Greg Sez: How Many Humakti?

Question both posed and answered by Greg Stafford.

After finishing work on the Cults of Sartar I am left with an image like an aftervision or something. I have stared at these gods and goddesses and written down what is there. But at the end I was left with a rather profound feeling of unbalance and inequality. After introspection and a glass of red I realize that it is because of a deep feeling of inequality concerning these deities. I feel like I’ve spent too much time on petty details and should have been broad stroking other things instead. I am left with a curiosity.

Just how many worshippers of Humakt are there? 1800 or so. Here is my calculation:

  • 15% of the population is in the minor cults.
  • We have 14 minor cults in Storm Tribe, and a batch of tiny cults too. These 14 include those listed in Storm Tribes and also Maran, the Kolat Tradition, and the Serdredosa Tradition.
  • For convenience, I am going to say that each of the minor cults has an equal proportion, or about 1% of the total population.
  • Genertela Book records that Sartar has 180,000 people x 1% = 1800
  • With about 24 tribes, the average tribe would then have 75 Humakti in it.
  • With about 10 clans per tribe, the average clan would have 7 Humakti.

BUT this even distribution of worshippers among the clans is unrealistic. First, these deities do not have the same number of worshippers. Not all have exactly 1%. Humakt is average in popularity, and thus pretty close to the 1% average given here, so we can start with the above numbers for him. Second, any given deity is more or less popular among clans, so some clans will have more or fewer worshippers than others. I’d guess that two clans in Sartar have Humakt as their dominant deity. I’d estimate them to have between 30% and 40% of all the Humakt initiates (and above) in the land. The specialization of those clans leaves them almost no worshippers of any other specialist deity.

Additionally, each of the other tribes is likely to have a clan where Humakt is a specialist deity, with more than the minimal number of worshippers. These 22 additional clans would account for another 30% to 40% of all the Humakt worshippers in the land. The remaining Humakt worshippers would be spread thinly among the other 188 or so clans in Sartar. Therefore, taking all of these facts into account, my final APPROXIMATE numbers for Humakt are:

  • 2 dominant clans with 250 Humakti each, for a total of 500.
  • 22 clans with 25 Humakti specialists each, for a total of 550.
  • 188 clans with 4 Humakti each, for a total of 750.
  • 28 clans with no Humakti at all, since they have other deities as dominant (Chalana Arroy, Kolat, etc.), for a total of 0.

Total: 1800 worshippers (initiate, devotee, and the very rare disciple).

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Page Last updated: 2023-12-29 17:51:45