Qizilbashwoman

she is the head librarian! she's not the high priest, but she's in charge of the library. Like, he's a bishop and she's the local diocesan priest.

sketch, meaning sketchy

as a person who started gaming in 1981 with AD&D: absolutely not, the two games should be CoC/RQG and FATE.

A uniquely Muslim position is that while predestination (al-Qadr) is true, so is free will! The Day of Judgment requires individual choice to matter. So yes, it's not a notion of radical free will. (I am a Muslim woman.) But naming the slaves of God "Sufis" is skeeeetch. The Muslim self-designation is muwahhid(a), "monotheist", and not in the sense of "among other gods" but in the sense of "there's no god but God"

This is essentially the position taken by the Wool Wearers (nota bene: in Arabic, that's "Sufis", skeeeetch)

Exactly! In addition, communal meals are also a feature of many bronze age dense societies. I've long imagined the Orlanthis of Kerafinela have a longhouse clan structure. It's honestly impractical to have a million hearths doing the cooking and baking, which is an immense amount of effort, instead of arranging a large meal once or twice a day and everyone managing their own snacks or special cookery (catch a personal rabbit for a luncheon in the wild, grab some cheese and bread for the fields). Communal effort is far, far more efficient than every single household arranging individual meals.

one of the more interesting things we've learned about early cities such as in Sumer is that collective society was not at all like life later on. One of the most significant things about urban life in early Mesopotamia (which changed later on in Assyria) is that it truly was communal. We find private areas, but none of them have stoves and seem to have been for younger couples. Society was organised not around families but around temple communities. The temple and its bureaucracy were the absolute organising agent for daily life. The civic leader, who was usually also the head of the priesthood, ran the daily life of the community and was at the top of the civic bureaucracy. This individual was called the ensi "leader of the ploughed lands", which in later times was just a term for king. People ate in mess halls that doubled as sleeping places. These are what are known later as "bars", actually. Women brewed beer, which at the time was thick porridge with an alcoholic content that ensured it wouldn't give you waterborne disease. The importance of this role is underlined in the many Gilgamesh stories, where the "barmaid" - an entirely incorrect translation - is the person responsible for civilising Enkidu. People would drink stronger drink and enjoy entertainment. There is also evidence that sexual activity happened in these areas as well. The important bit is that food was collectively held and cooked. There were no private kitchens and few private sleeping areas. There were separate individuals in charge of the military, the lugal "big man". The lugal was a war-leader. This was a separate and independent structure that was responsible for city defense and for raids. In later times, the terms ensi and lugal both are translated "king", but in earlier times their roles were extremely different. So why am I mentioning this? In later periods, wealth created independent, family-based patrilineal lineages and lifestyles began to change. Assyrians in particular had brought in a different social model and it sort of fused with the older system. I think in many ways this is a good way to understand the Big Houses of the Lunar Empire. They create social structures similar to that of the smaller original city-states and their central temple on a much much larger scale.

It's interesting to note three things about the tale of two brothers: Pharaoh Amenemhat I of the Twelfth Dynasty (20th century BCE!) tried to validate his reign as a usurper by doing a lot of cultural work, including recording many literary narratives, and he and his son had the first coregency in Egyptian history, which echoes the narrative of two brothers where one brother is killed and reborn as the successor. It has a narrative echo in the Horus-Isis-Seth story It has a narrative influence on Potiphar, Joseph, and Potiphar's Wife (called Zulaykha in Arabic), one of the most historically popular tales in Jewish and Muslim societies alike. There's like one million versions in every language around

it's true that a 'gina jar is very different from the Ginna Jar

it's amazing how the owner of D&D has always been loathed, and for good reason

Is the cheese god part of the Wind pantheon

i never want to see vaginal pedipalps ever again, David Scott

if it was good enough for [insert solar figure here], it is good enough for Belintar

haha i instantly saw the cover of a YA book where Ernalda is like in an action pose on a rock with one leg up

I think it's a case of "everyone needs my lessons, even you!"

I think it's just my own thought after having a grandmother named Mildred; it's got a good legacy but boy does it sound bad in English. (Mine went by "Millie" her whole life.)

her definition is lord of the universe, though. that title exists but it seems quite different in meaning from what people mean by "Nature". she maintains the entire world. she's the distant god, much like Olorun in Orisha, responsible for the world but not directly worshipped.

Women are also illustrated in medieval fighting manuals (Fechtbücher); the Walpurgis Fechtbuch is actually named for a female fighter illustrated in it, who has the unfortunate name "Walpurgis" and the not unfortunate experience of being illustrated as the exact match of the male fighter illustrated in it, both with sword and board.

I continue to suggest "Nature" is the wrong way to understand Gloranthan deities. Many of the deities described herein are Plant ones, not "Nature". "Nature" is an extremely European and even specifically Christian notion, and I really don't think Glorantha reflects a divide between Man and Nature in the way we are discussing it, even if the Authors of the Texts were aware of it (I think Greg was certainly aware of it given his personal beliefs). As people have noted, Earth spirits in Genertela are almost all female, but that's precisely because Genert died. Forms like sylphs aren't "Nature", they're Plant, water, etc. Solar deities are largely masculine, including ones like Gustbran, but Mahome is Solar and feminine and associated with the human hearth and Barntar is Earth and associated with human farming. So again: it's not a good idea to say "nature spirits" here when discussing the game. We can discuss metafictional issues like "inspired by Greek spirits" or whatever.

to be fair, in-world texts are not at all reliable!

i know that we as players have the notion of a "nature spirit" but 100% Glorantha doesn't think that way. (I took an entire course on the evolution of the idea of "Nature" in Buddhism and in East Asia in college.) Here you are confusing Earth and "Nature". There are plenty of Plant and Water deities and spirits associated with male attributes (or both, as with Orlanthan Heler). I'm not trying to nitpick, I think there's a real good reason to clarify how we are discussing this.

Yes, it's a kickstarter by that Christian group

my reaction to "the Virgin Mary covered for me while I prayed" would absolutely not be "so I'll leave that work and become a monk". SHE COVERED FOR YOU SO YOU WOULDN'T LOSE FACE PLEASE DO NOT IMMEDIATELY QUIT THAT JOB

the racism here is public! why wouldn't the response be public? I'd like to say: I also will not buy anything from TDM, it's still being actively sold: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/413791/Mythic-Polynesia

Lodril doesn't have a mother! If you want to make a local myth, have her be His little-known twin.