Mothers and daughters
This write-up of the mother and daughter aspect of Vinga worship was taken almost directly
from Jane Williams write-up (go here to see).
Most Gloranthan cults have a preference for taking the children of existing initiates as
members, rather than allowing complete strangers to join. Vinga is no exception: but since few Vingans have children, and
those that do can produce sons as well as daughters, requiring all new Vingans to have a Vingan mother would result in the
end of the cult, rather fast.
Except, of
course, that they require exactly that. As part of the initiation of a Vingan warrior, her mother, an existing Vingan initiate,
presents her with her first weapons. Always. No exceptions. This is done via the cults Mother and Daughter ritual.
Where possible, the "mother" is actually the candidate's blood mother. Far too often, this
is not possible: the mother is not a warrior, cannot be present, is already dead: lots of reasons. In this case, the candidate
is adopted by another Vingan, who then has the same responsibilities towards her "daughter" as a blood mother would have.
The candidate's ties to her blood mother remain unchanged, but she now has another set as well: and possibly another clan
of which she is a member. Of course, since she is already an adult, the responsibilities being taken on are not too onerous
and the relationship is often more like sisters than mother and daughter.
Normally the adopting "mother" will be the Vingan representative of the candidate's own
clan. Failing that, a Vingan of another clan, but related to the candidate, would be the next best. If no links with her original
clan can be maintained, the priestess presiding over the ceremony is usually the "mother": this is almost always what happens
when a new Vingan has joined the cult to seek vengeance for her family that her clan or tribe will not provide.
Sometimes a new initiate may ask to be "adopted" by a Vingan she particularly wants to
emulate, becoming part of a warband/family group. The band of Vingans Kallyr formed at Whitewall is perhaps the most obvious
example of this.
When a Vingan is ready for Rune Level, the "adoption" is carried out again: but this time,
she becomes literally a Daughter of Vinga.
This
system tends to make the cult unified: family ties hold them together. It also tends to make it more aware of wider groupings
than the clan, since many Vingans are members of more than one clan at once. The adopting "mother" may herself be a member
of more than one clan as a result of her own adoption, and will pass on that membership to any "daughters" she adopts.
