> > If the myths aren't recordings of events from God-time, what are
>they?
>
>They're explanations of why the world is the way it is. Yelm didn't
>just die in the past, he dies every day at sunset.
That's a given. But creation myths (for instance) have a distinct historical element, so I think that's only one element. Equally important are myths that say "things are like this, because this happened before."
>Heroquests are
>interactions with the world we live in at a mythic level. They appear
>to be like history because there's a history to the development,
>exploration and discovery of myth, but the mythic world itself is
>truly timeless.
Agreed - questers enter a timeless world, which can be mapped in terms of events rather than places or times. Journeying through the heroplane consists of following a story - this event, leads to this event, this choice, then that event or that one.
It's a recording in the sense that the events are described in myths, and are the same/similar for all questers. (Lets leave aside those who carve new paths for the moment...) I think that the Orlanthi (and many others!) would view those myths as forming a true history, Godlearners as maps of the mythic realm. Personally, I suspect the difference is largely irrelevant. It's also a given that those questing from different historical periods can interact within the heroplanes at appropriate stations.
I would like to go back to the denizen question - does the heroplane itself actually have inhabitants? Does that even make sense? Or are all beings encountered drawn from the mundane world?
>I'd go out on a limb and say that if a myth isn't relevent to the
>world as it is now, then it can't be heroquested.
I don't think that's much of a limb. A myth that isn't currently relevant could, I think, be heroquested to make it relevant (involving a large heroquest challenge in there somewhere) but that's about it. I suspect that the birth of the Red Goddess would be an example of such a "re-discovery of old myth" situation. Of course, once a myth is proved to be valid, then it becomes a useful tool.
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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