Halea in Retrospect
Disclaimer: This is a derivative work discussing Hârn or Hârn World, originally created by N. Robin Crossby. No assertion of copyright to Hârn or Hârn World is made by producer or the publisher of this work.
This treatise discusses Halea and her church in relation to the economical, social, cultural and religious climate of Hârn without the typical and simplistic FRPG stereotypes. Halea is removed from the position of an object of male (gamer) sexual fantasies and portrayed in the general everyday life on Hârn. The Hârnic sources (Columbia Games’ Gods of Hârn and Hârn Religion) are reread and reinterpreted in order to reconstruct Halea as a meaningful part of Hârnic religious beliefs and practices.
Contents
PART I: DISSECTION
1. Background – a survey of the Halean origins
Halea is a goddess of hedonism. In the sources the central form of hedonism is sexual pleasure as given by females. This is supported by the history of the Halean church as told in the sources. The Halean prophets are female, and whatever veils they wear, they are in the end temple prostitutes whose usury is based on the pricing of their bodies. The reason for this is, simply put, that N. Robin Crossby (NRC) and co. wrote Halea like this. But NRC & co. didn’t write in a vacuum, and they wrote for an audience.
The obvious inspirations for many things in Hârn are the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, M. A. R. Barker and Gary Gygax’s D&D. Hârn differs from Tolkien and Barker in that it has no coherent mythical background for the religious setting. The works of prof. Tolkien are thoroughly religious (veiled evangelist Christian), and contemplation, poetry and songs form a central theme of Middle-Earth. Prof. Barker, on the other hand, is anthropologically and historically solid, rich in cultural description. The Tekumel polytheism sounds and feels possible and interesting.
Especially the gods of Barker’s creation seem to have had a lasting effect on NRC’s vision. But NRC imported only the surface of the ideas of Tolkien and Barker. The Hârnic religious climate is oriented more in the non-historical, irreligious D&D fashion. It is understandable that such a climate doesn’t support well the ideas imported from Tolkien’s and Barker’s settings. The polytheism and pantheons of Barker have been oddly deformed when imported into Hârn, and it is hard to locate anything of the thorough contemplative and epic nature of Middle-Earth in Hârn as written, save a line or two in the descriptions of the Hârnic Sindarin and Evael.
What is perhaps more important than the background of Hârn, is the audience of Hârn. Hârn was written for gamers in the early 80s. Thus the “reality” of Hârn was designed to support the views of the gamers. It is not mythologically, anthropologically or historically sound. Hârn, as written, remains in the genre of FRPG world, even if it has a “real medieval” base. The gamers of early 80s were already accustomed to the idea of aligned gods that gave magical firepower to their supporters, and Hârn was written to allow this. Past discussions have shown often and clearly enough that even if the FRPG aspects tend to be tuned down and veiled in the Hârnic sources, they still are there, and are readily recognized and used by the gamers. The gods of Hârn are written to support the gamer. Their religious functions are mostly added up as colour.
When it comes to sexuality, and especially female sexuality and the role of females in the society, D&D and its kind have mostly borrowed from the literary genre of Sword&Sorcery, fully reproducing its inherent pulpish undertone, which in turn leads to hack&slash style in FRPGs. The attitude towards females in this FRPG genre is simple. Whether helpless or deadly, females tend to wear little to (ex)pose their pleasant bodies to the (male) eye. The Halean church tries to avoid the FRPG attitude by giving females themselves the power over their bodies, but it still openly and vividly underlines what the female body is for: giving pleasure.
When aspects of Tolkienesque epic, Barkerian ethno-historic polytheism, basic 80s FRPG tendencies and techniques, and adolescent male attitudes toward female sexuality are brought into a medievalesque, mostly patriarchal, class-based and community-oriented Hârnic society, a conflict ensues. While the Halean church is not the only one of such conflicts in the Hârnic setting, it is one of the most eminent. A church based on hedonism combined with female independence is clearly an anomaly, an anachronism, at best a revolutionary movement.
2. Re-evaluation – religious hedonism and the Halean church in present-day Hârn
How to approach this conflict in a productive way? We might start by accepting that everything written of Halea is how the Halean church is somewhere on Hârn, as seen and experienced by some proportion of the population. Hence the first step in evaluating the role of the Halean church in the Hârnic society is to trace where the Halean church is present in TR720. If the Halean church is not universal, the uniqueness of the Halean teachings should be questioned.
The Halean church has been present on Hârn only since around TR410, being represented by the missionary order of the Silken Voice, which was created a few years earlier. The history of the Halean church does not tell how and when the Halean temples on Hârn were founded, but it is clear that the church did not rapidly spread into all corners of the island. In TR720 “Halean temples are found in every human city on Hârn” – but we don’t know if they are found in number outside of the cities. In addition, “the church is most popular in the Thardic Republic, where it boasts numerous adherents among the political and mercantile elite. In Melderyn, Kaldor and Kanday the church is tolerated if not encouraged by the secular authorities. In Rethem the church is officially discouraged (although not illegal) -- --.”
