Nick Underwood

Awesome explanation Leingod. Agreed that would do away with the need for marriage between bloodlines as social glue. But how then should we interpret things like Agrath's clam to the Royal House of Sartar, or the inheritance of traits (among gods or mortals) that seem to be linked to direct parentage. Are these just happening in another paradigm, so that socially/culturally/legally I'm the daughter of my clan; but my heroic nature comes down in a straight line from my biological ancestors?

"Marriage is between people in different clans, not because of ideas about interbreeding, but because it’s a legal thing deciding which clan gets the children. If both parents are in the same clan, this isn’t a question, and you don’t bother getting married." I think the published material suggests that "both parents are in the same Clan" doesn't happen. I don't believe that would be true for the reasons I gave. Your approach here made perfect sense to me. ("Discovery" because the solution looks a lot like one of those eureka moments when everything we thought we new turns out to be both true and totally false at the same time.)

Great Stuff @HeartQuintessence Loved the Rainbow-coloured goat/sheep and the Bridle Rites - they really love their horses. (In a sense this is kind of reuniting the original horse&rider beast that existed before they were cut into separate animals - I've forgotten whose myth that is, but maybe your grazelanders bring a connection to it.) And you found a solution to a perennial issue I have with clan exogamy! If everyone marries outside the clan, then bloodlines have no blood ties between them and share no ancestry. What is holding the clan together? Only the unifying force of the Wyter? Your solution is a first-class anthropological discovery: same-clan parents may be common, but needs no marriage contract as there there can be no dispute over which clan the children belong to. That will be my answer hereon-in. I'm not sure I could make comments that would be helpful, rather than just distracting. I'm no Glorantha expert and have little to add to the abundance of creative ideas you're channelling. I'm currently calculating the calorific benefits of spring harvests at Clearwine. Why muddle your delightful folkloric stories with that kind of thinking? They are far better without it. When you're channelling the juju, don't stop to measure it.

On reflection, yes. And I apologise. Maybe I have spent too much time in Dorastor recently... Not mine. It's straight out of King of Dragon Pass - in reality it likely requires more food input than the increased output, and leads to terrible soil compaction... Not a sensible option, I agree. Actually, it is likely a viable option that some modern farmers are returning to. (Ask the elves !) But it sounds like overcoming hardship is a central theme, and ploughing is a hardship that suits your story well. My only comment is that this is an inversion of mythologically cemented gender roles, right at the heart of the internal life of the community, and is perhaps worthy of some form of mythological justification - which is, of course, exactly what the Vinga cult does for warrior/adventurers. Happy to take a look.

I was inspired by the notion of internal vs external stories to look back over some of the agricultural stuff: thinking along the lines that internal stories will be driven by events and practices of everyday life, and what is more everyday than getting enough food on the table. Looking at the RQG stuff on agriculture that I'd ignored before, I came across this: "A plow requires two oxen to pull. Among most farmers in the Dragon Pass region, only certain people may use the plow upon the earth, most commonly initiates of Orlanth or his son, Barntar the Plow God." (RQG: p177) So my first thought was: Typical Orlanthi sexists with their patriarchal appropriation of the means of production. Second thought was: Wow!! What potent mythological significance lies behind that social rule. Ploughing the land: the violent penetration and scarring of the submissive Earth by masculine power, followed by the casual broadcasting of his seed... This is not only about limiting women's access to the tools of survival, this is about ritually re-enacting the rape and submission of womankind. Barntar, you dark horse! How would your Women's Clan respond to the cultural and mythological constraints? Do you subvert the social rules (and the narrative) by becoming Plough-women and adopting mythologically appropriate attitudes. (I can plough Ernalda as well as any man...) Or could you instead adopt a no-plough agriculture that depends on cooperation with the feminine powers of fertility rather than domination? (There is is more than one way to bring a food forest to climax.) This latter option could be something that looks a lot like modern permaculture. But it may also be a more ancient tradition from a time before the windy gods when Earth cults predominated. So as your new clan looks for a mythological voice, it may find it is rediscovering something that has always been just under the surface. Or, another idea, perhaps you could invert the power relations within in the dominant myth? A shy and timid Barntar cultist has to be coaxed (actually paid!) into action, and is symbolically tied to the plough - now pulled by feminine-associated dinosaurs who scrape Orlanth's brother over the land until the Earth goddess is satisfied.(Yay, triceratops-plough!) Whatever the solution, women's agriculture offers some interesting opportunities (and motivations) for building the mythological foundations of your clan.

No. I've actually been mentally calling them Blini all along! (I'll add it to my list just under Waltakapus... )

259 pages of Dorastor. I'm in. What's more fun than trying to start a fresh life in the face of constant intrusions from the darker recesses of our psyche? Huge thanks for putting this out there. Looking forward to delving, musing, and making new connections. (No way my beloved Skanthi accepted Lunar gold! It's Blini propaganda, I tell ya. :))