>> I think an Orlanthi would claim that antigods like
>> Oorsu Sara are chaotic (Oorsu Sara has a lot of common
>> with Wakboth, like being bred specially for being nasty
>> and almost destroying the world).
>
>I agree (and/or Kajabor). However, they don't have the same
>experience of, or at least, draw the same conclusions about
>'endemic' forms of Chaos as the Orlanthi, Praxians, etc.
Again, I'm stung by ignorance. I'm afraid I've no idea who or what Oorsu Sara is or was.
>> Unless what you've been saying all along is that to
>> the Orlanthi "chaos" is extra-cosmic because there's
>> no room for it in their concept of cosmos, while the
>> East Islanders don't understand becaus they define
>> cosmos differently?
>
>Not entirely. The definitions differ, but both would have reasonably
>congruent notions of what 'the created world' would be. The Orlanthi
>believe, correctly, that what lies outside the 'created world' is
>raw, seething, undiluted Chaos. East Islanders believe, correctly,
>that what lies outside the 'created world' is the transcendent.
And neither of them mean 'outside the created world' in a physical sense. The Theyalan/God Learner/Monomyth definition defines the world as creation and chaos as uncreation. To speak of chaos being outside the world is metaphorical. The East Islander doesn't believe that the created world is real or substantial in any meaningfull way anyway, so talking about it's inside and outside likewise cannot be taken literaly.
>The only nuance that I think one could quibble with here is whether
>views are 'true and consistent', or whether they are 'true, but
>inconsistent'. I'm arguing the former, though I won't beat you
>over the head if you think the latter.
True and orthogonal?
To the easterner, whether or not chaos is anti-creation and is destroying the world is only of passing interest. He wants to transcend the world anyway. It's is of some interest because chaos could potentialy destroy him before he achieves transcendence, but that's only qualitatively different from any other factor that could prevent his personal transcendence. Yes, chaos is bad. Maybe it's worse than other forces that might prevent his transcendence but not destroy him, but without transcendence nothing is worthwhile anyway.
This is one reason why I think the Lunars don't care so much about chaos either. If you can transcend the created world and achieve eternal bliss, who cares what happens to everything else? It becomes a non-problem. To the orlanthi though, for whom the created world is everything there is, chaos is the worst thing possible.
Both attitudes are prefectly true within their own context, without being in the least contradictory.
Simon Hibbs
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #569
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