Thus the church is established predominantly in the Hârnic cities, and seems to be supported by a predominantly urban following in western Hârn. This means that 1) most rural Hârnians have probably never had direct contact with the church or its representatives; 2) the church is not very popular in eastern Hârn, nor in Kanday or Rethem; 3) it is questionable if the Halean church or the Order of the Silken Voice ever has set foot in Orbaal or in the Barbarian regions.
All in all, after some 300 years of presence on Hârn the Halean church potentially reaches only 5 to 10 percent of the total human population on Hârn. What about the remaining 90 percent of the human population – what does Halea mean to them? The sources note that “religious and quasi-religious cults based on hedonism predate recorded human history.” This suggests that the Order of the Silken Voice did not enter an island where religious hedonism was a new thing.
While “modern theologians” claim that most of the hedonistic cults predating the Halean church involved Halea or her hand maidens as their objects of worship, a more critical and cautious approach is needed. First of all with the “modern theologians” probably modern Halean theologians are meant, and thus their claim is to be understood as propaganda. Even if this is not the case, the Hârnic theologians most probably lack the statistical and historical data needed to make such claims. Secondly, the truth remains that 90 percent of Hârnians live outside of religious control and guidance of the Halean church. If they worship Halea, they worship her in their own ways. Given the extremely conservative nature of religious practices and pre-modern societies, these ways probably predate the Halean church on Hârn.
Probably the same “modern theologians” claim it very unlikely that the hedonistic cults predating the Halean church could have been related to the early Peonian church. On the basis of the previous observations, this claim seems either problematic or unnecessary. First, the claim is problematic because the open and locally flexible doctrine of the Peonian church seems to leave room for local fertility cults. Thus if one of the other Hârnic churches should have controlled the hedonistic practices predating the Halean church, the Peonian church clearly is the most probable option. Secondly, the claim is unnecessary because not all religious practices connected to fertility, sexuality or hedonism need have to be controlled by the ten churches. On the contrary, the polytheistic and on occasions animistic nature of the Hârnic religion may easily include several different hedonistic cults with no connection to any of the ten major churches.
The present situation of the Halean church on Hârn clearly suggests that many if not most Hârnians still have their own beliefs and cults connected to sexuality and hedonism. This undermines the position of the Halean church as the general representative of Hârnic sexual and hedonistic thinking. For many if not most Hârnians the Halean church is irrelevant. The sexual and hedonistic teachings of the Halean church remain restricted to the cities, to the city-based elites and their immediate surroundings.
3. Re-evaluation – history and impact of the Halean church in Lythian and Hârnic societies
If the geographical presence of the Halean church on Hârn is restricted to the few cities, what can be said about the church’s social presence? Generally, how susceptible the Hârnic way of life has been for the Halean teaching?
Here it needs to be stressed that the values of a society tend to be total, i.e. if something is not accepted in everyday life, it usually doesn’t become accepted in a temple. Thus the major question is how the Hârnic social climate handles hedonism, open sexuality and female dominance over both phenomena. However, we first need to reappraise the emergence and establishment of the early Halean church in the Venarian Sea region.
3.1 Early Halean church in the Venarian Sea region
The sources tell of the spreading of the Halean church that “…the example of seemingly limitless wealth and pleasure -- -- and the general lack of harsh or restrictive moral or social imperatives attracted numerous adherents, particularly among the emergent merchant class.” The implications of this sentence are very problematic. It is apparent that wealth and pleasure were limited in the 4th century Venarian Sea region, and that the society was full of restrictive moral and social codes. This is not at all surprising: all historical societies have had their restrictive moral and social codes – these are the building materials of all societies, even today.
A social or religious movement that denies existing moral and social codes is revolutionary, and always opposed by the existing order. Revolutionary social movements tend to succeed only in societies in crisis. In 4th century the Venarian Sea region was ruled by the Azeryan Empire, which did not face major crisis before the 6th century. Thus the success of the Halean church can not be explained as a symptom of the crumbling power of the Azeryan Empire. But there is an alternative explanation, connected to different kind of crisis.
Imperial civilizations tend to create uniformity into conquered societies. Suppressing local social codes usually results in local social crisis. In addition, empires tend to give birth to secluded elites that concentrate on hedonistic past-times and walk over all moral and social codes. (This is often seen as a major reason for the eventual recession and disappearance of such elites.) A combination of local social problems and filthy rich imperial elites who could force local societies into their liking could have given the needed space and momentum for the Halean church to succeed in creating and keeping up a new and in many ways revolutionary social code.
