Re: Vadrudi's customs and history

• In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, Peter Metcalfe <metcalph@...> wrote:

> I really think the Vadrudi are nothing more than armed gangs with
> brutality being the a measure of status.

I suppose that everyone status in vadrudi societies (societies based upon the laws of Vadrus or his kin : Valind, Ygg, Gagarth...) is gauged on the capacity to overcome others in challenges and no-rules duels : the one who is defeated or submits is considered of lower status. The king is the one who have defeated all his challengers or the one no one dares to challenge.

But there must be limits to prevent perpetual state of war. Perhaps, challenges can only be peformed at right moments : religious events, ceremonies, Thing (clan's warriros council), sharing of booty, when decisions are taken or orders given...

Can a thrall wins his freedom by killing his master ?

> One Vadrudi may abuse another Vadrudi's slaves but the
> act is considered a slur on the second Vadrudi's status.

By abusing someone else'slave, the vadrudi acts as if he's the slave's master. Abusing another vadrudi's slave is usurping is authority : it's considered as a challenge. If a vadrudi let someone else abuse his slave, this slave belongs to him no more.

> Slavery is a voluntary act and even the most terrifying
> Vadrudi do not enslave everybody they see. Why? Because
> they like hurting people and too many slaves around is no fun.

There should be other reasons too :

1. having too much thralls is dangerous : _ it arouses other vadrudi's envy (covetoussness) _ it increases the risks of slaves revolt
2. Vadrudis are Umath's kin, they remember is fight for freedom and they don't want to mimic solar behaviour too much
3. Maybe enslaving kin is taboo ? Maybe even the weaker membre of the storm tribe deserves freedom or death ?

> Priesthood among the vadrudi is little more than holy slavery.
> Their person is sanctosant but their lives are made miserable
> by the dieties they serve.

Their cult could have an important propitiatory and prophylactic part. Their gods must be appeased, if they want to escape their wrath. But advantages should be given to the faithfull too, otherwise the clan can choose a diety more inclined to listen to her followers...

> Although the Vadrudi regularly sacrifice to their gods to avoid
> dire retribution, most of their magic comes from godlings and
> spirits they have managed to capture.

So, their gods have access to the master rune, I presume, which give them the ability to enslave other spirits, godlings and essences ?

IMO, Ygg inherited the ability to tame water spirits from his father Valind (Valind, the god who can imprison water into ice with the chains of frost). He can shape the waters into iceberg-boats, take control of the waves with his stormy winds...

> If the priests feel that their particular god has not been receiving
> his due, then they may smite a fellow Vadrudi with magical curses
> for fun.

Not for fun, even if they take pleasure at it, but to remind the clan of their power.

> They would also know of and worship Storm Bull, Orlanth and
> Humakt (Storm Bull and Ragnaglar in the same Vadrudi
> gang? Impossible. But in neighbouring clans, quite possible
> and also a cause for frequent fighting).

Are there really clans who worshipp Ragnaglar (except for propitiatory and prophylactic reasons), the god who brought Chaos into Glorantha ?

I believe vadrudi only worshipp the adventurous and thunderous aspects of Orlanth ?

Perhaps worshipp they the weaker storm gods under animals figures (Orlanth the hawk, Odayla the bear, etc.) as the tale of "Vadrus and the Logic Tribe" (Anaxial Rooster) figures it ?

> The main god among the Yggites would be Valind who has ruled ever
> since the Great Darkness.

I'd rather think the central figure are Ygg and moreover his son (Yggdrasyl ?) who teaches the yggites how to build ships, navigate and plunder... (their kind of Heort)

There's not much to gain from the worshipping of Valind... more snow and ice ?
Valind must be the "allfather god" of their pantheon, a dangerous and powerfull god, to whom they make important sacrifices to appease him, but from whom they expect not much...

Valind's Winter Palace should represent paradise for the Yggites. Maybe they are buried into the Glacier, to lie forever within their god ?

> AFAIK Vadrus was around in time as a crippled god at the fringes of
> their pantheon but he has dissappeared during the third age.

It could be nice to have priests of Vadrus who still worshipp their dead god (who can't answer their prayers), keeping his crippled memory...

> The Yggites or the people of Bija are somewhat unusual
> in that they have some relationship with the Elves of
> Winterwood and they may venerate sacred trees in
> return for hunting and gathering rites.

I have thought of some tree worshipping. When Darkness came, plants enter into slumber. So the Yggites were unable to build new ships, houses, etc.

But one of their heroes find the solution : he fed some trees with the blood of the sacrified to reawake them.
>From the wood of these blood trees, the yggites craft the keel and the
prow of their langskip. So every langskip is inhabited by the spirit of a blood tree (the wyter of the ship).

> Vadrus did kill and defeat the Blue Dragon Enkoshons in order to
> gain access to Iphara.

Where can I find the extended version of this legend ?

Thanks

Boris             Received on Fri 09 Mar 2007 - 07:12:07 EET