements will tend to be less. This is likely to have knock-on effects, mind you, such as on the magical well-being and general effectiveness of the religion, but I won't go into that in detail.
So what if I don't? How severe are the penalties likely to be if you backslide on your commitments, whatever they turn out to be, exactly? Not very, I think. I doubt it even provokes the Orlanth Impests into action, unless you're obnoxious and blatant about it. The big disadvantage is going to be when you then turn up at the temple, looking for a spellcasting, training, to learn a spell, a political favour, a place to kip after an argument with the wife, anything you imagine you have coming to you in the "Benefits" column.
So basically, it is possible, I think, to have a fairly religiously lax community without them looking like Agent Orange test subjects. Also, I think it's not implausible to be initiated to a "cultural" deity like Orlanth, and then essentially ignore the cult, except on the most important occassions. (Missing the High Holy Day would be a no-no.) This would mean you could then join the cult you _really_ wanted to with incurring additional "penalties", as such.
Alex.
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