[Glorantha] Esrolian Orlanth

[Jeff Richard]

Ian Cooper (who is always worth reading) writes:

>Orlanth has many aspects and sub-cults and I expect what we are
really talking about
>here is an emphasis on certain parts of Orlanth over others at
different times.

Sure.  Here is a blurb from the forthcoming Unfinished Work Greg and I
have been working on (I won't quote more - I expect you all to buy it
when it comes out next year!):

"Orlanth is the "Shadow Aspect" of the Esrolian Grandmothers. Orlanth
is always present in Esrolian rituals and myths – Orlanth is
inextricably linked to the Allmother. No one in Esrolia would claim
that their Ernalda is different from the Ernalda of Hendrikiland,
Dragon Pass or Tarsh.  But unlike the Good Goddess, Orlanth is
violent, turbulent, cruel, and extremely dangerous. The same is true
about his followers. Orlanth must be placated but he can't be allowed
to reestablish his kingdom. This is a source of much psychological
insecurity on the part of the Grandmothers."

The Orlanth of Esrolia is the same as the Orlanth of the Heortlings
and Orlanth is recognized as Ernalda's husband and equal (Orlanth is
emphatically not Ernalda's Underhusband).  However, His cult is
considered dangerous by the Grandmothers - Orlanthi holy men are to be
watched and maybe feared.

>It is all really a question of spin. When people in Esrolia tell the
stories of Orlanth the
>emphasis will be that he is a good husband when properly tamed by his
wife Ernalda,
>otherwise he can get into trouble. After all did not Orlanth admit
his own mistakes by
>undertaking the Lightbringer's Quest. Women need to learn to control
their husbands, just
>as Ernalda did (and Flower Day is about this) and husbands need to
learn about the
>dangers of their temper. And if young men ask why they do not rule as
Orlanth once did
>the grandmothers frighten them with tales of the Sword and Helm war.

I agree with some of this - but fundamentally, I don't think the
Esrolians are "spinning".  Their sacred stories about Orlanth line up
with the sacred stories the Heortlings tell (although the Heortlings
probably have many many more sacred stories about Orlanth - just as
the Esrolians probably have more sacred stories about Ernalda and
Esrola).  To understand how an Esrolian should behave - look to
Imarja.  She is the great supernatural being of Esrolia (although
Orlanth and Ernalda are Great Gods, Imarja is more relevant to most
Esrolians).  She saved the Esrolian Grandmothers when fractious and
brutish men took to warring against each other.  She bound her
children to Esrolia and taught them the Eight Silent Songs to bind
them to the land, as well as the Ninth Silent Scream to halt men's
follies.  It is Imarja - not Ernalda - who makes the Esrolians
different from the other Orlanthi.  That is why the Esrolians have
often been called Imarjarans in the past.

>Still Esrolia is a cosmopolitan place in areas like Nochet, and there
I would suspect you >would find worshippers of many of these aspects
who have travelled from abroad. They >would probably be regarded with
suspicion by the grandmothers, but outright prohibition >seems
unlikely.

Absolutely.  Also places like the hills Longsi Land and North March
are dominated by shepherds that worship the Orlanth and Heler cults.
Herders have a reputation for being troublemakers and bandits.

Jeff