A paradox – if not a clear misconception – inherent in the quoted sentence above is that limitless pleasure and the lack of restrictive moral or social imperatives would attract especially merchants. On the contrary, in a pre-modern society the profession of a merchant is built on mutual trust, shared moral standards, and calculated risks. Our history vividly shows how the emergence of city-based commercial elites in the medieval era led to stricter moral standards and increased self-control. The emerging merchant class had to act in unity in order to support its claims on power, and shared ethics was the best proof of shared profits. Openly hedonistic behaviour combined with disrespect for moral and social codes would have meant a sure if not an instant fall from the power struggle, a political and mercantile suicide. Thus we can be sure that merchants did not figure large among the early followers of Halea.
What remains is the promise of limitless wealth the Halean church seems to propagate. Such a promise tends to be effective only with unschooled simple people, or with those who are afraid of loosing riches they already possess, i.e. elites in continual power struggle. Again, an emerging merchant class hardly fits the description. The potential supporters of the early Halean preaching were probably filthy rich Azeryan landed aristocracy and poor commoners, the former benefiting and the latter suffering from the local social upheavals and economic globalization that were caused by the spread of the Azeryan Empire. In a pre-modern world, only land-holding elites have the assets and time to support a religious lifestyle as centred on pleasure as the Halean church. And only dislocated, poor people who have nothing to loose will be ready to gamble all they have, including their bodies, for a promise of luxury and pleasure.
In summary, the Halean church was not and is not a merchant’s church. The church lives from riches, from suppressing the moral codes of the surrounding world, and from open sexuality – a lifestyle that is at best described as both decadent and revolutionary. The followers of the church were composed of decadent land-holding aristocrats, willing to pay for perpetual enjoyments, and of poverty-stricken commoners, willing to overstep all moral and social barriers in order to have something to eat and perhaps a staying job. The result, veiled in hedonistic teaching and forgotten in drugged orgy, is simple: temple prostitution of the poor for the enjoyment of the rich. Now, we may consider what happened when missionaries of such a faith reached early 5th century Hârn.
3.2 Early Halean church and 5th century Hârn
Hârn at this time had three pre-eminent human civilizations: the Corani Empire in the west, the feudal kingdoms of Kaldor and Melderyn in the east, and Jarin barbarian/civilized tribes inhabiting the northern half of the island. The Agrican, Laranian and Peonian churches were functioning both globally and locally in the realms, having established themselves as the major faiths on the backward isle. In the north, barbarian and civilized Jarin followed the old animistic and Ilvirian practices spiced with Siem. Where these religions had little say, the Pharic barbarians and the non-humans had their own self-sufficient and stable religions.
It is hard to see where the Halean missionaries would have found people interested of their new faith, and harder still to believe that meaningful numbers of people would have been ready to convert. Most Hârnians lived – and still live – on honest and hard work, making their living with their hands and backs. The medievalesque rural and local lifestyle of most Hârnians is both constant and total, leaving very little room to hedonism and definitely no room for disrespect of local moral or social codes. While the lifestyle includes the presence of risk, it is connected to the elements, mainly to the weather and the supply of water. In this lifestyle control, security and reproduction are more important than taking chances or enjoyment. This lifestyle is as far from hedonism as can be.
A minority of Hârnians lived in cities (of which Thay did not yet exist), and a minority of this urban population based their livelihood on large-scale merchant enterprise. What has been said of the goals and means of the emerging merchant class of the Venarian Sea region in the previous chapters holds true also in the Hârnic context. Mutual trust, shared moral standards, and calculated risks formed the basis of successful merchant enterprises also on Hârn. Like the rural population on Hârn, neither the urban population had the need for a sexual-hedonistic faith.
After the peasants and the urban population, there remained the land-holding aristocracy. They lived from taxes collected from the peasantry, and like their bigger cousins in the Lythian mainland, they could have had the assets and time to invest into the Halean way of life. But the land-holding aristocracy of 5th century Hârn already had a self-sufficient and stable lifestyle, supported by the Laranian (or Agrikan) faith. All civilized societies on Hârn were and are built on written law and strict moral codes, of which Laranian chivalry is the most evident form. The barons of eastern Hârn would have lost their faces and probably their livelihood – if not their lives – if they would have openly admitted taking part in Halean services and believing in the Halean teaching of what life and society are.
What remains is the bustling Corani Empire. Here the Halean missionaries could have found a society where their preaching might have an effect. In the early 5th century the Corani Empire was without doubt the most dynamic power on Hârn, and as is the case with all empires, its riches resulted from subjugation and taxation of foreign populations. Such enterprises combined with expanding imperial court could have given birth to a class of rich land-holding aristocrats who had the will, the assets, the spare time and the boldness to step over the older moral and social codes of the Corani tribes, and concentrate on fulfilling their individual goals and sexual needs. In the early and middle 6th century the increasing corruption and decadence of the Corani Empire may well have led to a wider social acceptance of a hedonistic faith – or vice versa!
