Lodril in Sun County

[Nick Brooke]

Quoting Sun County Backgrounds, one of the three (“four, sir!”) types of Sun County Noblility is “COPPER — nobles with perhaps remote Praxian ancestry, who left their nomadic tribes to settle among and lord it over the common folk of Sun County. Over time, parts of Sun County have been ruled by Praxians from almost every tribe, who subsequently intermarried: consequently there are now a medley of tall, short, hairy and bald nobles. That’s genetics for you!”

(The others are Gold, Bronze, and now Silver. There’s a box nearby on the slurs they direct at each other. It’s all fun stuff!)

[Erol of Backford]

9 hours ago, metcalph said:

Lodril is a distant ancestor and I've not even heard of the Men-and-a-half having a temple to him.  Their main god is Foundchild and if they wanted to go for the flames, they are far more likely to consider Oakfed.

Based on the clip from RoC p.29 this PC is one of the few looking to Lodri... Uncle Ted mentioned pilgrimages to Vent passing through Heortland but that is a long way. I'll have to see where and how Lodri is worshipped in Prax outside of Sun County.

[Jeff]

Something that seems to constantly get lost in discussions about the Praxian Sun County - distance and size.

Sun County in Prax has a population of about 19,000 people. It is next to Pavis County, another mutually intelligible agricultural community of about 25,500 people. These communities are not hermetically sealed from each other - we know that there are many ties between Sun County and Pavis County, including a minor Yelmalio temple and so on. 

The Yelmalio cult has a reputation for being "unnecessarily aloof" and often accused of treachery by their Orlanthi neighbours. So the roughly 5000 Yelmalio cultists in the River of Cradles tend to do their own thing, refuse to be part of councils with the Orlanthi, and generally demand the right to do things "their way". Their streets in New Pavis are oriented a different direction, etc. But the cult works with outsiders - they are just mercenaries who are willing to work for the Orlanthi AND/OR the Lunars, depending on who makes the better offer.

But that's Yelmalio. Ernalda is the main Earth goddess in the River of Cradles, and her cult keeps Orlanth and Yelmalio in competition. Issaries is present at the Sun Dome Temple, and so on. 

[Jeff]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Something that seems to constantly get lost in discussions about the Praxian Sun County - distance and size.

Sun County in Prax has a population of about 19,000 people. It is next to Pavis County, another mutually intelligible agricultural community of about 25,500 people. These communities are not hermetically sealed from each other - we know that there are many ties between Sun County and Pavis County, including a minor Yelmalio temple and so on. 

The Yelmalio cult has a reputation for being "unnecessarily aloof" and often accused of treachery by their Orlanthi neighbours. So the roughly 5000 Yelmalio cultists in the River of Cradles tend to do their own thing, refuse to be part of councils with the Orlanthi, and generally demand the right to do things "their way". Their streets in New Pavis are oriented a different direction, etc. But the cult works with outsiders - they are just mercenaries who are willing to work for the Orlanthi AND/OR the Lunars, depending on who makes the better offer.

But that's Yelmalio. Ernalda is the main Earth goddess in the River of Cradles, and her cult keeps Orlanth and Yelmalio in competition. Issaries is present at the Sun Dome Temple, and so on. 

Along the theme of size, it is 43 kilometres from New Pavis to the Sun Dome Temple, so it is possible to ride there in a hard days travel (although normally it is a two day trip).

In comparison, the distance between Hobbiton and Bree is almost 200 km. 

[soltakss]

15 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Are the Sun Domes not only misogynistic but also racists?

Maybe, maybe not.

They are Yelmite Supremacists, for sure.

But, I don't think they are racist.

15 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

We have to ask as we have a PC who's character is thinking they are Elmalian but they are Agimori. Has anyone had PC's who were Agimori Emalian? Do they need to be blonde and brown eyed?

Agimori wield pikes in Phalanxes, Yelmalians wield pikes in Phalanxes. Agimori worship a major Fire Deity, Yelmalians worship a major Light Deity. They are more alike than you might imagine.

I think that Agimori could worship Yelmalian, although they are naturally toed to the Fire Rune that Yelmalio lost.

15 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Maybe they also venerate Lodri?

Agimori more naturally worship Lodril, as he is their ancestor and the source of their Fire Rune.

15 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

How would they be received at the Sun Dome in Prax?

As savage cousins.

Agimori are Praxian in ways that the Sun Domers couldn't, and wouldn't want to, be.

Sun Domers think of Lodrili as earthy peasants, more used to the sensual, dirty, wallowing in mud kind of stuff that Sun Domers remain aloof from. They are confused by Agimori, as Lodrili, as they are not earthy peasants, and do not wallow in the mud, are not sensual or dirty.

 

[Darius West]

Good suggestion Soltakss.  If you are looking for indigenous Praxian Lodril worshippers, look no further than the Agimori.  While many worship the Praxian hunter deity Foundchild, and the women worship Helpwoman, they have a strong Lodril tradition as well, with secrets that go back Before Time, when they were an elite force sent north by Pamalt to fight chaos.   I imagine that the Agimori may well be periodic allies of Sun County, with perhaps a few of their number going over to the Yelmalios every generation, because they like the pretty golden armor.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Darius West

[Jeff]

Again, I don't think the Yelmalio cultists are even "Yelm supremacists" - what they are consistently described as is "unnecessarily aloof" and "tends to regard outsiders as unclean." The Yelmalio cult manages to maintain its own separate identity in an overwhelmingly Orlanthi world through its practices, its different customs, and by stubbornly asserting its differences with other groups. That could easily track with attitudes towards Judaism in the Greco-Roman world,  Mormonism in parts of the US, etc. 

 

[soltakss]

On 11/7/2022 at 8:08 AM, Darius West said:

 I imagine that the Agimori may well be periodic allies of Sun County, with perhaps a few of their number going over to the Yelmalios every generation, because they like the pretty golden armor.

In my Glorantha, Agimori see Yelmalians as soft and weak with inferior pike formations.

Sure, some could join, but they would then be seen as soft and weak by fellow Agimori.

 

[Darius West]

11 hours ago, soltakss said:

In my Glorantha, Agimori see Yelmalians as soft and weak with inferior pike formations.

Sure, some could join, but they would then be seen as soft and weak by fellow Agimori.

So here's a curly one... Do Agimori use their large shields the way Yelmalios do in Phalanx fighting, or do they hold their pike in both hands without a shield?

[soltakss]

5 hours ago, Darius West said:

So here's a curly one... Do Agimori use their large shields the way Yelmalios do in Phalanx fighting, or do they hold their pike in both hands without a shield?

I think they drape their shields over their arm, as the Yelmalians do. Just use the same Pike and Shield hit locations.