Re: Odaylans amongst the Orlanthi / Kolating Shamans

Greetings Sergi,

These are some summarised thoughts about Kolatings in Orlanthi society including a couple of thoughts about meeting one/seeing one for the first time. I'd be interested in hearing about how you do end up introducing the PC to the NPC, and how it went.

Introduction of / Introducing Kolating Shamans.

The Kolating Shamans in the (in the very incomplete) writeups of the cult are portrayed as quite wild in their ways, never staying in the same place for long (much like the wind), and sleeping outdoors. They are the type of people even other shamans are glad to see go.

And compared to the relatively "common" Odalyans, shamans are quite rare.

So, when an Orlanthi has specialised in the spirit path, they are likely to serve in the role for all spirit relations.

As a good min-maxed PC, (yours I know is a NPC) he/she would surround themselves with multitudes of spirits. Might (intentionally) also have one covertly possessing themself. As you approach on a still day, you can feel the wind moving around from different directions. And the winds have different temperatures, sounds(whispers), speeds, sizes and smells - some are cold, warm, slow fast etc.

And shamans are always talking to their spirit friends around themselves. So observers often only hear one side of a conversation. And shamans can apparently ignore you because they are listening to others and simply don't hear you. The people are less real and less important to them than the spirits they talk to all day and night.

As for encountering them, I would suggest encountering them doing their "stuff".

One role of the shamans, is to take part in the Orlanthi rituals .

1. honouring of the ancestors on "clan day" - celebrating the founding of the clan, and telling the stories of what the ancestors did. The sacred places of the tula, and especially any agreements made between spirits
2. At sacred time, bringing the winds to dance at the sacred rebirth rituals, so that during the year they will also come, to bring the winds that bring change, rain, snow
3. At a death. At the traditional Orlanthi burials, making the sure the winds come to take the soul to where it should go in death (eg Orlanths hall, to be a lesser wind in service of the greater etc).
4. Direct worship/care of the clan/tribal wyter (as the spirit of the clan), and serve as intermediary of the wyter to the mundane worlds

And shamans are always useful in exorcising the possessed or haunted places, or marking (renewing the marks of) the scary haunted places. OR listening to the ancestors, only to hear the ancestors are displeased that one of the relationships with other spirits of the area has been broken.

Shamans also can serve as healers in the wilderness. If nothing else they have access to lots of spirits - some of which are likely to have healing magic, but also quite likely they have gotten quite good themselves of living off the land and looking after themselves and their own injuries.

And generally being the mouthpiece of ancestral spirits. What would you do/say to the shaman if you were told your great great great grandad (three generations dead) told you it was time you got married?

All the orlanthi "worship" the spirits, but in the rituals, not on a daily basis. But if a shaman wasn't there, someone else "initiated" into the spirit path would take the role.

An option you may prefer to introduce shamanism/the shamans by introducing someone who isn't a shaman but also takes the less common approach of directly worshipping spirits. Another Odalyan hunter could worship Kolat (as in the Mongoose Runquest this could be as an initiate) and have actual use of a wind spirit - for a hunter it is always useful if you are always upwind of your prey. And the other hunter introduces the shamans indirectly through his bias of knowing them due to being a cultist of this spirit cult. eg you build up the mystique about the shamans so that the players do actually want to meet them.

Especially if they try (and fail) - sorry the shaman left several days ago to go to another village/other part of the wilderness. Then, of course, when they do _eventually_ meet, the shaman could then turn around and say, it isn't so much what I can do you for you, but what you can do for me.

We'll see if I can eventually manage a Kolating writeup to be sent to Tradetalk.

Cheers
Brian
<SPACE RESERVED FOR RENT>             Received on Fri 07 Sep 2007 - 22:19:15 EEST