3.3 Halean church in the Corani Empire and during the interregnum
The Halean church may have functioned hidden and suppressed in the major cities and courts of eastern Hârn, but it is highly questionable if the eastern followers could have organized or built a temple. Thus it is likely that the Hârnic Halean church was openly declared and accepted first in the Corani Empire. The real number of Hârnic followers of Halea in the 5th and early 6th centuries was probably very small, and mostly centred in the Corani Empire. This was probably true in spite of the fact that the Halean church has the habit of incorporating its victims – the objects of the sexual past-time of the rich.
While Coranan, the Corani capital, definitely was the heart of the Corani Empire, Shiran may have been the most important cult centre of Halea from the start on. Perhaps the imperial aristocrats were aware that following the teachings of the Halean church was acting against their dignity, and wanted to hide their hedonistic past-time in the smaller, more remote city. Or perhaps the Shira were more accepting of hedonistic and openly sexual teachings. But along with increasing riches and ensuing decadence, the late Corani Empire probably saw the first flowering of the Halean church, with temples built also in Coranan, Merethos (Golotha) and Aleath.
However, the church was limited to the top echelons of the imperial society and their poorest underlings, the sexual slaves. The petition for the increased status of the guilds and the forming of Mangai clearly demonstrate that the emerging urban class of the Corani Empire pursued goals that had little to do with Halean hedonism. While the securing of political power may in the end have led into wealth and on to pleasure, the means to achieve the political power needed the establishment of moral and social codes. This was achieved through joint action. If such movements should be placed into religious frames, they seem to fit better into the Peonian communality and responsibility than into the Halean individuality and moral indifference.
The Balshan Jihad combined with the Red Plague led into collapse of the Corani social order. Perhaps the following decades gave more reason and wider social acceptance for sexually oriented individual, hedonistic and non-ethical religious norms. On the other hand, Balshan Morgathianism and growing Agrikanism had little respect for elaborate past-times, and the rapid redistribution of wealth probably disrupted the expensive lifestyle of the Halean temples. It is indeed hard to say if the late 6th century was good or bad for the Halean church in western Hârn.
3.4 Halean church in eastern Hârn till the present
While the Red Plague also hit eastern Hârn in the later 6th century, the societies here did not live through major disruptions. Instead the 7th century can be seen as a flowering or a revival of the Laranian-Peonian ideals. As the social ideals of these religions work against the Halean ideology, a growing of Halean influence is improbable and unattested in the sources. It is indeed hard to understand when and why the present-day Halean temples in eastern Hârn could have been built. Since the turmoil of the Migration Wars, the society of eastern Hârn has remained pretty much the same.
The sole and very important exception is the founding of the city of Thay in the end of the 6th century. The city has its own Halean temple, and since the political and social customs of the city go back to Aleath in the late Corani times, it may be assumed that the founding of Thay also introduced a living Halean church to mainland Melderyn. The collapse of the Corani Empire may also have led to emigration of other followers of Halea into eastern Hârn. But contrary to the citizens of Thay, these emigrants did not have the chance of founding an independent community with independent moral values, making it improbable that they could have contributed into an open and visible growth of Halean faith in Laranian-Peonian east.
Thus it seems that since its arrival on Hârn in the beginning of the 5th century the Halean church has found very little social space in eastern Hârn. The medievalesque society with clear social norms and traditions centred on community stands in opposition to a hedonistic and morally indifferent religion. As it is hard to explain why any local would openly contribute to the erection of a temple for such a religion, it must be assumed that both the Halean temple in Tashal and the one in Cherafir mostly serve foreign followers of Halea. For the locals they are either brothels or taverns, neither of which invites the land-holding elite with their money. The local merchants live in a world of strict communal and moral codes, which make it sure that the richer the merchant is, the further away he wants to stay from the Halean community. In small communities such as Tashal and Cherafir, covert dealings and hidden prostitution are bound to surface sooner or later.
3.5 Halean church in western Hârn since the Balshan era
Since the collapse of the Corani Empire and the ensuing total moral bankrupt of the whole region, three different modes of society have emerged in western Hârn. Of these Rethem seems to follow the Agrikan-Morgathian way, leaving the Halean temple in Golotha alone and beleaguered. Given the degree of selfish scheming typical for the Halean faith, the temple probably manages quite well in the demanding Rethemi political environment.
The Halean temple in Aleath probably had to be found again after the Agony of Aleath, during the years of the Republic of Aleath. It is a small miracle that the Halean church has been allowed to stay and practice openly a faith so contrary to the Laranian faith of the ruling elite. But the ruling elite of Kanday is young, and the Laranian fundamentalism may in the end be only an imported surface phenomenon. Still, while the Halean church is probably quite rich, it is not popular, nor able to play a major part in the local politics.
