Galanini/hsunchen

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From: David Dunham (ddunham@radiomail.net)
Date: Wed 01 Jun 1994 - 21:40:13 EEST


Jonas said
>Galanini culture seems very contradictory to outsiders - they live in a
>mixture of highly formalized solar hierarchies and primitive hsunchen
>anarchy. The leader of the tribe is referred to as the Emperor; he and most
>of the other men worship Ehilm, while the women mainly carry on the
>tradition of ancestor worship on the Hykim/Mikyh scheme - their deity is
>Galanin, God of Horses .

To add to the confusion, in my campaign, Ehilm worship is hereditary and for males only. Whether you can worship is determined whether your _mother_ is descended (through the female line) from the Queen who first met (and slept with) Ehilm. Since her immediate offspring tended to be extra big and strong and fecund, and because the event took place in the late First or early Second Age, most Galanini qualify. I haven't yet decided who non-qualifying males worship (I believe Sandy said many of his Galanini worshipped Hyalor, but I don't think it makes sense to tame your kin).

And of course, the Emperor's son doesn't become Emperor, his nephew does. (Actually, they probably use a title like Tsar instead of Emperor.)

>The orlanthi have for many generations considered it
>prudent not to anger them by riding horses, partly because they are still a
>military force to be reckoned with, but mostly because of an ingrained
>respect for these ancient allies. Fortunately, Galanini have adopted enough
>of the Solar rigidity to follow the exact letter of the law (and to not
>consider changing it), leaving the option of hitching horses to ploughs,
>wagons or chariots open.

As a consequence (and because Ralian ponies are small and don't make the best war horses), most Orlanthi in the East Wilds use chariots. A few ride horses, and dare the enmity of the Galanini. Ekel Field-Destroyer, thane of the Belovaking clan, is one such; he's established a temple to Elmal Horse-Thane to back this up. [This came about when his daughter rolled the Pendragon family trait "Good with Horses, Riding +10," a neat case of dice serendipity. (Family traits are inherited from the father, and tend to express his personal interests.)]

Martins aid
> I see the Ralians preferring crushing with rocks to the
>Seshnelan and Fronelan impalement. Thus, you get these cairns
>all over the place...

Hmm, I'd already decided the East Ralios Orlanthi tended to bury in cairns (most historical Celts did)...

Joerg said
>The ability to change into one's
>phylum seems to have been wide-spread in Godtime. ... Ironhoof
>seems to have reawakened this creating the Grazer tribe

Don't believe every myth that was invented during the Ritual of Rebirth which Ironhoof held for the refugee horse-riders.

>King Heort with his antlers

Where's this reference?

>GRoY introduced "new" hill barbarian peoples, like the Ram people
>with their deity my God Learner secretary recognized as Heler

Are you saying the Ram people are hsunchen, or that the Dara Happans thought they were? Also, how do you associate "their great god, the huge iron Ram whose horns could break anything," with Heler?

>Re: Praxian (and other) religious virtues
> Here, to go with the Malkioni virtues/tendencies by caste
>(above), are some other cultural virtues
>Hsunchen: Generous, Honest, Trusting, Valorous

I'd given them (as a culture) Cruel +1, Pious +2, Suspicious +2, by analogy to Pendragon's Picts, but haven't worked out the Hykim virtues yet.

Edward Ott asked about the Garhound contest:
>the baboon ended up winning
>any body have a good idea of what the garhound reaction should be.

A _female_ baboon won? I imagine Garhound would go into mourning, convert to the Lunar religion since Orlanth has obviously abandoned them, ignore the results because the baboon had to have cheated, or other drastic steps due to such a horrible outcome.

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