Re: Raven in Prax from Loren Miller on 1997-01-14 (Glorantha Digest Vol 04)

From: Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 16:44:53 +0000

"Simon Phipp" <simon.phipp_at_walshwestern.com> writes:
> The reasons I do not accept that Raven has to be the god of Ravens
> are:
>
> 1. Raven is primarily a Praxian deity, mentioned nowhere else, as I
> recall.

So what? This does not prove that ravens exist nowhere outside of Prax, nor does it prove that the god Raven is restricted to prax, nor does it prove that the Praxian Raven is equivalent to, or even similar to, any of the bird-deities of Dara Happan myth. Nor does it prove the opposite.

> If he were the god of all Ravens, he would be mentioned
> elsewhere.

Why? Why would they need to mention the divine Raven any more than they would need to mention the divine Vole, Fruit-Bat, or DustMite? I have yet to find a prosopaedia written by Raven scholars, or by avian scholars of any sort. Essentially, this lack of mention implies that most people don't think that the "great ancestral spirit" of Ravens deserves mention as a god. Maybe that's because there are great ancestral spirits for any species you care to name. Maybe that's because most people have never met up with the Ravens' ancestor.

> The Solar peoples would say that Vrimak's child is the god of
> Ravens, not some obscure Praxian Spirit.

So what?

> so why does Raven have to be of Vrimak's seed?

Here I agree.

> 3. It makes Raven more interesting than having his actions dictated
> by the actions of a RW creature.

I completely disagree. MGF encourages us to give players a background that is familiar. If Raven behaves like the RW bird named raven then this makes it more fun to play. If we divorce the god Raven from the bird raven then this needlessly complicates the game background.

+++++++++++++++++++++++23

Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu> A priest, a rabbi, a Penn student, and an elephant walk into a bar. The bartender says, "what is this, some kind of joke?"