Again, the Thard valley seems to be the only place where the Halean church may operate freely and even enjoy partial popular support. In the period of the Balshan regimes it was only practical to use all available assets in hedonistic past-time, as one could never be sure of seeing a new day. Those that had too much power or assets were surely robbed and probably killed. The new ruling elite that emerged in the early 7th century is composed of rich merchants who have invested on land and control the population through clients. They have freed themselves from ordinary merchant values. It is up to them if they decide to lead hedonistic lives. As of yet, no-one can challenge their decided lifestyle.
But it is questionable if even the patricians of Tharda can afford to lead a hedonistic life in the long run, with mere pleasure as its goal. This may in the end show as a political weakness of the Thardic Republic: when all leaders pursue independent goals, the state grows weak. Thus to secure its continuing well-being the Halean church probably has to take (or already has taken) some responsibility, and put up some sort of moral and social codes for the common good. This in turn will be the undoing of the original pure and hedonistic preaching of the Halean missionaries landing on Hârn three centuries ago.
4. Conclusions
Whether NRC & co. intended it or not, the Halean church is a church of the decadent and the rich, of pimps as middlemen (or women), and of prostitutes who have no other livelihood than their bodies. A hedonistic, orgiastic, sexual, drugged, immoral and scheming lifestyle hardly fits the Hârnic society as it is written.
Religions are incorporated into the total lifestyle of a society. Religions mirror the society where they are practiced. Thus religions follow the general ethics, and act as superhuman guardians of such ethics. It seems that if the medievalesque social, feudal and community-oriented climate of Hârn is to be preserved, the Halean church either has to remain a marginal and suspected cult, or in practice does not preach its original message. The economic and religious climate of Hârn leaves next to no space to hedonism. The Halean orgiastic practices and immorality need to be hidden or non-existent if the Halean church is to be accepted in the religious climate of everyday Hârn.
While enjoyment and showing-off of the riches is of course central to the lifestyle of the rich in the cities, very few of them can withdraw into a world of hedonism. Hârn remains a poor and brutal place where individuals need each other. Even Thardan merchant-patricians returning from the Halean temple still have their business, their clients, their family and their health to take care of. Halean church does not teach how to manage these vital tasks. A logical message of an individualistic faith would be: “Work harder”, whereas the Halean church apparently teaches to “leave work and concentrate on worship”. The Halean church cannot form the base of religious life for the common man. Even if the Halean church is socially accepted, it cannot function as the basis of the society. Thus the Halean church can only exist as a minor sideline of the Hârnic religion.
90 percent of Hârnians live outside of the immediate reach of the city-based Halean temples, in Peonian communities, under the rule of Laranian (or Agrican) elites. As sexual beings humans will surely have religious beliefs and practices connected to sexuality and reproduction. These practices have been formed into local cults with centuries or perhaps even millennia of local tradition, often centuries before the arrival of the first Halean priestesses. These local practices most probably do not follow the teachings and examples of the Halean church. If not incorporated into local Peonian rituals, these practices may have other divine beings as their focus. The Halean cult as described in the sources is narrowly restricted to the elites. The Halean church does not have the monopoly over the sexual and sensual lives of the Hârnian commoners.
When the problematic status of the Halean church on Hârn is combined with small following and vast geographical distances between most Halean temples, one should also ask if the Halean church on Hârn really is as united as presented in the sources. Even if only one clerical order has the responsibility over the schooling of the priestesses, local temples have probably built up local traditions during the three centuries of Halean presence on Hârn. Especially in the Laranian-Peonian eastern Hârn the Halean teachings may have been largely dispersed and hidden into local traditions. While this may indeed mean that the Halean church has had an effect on local hedonistic cults, it most probably means that in the local Halean temples a religion far removed from the original Halean teachings is practiced.
While the Halean church is the only church to have a temple in every human city on Hârn, it is only in the Thardic Republic that the church may claim to have any kind of general social meaning. In western Hârn outside of Tharda there seems to exist only two Halean temples. The temple of Golotha is almost totally restricted to the city, and in the openly hostile political atmosphere the priestesses cannot openly travel to meet their few supporters in the Rethemi aristocracy. The situation is hardly better in Aleath, where the Halean ideology is in clear conflict with the fundamental Laranianism of the ruling elite, and not followed by the middle class or the rural population either.
In eastern Hârn the three Halean temples lie far apart, and are surrounded by a society that can have only little respect for the Halean message. Tashal especially is a place where the Halean mindset is an anomaly, probably close to blasphemy. Apart from being a brothel and a tavern for the locals, the temple of Tashal probably mostly serves foreign (Thardan?) visitors who appreciate the services of Halea. Likely the geographical separation has also led into doctrinal separation, resulting in a local cult that has better accommodated into the Laranian-Peonian social climate.
