Myth-making

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:17:04 -0700


How long does it take to make a myth?

There was a comment on the HeroQuest-RPG mailing list about Vinga's mile javelin throw feat, and how the Heortlings were never civilized enough in myth or history to have mile markers.

In fact, they were -- the EWF was at its heart a Heortling empire, with plenty of cities. Whether or not they actually had mile markers, they were certainly civilized enough to have.

And that raised the question: could Vinga's feat be from the EWF era? (I don't care if it was or not, but *could* it be?)

We know that various Lunar gods performed deeds in the Third Age, which can now be used as myths by their worshippers. And it appears that Sartar may be a similar case.

I think it's likely that other Third Age personages, like Retter the Stalker have "created" myths which can be used by their followers

The reason I'm concentrating on Third Age here is that it's a much shorter amount of time ago. Sartar is around 120 years ago. That seems long enough that it's no longer considered history.

It may be that any myth from a historical era is a hero-myth, in that the myths remain those of Sartar, rather than blending into those of a god. (If I needed to settle in a new land, would I use the myths of Orlanth taming Dragon Pass, or would it just be the myths of my ancestors, who moved up from Heortland?)

The overall question revolves around playing -- in our games, it's relatively common for us to use a heroquest to achieve a difficult goal. Is it fair game to consider historical events of 100 years ago to be myths which can be heroquested?

-- 

David Dunham
Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein


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