Shamans

[Gregory M]

What means exactly this excerpt from Heroquest Glorantha, p. 137?

A shaman has the abilities of a spirit society member in every spirit society associated with his Tradition that he is eligible to join.

Does that just mean that a shaman is, potentially, member of ALL the spirit societies of a Tradition? What means "abilities" here?

[David Scott]

4 minutes ago, Gregory M said:

What means exactly this excerpt from Heroquest Glorantha, p. 137?

A shaman has the abilities of a spirit society member in every spirit society associated with his Tradition that he is eligible to join.

Firstly the use of the word abilities is a mistake that slipped through editing (it's in my original text). Replace it with 

Quote

A shaman has the benefits and duties of a spirit society member in every spirit society associated with his Tradition that he is eligible to join.

14 minutes ago, Gregory M said:

Does that just mean that a shaman is, potentially, member of ALL the spirit societies of a Tradition?

Is a member of every spirit society they are eligible to join. Yes

Using the Praxian tradition as an example and referring to this doc:

572e0fb189614_PraxianTraditionstructurev2.png.ec9cfaf5bfe96994790c46d4e8e3724a.png

over in this post : https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/4533-the-praxian-tradition/

So a Waha shaman could preside over Daka Fal, Foundchild, the Many Friends societies (with the appropriate rune) and Storm Bull rites. If he was from one of the Minor tribes, he could preside over their founder's society rites such as Great Rhino. And he can't really refuse those from those societies that come to him.

He's not part of Eiritha or any other womens' societies.

Likewise a Sable Eiritha shaman with a Moon rune is also a member of all the appropriate Paps societies, Daka Fal, Storm Bull (in theory yes really - she's not chaotic, but there is no organised SB in the tribe), Helpwoman. She must choose between the Hidden Ancestor (non-Lunar) and the Twinstars (Lunar) societies, but if with the Twinstars, she's a member of the Red School of Masks and the Jalakeel society.

 

 

 

[Gregory M]

Thank you David Scott !

[davecake]

It is also very helpful to look at the Kolat tradition in Sartar Companion. The core spirit society is the Seven Winds, and most (male, anyway) Orlanthi spirit magicians members join that, and after that may go on to join others. Joining that society is necessary to learn how to create your own powerful charms, etc. but only gives you access to six spirits. There are 5 other spirit societies that are part of the Kolat tradition (some of which may also be part of the Serdroda Earth Witch female tradition), and they must all be joined individually, and may require some effort to join (such as locating someone already carrying out those rites, or traveling to a particular sacred place). A shaman, however, has more options (such as contacting those spirits on the spirit plain, and directly asking tradition spirits about the rites if he does not know them), and is recognized as playing Kolats role, so can easily take part in the rites of any of these known spirit societies. 

[David Scott]

On 30/08/2017 at 5:09 AM, davecake said:

It is also very helpful to look at the Kolat tradition in Sartar Companion.

I've a rewrite in the pipeline that brings it up to HQG. It becomes the Storm tradition with some of societies crossing into the Earth tradition. Look at the Pavis tradition for the best examples of crossover in Pavis GtA.

Edited September 4, 2017 by David Scott