Also the Melderyni society follows the Laranian-Peonian tradition, with a slightly visible Save-K’norian influence. The relation of the ruling elite to the Halean church is negative, and Halean priestesses have not been allowed to get involved into the rulers’ circle. Quoting the Cities of Hârn, “Haleanism is not particularly popular in Melderyn” (Cherafir 3), and “the worship of Halea is probably less popular in Thay than in any other Harnic city” (Thay 3). The notion that Halean faith might have more followers in the merchant class has to be dropped on the basis of what has been written above. Being in practice the only Hârnic ports open to non-Hârnians, the Halean temples in Cherafir and Thay could be supported by foreigners. Indeed, it is on the eastern coast of Hârn where the Order of the Silken Voice can hope for regular connections to the Halean mother temple.
Thus outside of the Thardic Republic, the faithful and active followers of Halea are counted at best in thousands, most probably in hundreds only. This means that in the Hârnic kingdoms about one person in a thousand is somehow connected to the Halean church. Being a religion of morally indifferent and hedonistic elites, the Halean church of course may have a subtle influence much larger than the small numbers of its followers may suggest. But this underlines the fact that for most Hârnians the Halean church resembles much more a local secret society – a cult, or a guild, or a classy brothel of the well-off and idle.
PART 2: NEW CONFIGURATIONS
A crushing dissection of the Halean church on Hârn would be nihilistic if it was not followed by suggestions of alternative interpretations. Here I want to stress is that the Halean church can be much more complex and much less centred on sex than it is normally thought. But the narcistic hedonism needs to be forgotten. Like most divinities of Hârn, Halea is described in the sources in a vacuum that doesn’t explain the meaning of her church in the Hârnic social context. What follows are thus four of my own descriptions of a Halean faith that could exist in a medievalesque world without destroying the balance of such a world.
1. Small goddesses
Halean church is not one, but many. Instead of making Halea the focus of worship, her handmaidens – the different ideologies represented in her church – are approached individually. The handmaidens of Halea represent several different spheres of life, and it is highly questionable if these spheres can, should or would be understood as manifestations of a single divine entity. In a polytheistic religion divinities do not give something to everyone, but instead control clearly defined spheres of human life. Handled separately, some of Halea’s handmaidens can be worked into important goddesses of their own, while others may be better understood as spirits or demons, some of them aligned to the major Hârnic gods, the others independent.
1.1 Dulcia
Dulcia is the muse of music and sultry words, inspirer of love and lust. In the Hârnic social context this does not mean automatically sex and seduction. As an inspirer Dulcia can also be a patron and a guardian, who teaches responsibility of one’s actions. As such, Dulcia could be either a Peonic spirit, or even a servant of Larani – a representant of the Laranian ideology of courtly love.
1.2 Elomia and Sardura
As a guardian of contracts, Elomia easily stands on her own as a major goddess. Perhaps she was first understood only as a goddess of contracts, but with the growing importance of trade she grew to be profiled specially as a goddess of all kind of commercial activity. Or, if the “realness” of the Hârnic gods is to be stressed, perhaps Elomia has taught humanity the art of trading, commerce – and usury.
Contrary to what has been written of Halea, Elomia is a moral goddess, guardian of the ethics of trade, witness and seal of contracts. Her sophistication means understanding of the hidden importance of reciprocal gifts, oaths and contracts as the glue that holds society together. As a guardian, Elomia is also a punisher. Those who betray the goddess will meet Sardura, the darker side or the sister of Elomia. Sardura can also be an individual divine entity in the service of Elomia, a spirit of reprisal.
So far as economic transactions form the base of every society, Elomia could be the most powerful divine entity on Hârn. It is only because so few people on Hârn have the opportunity to take part in big business that the worshippers of Elomia are so few. But every peasant and serf buys something now and then, and the monetarisation of the Hârnic economy, as presented in the sources, seems to be a fact. When things can be and are to be valued, the goddess holding the scales becomes important.
In this description, Elomia and Save-K’nor seem to share some central aspects. However, their attitudes towards these aspects are different. Elomia is active, practical and honest, whereas Save-K’nor is more a studious bystander, an impractical intellectual, and always hiding his wisdom. Thus even if they are resemble each other, both Elomia and Save-K’nor have their own philosophies and control different phenomena of human life.
1.3 Galopea
As the guardian of pleasant repast and dining, Galopea is simultaneously an important but minor divine entity. Most Hârnians will not often have the possibility to concentrate on repast and elaborate dining. On the other hand, every Hârnian will from time to time take part in such past-times. What Galopea mostly represents are the right manners in play and dining – polite manners that hold everyone happily involved and secure. In her mundane and earthly simplicity Galopea may be seen as a face of Peoni, in her elaborate aspect centred on courteous manners as a face of Larani.
1.4 Selina
Every society has beliefs connected to the accumulation of material wealth. While material wealth by itself is needed for making a living, a surplus accumulation of wealth is often seen either unfair or corruptive, or both. Selina represents all things that follow from the accumulation of riches: the will of not loosing what one has, the lust for more wealth, the temptations into which material wealth may lead, and the veiled scheming and double-tongued speaking that follows those who have more than they need for themselves.
