> This would appear to suggest that 300 years ago, Esrolia was a
> Thoroughly Modern Model Patriarchy. Which I doubt. The Pharaoh
> may have made any number of changes in Esrolia, but why would he
> have made it matriarchal?
I agree completely, and was clearly falling into the same fault I'd just diagnosed in Joerg. Given my rather different view of Esrolia (i.e. not just an Orlanthi land with women in charge), I have always play down the alleged Colymar connection and assumed most of the Quivini settlers were from Heortland.
> The distinguishing feature of the RuneQuest Sight is that it KNEW
> that it was subjective
Fascinating!
> Just because RQ III needs even more spirits, and details on what it
> DOES have (didn't you like my suggestion that Intellect spirits are
> spell-recyclers?), doesn't mean that we need to dump what has been
> accomplished at such great loss of life.
I liked all your theories. Thanks for posting them! Of course, I'd want Troll and Wolf and Flower and Cobweb spirits to behave differently stat- wise; it could be reverse-engineered by working out suitable ecological niches for the existing spirit categories. Not just the eco. function of Intellect spirits, but the manifestation/perception/tag that attaches to them (or that *is* attached by we subjective Gloranthan observers). Say: if they are recyclers, and if Praxians are as informed as we, would they tend to see Intellect spirits as spirit hyenas (or other scavengers)? Something along those lines.
> The campaign takes place in Sartar after the Starbow Rebellion. I have
> no real restrictions on cults, etc., other than being a Sartarite...
Be normal! Join Orlanth, and poke fun at all your weird friends. Read up the Players Book: Genertela Orlanthi What my Father Told Me article, and remember that you're (probably) rustic, suspicious of furriners ("These Lunars are crazy"), and like running and shouting. Then find yourself a wife and settle down. Vote in weapontakes, support your Chief, keep the Clan prosperous. Join the posse when there's Broos or bandits to hunt. Don't get dangerously seditious: look how that ended the last few times!
You familiar with the AI conversational computer test? If you can talk to someone across a terminal link and not be able to tell whether it's human or machine, it's "intelligent". Gloranthan deities may well be self-aware by the same test: there's nothing you can do to prove they aren't. My own opinion is that investigating Glorantha through play and speculation is a more rewarding pastime than defining it through obscure philosophies that in themselves don't impinge on Gloranthans' understanding of the world. Like you said at the start: RuneQuest is about investigating Glorantha; to me, that investigation is a continuing process of definition, not an extra-game or pre-game requirement.
It's a pretty well accepted Truth that any Gloranthan question will have at least four valid answers: from the Animist/Shamanic, Theist/Priestly, Monotheist/Humanist/Wizard and Mystical perspectives. This fact seriously depletes my keenness to carry on constructing overarching "rules" for the world, which (as I say) mean nothing to the inhabitants. Because however you define the powers of "the Gods", the humanists of the West will be able to say that you're talking rubbish, that there are no such things. And if your theory says they're wrong, then it's wrong.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #2
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