The only available sources of information on Spirits of Law that i'm aware of is in the Stormbull write-up in "River of Cradles" and in the Waha write-up in "Tales of the Reaching Moon" #15.
STEPHEN MARTIN
Me>>Waha should have some anti-chaos powers of his
>>own since he is the son of the premier anti-chaos god.
>
>I'm glad you agree. Though I must say that I am not entirely convinced
>your last statement is true, at least not in the Darkness and First Age.
I think that Waha's reputation as chaosbreaker during the early ages comes solely from his mastery of Spirits of Law and the absence of a widespread Stormbull cult. He simply had no competition until the Stormbull cult come up and took over the chaos-breaking business.
Anyway, in the 3rd age Stormbull IS the premier anti-chaos god, especially in Prax. I wouldn't be surprised if the mythology of the *3rd* age Praxians claim that Stormbull has ALWAYS been the premier anti-chaos god, even if Praxians of earlier ages viewed him differently.
How the mythologies of modern gloranthans are constituted and their understanding of what has gone before aren't necessarily in accord with historic reality. And i strongly doubt that "historic reality" (as opposed to God Time) is 1600+ years for most cultures. I suspect that stories of what happened more than 2 generations ago tend to be infused with mythic qualities by the storytellers. The content of the story is stylized to better convey the message of the storyteller.
So, regardless of Stormbull's standing as anti-chaos god during earlier ages, *now* Stormbull is the premier anti-chaos god. Depending on how far back the unadulterated history (as opposed to retrofitted myth) stretches, the nomads might remember that Stormbull was not always the mightiest of the chaos-bashers, or they might remember that he *always* was the mightiest. Of course, some nations may remember stuff that other nations don't.
And no, ancestor worship doesn't really help, since a 400-years dead ancestor has had 400 years to forget what really happened, and since the ancestor isn't really in touch with the world it may retrofit its memories because of the influence of the summoning shaman living today.
Frinstance, how do the nomads see the city of (Old) Pavis? Do they remember it as the eternal city, which has stood their forever, or do they remember a time when it was not there? Maybe it was built in the God Time by the giant Pavis, or is it even a remnant of Genert's guesthouse? Haven't the Daughters of Pavis worked to strenghten the belief that their city is eternal and indestrubtible?
What i'm trying to say is that nomad history is quite short, and passes into the realm of retrofitted myth quite soon.
I'll stop now before this gets too long. If i have been remiss in clarity i'm sure you'll remind me of my shortcomings.
Michael Raaterova
<.sig omitted on legal advice>
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