Depending on the situation, Selina can be seen either as a malign goddess, a temptress, or a goddess of reason. But mostly she is the voice of wealth itself, a hidden whisper in the ears of the rich and the poor. She constantly evaluates the possibilities of wealth, making some to give away and others to hoard, some to work hard for a goal and others to steal and murder. Selina is a minor but independent goddess, unaligned to any of the major gods, but often working together with some of them.
1.5 Tania and Thalia
Tania and Thalia work together, mixing passion and sensuality with luck and danger. They are the capricious guardians of first loves, of sexual relationships, of gambling and especially gambling with feelings. They fall in love easily, sometimes passionately, at other times just for the brief moment, or even for the pay. But their love can suddenly grow to be a burning, yearning, jealous force that turns the world upside down and leaves no room for normality.
Through all their lives, humans are exposed to the whims of Tania and Thalia. For some this is a beautiful thing, the very fact of life. For others, this is an eternal source of sorrow, a curse. Depending on the individual and the situation, Tania and Thalia are seen either as bringers of luck and happiness, or as thieving away the meaning of life. But they represent a force to be reckoned, a force that is hidden in every man. Thus all men pray for them, but most try to control them.
2. Halea – the FORTUNA of Hârn
If one wants to keep Halea “in one piece”, perhaps the easiest way is to reinterpret her as Fortuna, the goddess of fortune, the taker and giver of luck. (NRC may even have originally thought her as such, because halea is only a hypercorrect writing of the Latin alea, a die, as in eg. alea jacta est.) However, it is important to understand that such an interpretation still leads into thorough reworking of the description of Halea in the sources, being no easy way to bypass the problematic nature of Halea as handled in the first part of this treatise. This is because Halea as Fortuna, while beyond human morality, does not preach immorality, and definitely not hedonism. As much as a tempting for risk taking, Halea as Fortuna is the one to punish people of too much risk taking. For many, the presence of Halea/Fortuna is a reason to stay on the middle path, not to risk too much and to build a personal net of safety against bad luck.
As Fortuna, Halea is also a goddess with complicated relationships to the other gods. Some think she holds the leach of other gods, some say she is collaborating with each of them as an equal, while still others believe her to be only an intercessor between mortals and gods, a sum of the actions of the other gods. This makes Halea/Fortuna a complicated god to approach. Many think she should not be worshipped at all, either because other gods are stronger than her, or because she, being the master of the other gods, is best approached through the other gods, who are closer to mortals.
Given all the problems accompanied in this reinterpretation, one could ask if Halea could have a church of her own on Hârn at all. Why should people want to pray to a capricious goddess who does not actually care for people, and who anyway holds to herself the right to gift or punish people?
We might start with the medieval example. The concept of Fortuna was well known in the learned circles, she was personalised, and often seen the master of human faith. But Fortuna only controlled the sub-lunar or secular world, still leaving hope for a more fortunate and just afterlife. Thus Fortuna was not the God, and did not have the power of granting an afterlife. Even those who played with Fortuna and won still had to leave all their material wealth behind when dying. And those not willing to depart from their material wealth were doomed into hell.
The Hârnic religion differs from medieval Christianity in that it is polytheistic. If there is no single God who rules everything, then perhaps also Halea as Fortuna may have a place among the gods, and her power may not be limited to the secular world only. She may have been a powerful and dangerous goddess before the Concordant, but with the Concordant her direct control of the world diminished – as did the control of the other gods – and she has since worked through mortals. If Save-K’nor guards the Concordant in the divine world, Halea as Fortuna may be the guardian of the Concordant in the mortal world, among humans. Indeed, maintaining equilibrium seems to be a perfect job for a goddess of luck.
Whose goddess would Halea/Fortuna be? Who would pray for her? The simple answer is: everyone. This opens up one of the central problems in the Hârnic religion as described in the sources. The sources claim that people follow a single god only, while the religion is presented as polytheistic. This is absurd, as a polytheistic religion means that people know of and worship several different gods. While some gods may be special patrons of certain professions, philosophies or social classes, they are still universally present, real, and approachable to those who decide to approach them. In such a religion Halea as Fortuna would be an important force in most, and especially in decisive, situations of human life. Only the Navehans in their cold and controlled nihilism may despise Halea/Fortuna – just as they definitely despise all of the other gods.
But while everyone occasionally approaches Halea/Fortuna, those who risk their lives or their wealth as part of their professions would have more to do with her than those who do not live by risk. This means merchants, travellers/seamen, soldiers and people who do not have a profession to make a living. In this way Halea would, after all, return to be a goddess of merchants and prostitutes alike, but with a moral and social bearing very different from what is written in the Hârnic sources. Hedonism and open sexuality would not be among her virtues.
