Vinga: mothers and daughters

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, she is presented with her first weapons by her mother, an existing Vingan initiate. Always. No exceptions.

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: they are held together by family ties. 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.