Of course, the human understanding of the connection of fortune and sexuality is historically well attested. Whenever and wherever people have asked for divine luck, their questions have often been connected to sexuality. But while some people asking for divine luck certainly have wanted to fuck well and revel in sensuality, connecting fortune and sexuality in pre-modern world can at best be explained with marriage and fertility problems. These are in turn connected to morale, family economics and reproduction of one’s family line. On Hârn it seems that these spheres of life are controlled by Peoni. Still, Halea as Fortuna would also be a goddess of those who want to forget morality and concentrate on sexual hedonism.
3. Halea – goddess of love
Few people on Hârn have the opportunity to choose their partners. Still fewer have many possibilities available. Most Hârnians marry because of their parents, because of their families, because of basic economic reasons, because they want offspring – or because they got pregnant. Marriage and thus sexual life is controlled and at times forced. Marriage for love is a rare luxury, free sexuality is a taboo. But love is true and eternal.
In this kind of society, love and sex can be revered as something special. In a polytheistic religion such reverence may belong to the realm of one god or goddess. On Hârn, Halea could have such a role. In this interpretation Halea is the goddess of love, romances and open sexuality. (Halea as a goddess of love can be combined with Tania and Thalia of the first interpretation.) She teaches the Ten Forgotten Acts needed to seduce and enjoy the chosen partner. But in a Laranian-Peonian or Agrikan-Peonian society where romantic love is a luxury and sexuality a taboo, the Halean church is also a taboo.
Because of the strict taboos and her questionable nature, Halea does not have many rich and powerful followers. Those who have money and power are usually the last ones to resort to her services. They see Halea as a seducer and a whore, and would like to have nothing to do with her church, which they have restricted into marginal spaces. Most of the time, Halea can only be approached in her temples and shrines, where she teaches her wisdom and gives her cures to the wanting and desperate. Her priestly class lives mostly separated from society, and at times in poverty. The church is perhaps allowed to organize one or two yearly public carnivals, but many shut their doors and keep their unmarried young inside when the Halean progression passes by.
4. Halea – goddess of health
As a final and less independent interpretation, Halea could be seen as a goddess of health. The Hârnic sources stress the completeness and beauty of the Halean lifestyle and her priestesses, and these things walk hand in hand with health. It would indeed be a major failure of a religious lifestyle as centred on body as the sources imply to be unhealthy. Instead of writing a description of Halea as a goddess of health, I will give some hints as to how this aspect of Halea could work together with the three interpretations given above.
In the first interpretation it is perhaps Galopea whose cult could be most easily extended to include also health. Pleasant repast needs a happy mood, and sick or ill people are seldom very happy. On the other hand, pleasant repast may be seen as a cure for illness. Dining in turn is directly connected to food and cleanness, which are the natural basics of human health. Indeed, the ancient and medieval philosophies of health had their emphasis on food, i.e. on things humans put into their bodies. Our present understanding of health is still, and naturally, centred on food.
Many things that influence our health are not controlled by us, and were less so in the pre-modern era. In this Hârn is no exception. Hard work, raiding marauders and Gargun, famine, too one-sided diets etc. are threats to health that often lie beyond the control of individuals or small communities. They are controlled by fortune, and in this respect Halea as Fortuna could easily be also the giver and taker of health.
Lastly, health, love and sexuality are naturally connected. Love and sex can be healthy, but both also have their dangers. Halea as a goddess of love would know the healthy proportions of love and sex humans may enjoy without getting mentally or physically ill. She may also control the secrets of enjoying sex without producing offspring. In this way Halea could be a central divinity for the poor, who cannot afford big families with many mouths to feed. If the aspect of health is given emphasis, it could form a bridge between cults of Galopea, Tania and Thalia, producing a religious mindset where love, manners and health are combined into the sphere of one goddess, Halea.
5. Why different interpretations?
If the different interpretations above are brought together and made one, a Halean church as described in the sources is almost reproduced. It might seem a waste of energy to first dissect the Halean church and then rebuild it three times in different ways. This is not the case. If you have read through part one and then pause to ponder the different interpretations presented in part two, you will understand why.
The Halean church as represented in the sources has been built on several different religious and societal phenomena, and combining these phenomena into one goddess and one church in a medievalesque Hârn results in a conflict. It is unfortunate that such a conflict was produced by NRC and co. in a world they surely strived to build well. But mistakes happen. If the coherence and “reality” of Hârn are valued, this conflict deserves to be removed. Based on the Halean church as described in the sources, I have come up with three and a half different solutions, each of them approaching the societal role of Halea from a different point of view.
What is common to all these interpretations is that they are firmly interwoven into the societal and moral fabric of the Hârnic mindset, which is based on strong communal and feudal socio-economic base, which in turn forms its own ethics. In a polytheistic religion much of the Halean church as presented in the sources can be salvaged and rewritten to fit into the social and religious reality of Hârn. But not everything can be salvaged, and not all of it simultaneously.