>From: Greg Stafford <Greg_at_...>
>
>These are not essentially different from each other. Each attempts to
>follow the
>path of a supernatural being who helped to create the world in its own way.
I know it's a technical difference, and maybe it only makes a difference to me. But what I'm talking about, generally, is the character perception of what sort of being they're following. Is it a daimone, or somebody from myth before time? Or is it Arkat who the character understands once lived amongst men (and trolls) after the dawn? That is, is the heroquest in question an emulation of something from the gods war, or an emulation of some redact of the gods war done after time started?
The difference in perception is the difference between following the acts of a saint, or following the holy spirit (to use a Catholic example an somewhat analogous to wizardry). Which I think may at times lend a different cast to the whole thing. Am I following the quest of Sir Percival into the otherworld? Or Archangel Michael (a non-human, all otherworldly, being) kicking Satan out of heaven?
For animists, following a "hero" shaman who discovered a path in the otherworld (and who is now an ancestor spirit), or a myth of Oakfed - I'm assuming he never lived in the mundane world though I'm only guessing there for an example.
For theists, is it one of Harmast's early heroquests that are being emulated - a hero cult? Or is it an adventure of Destor, a "god cult?"
As I've speculated before, I think such quests are probably part and parcel of eventually becoming a worshipped hero and the attendant "apotheosis" that occurs for those that lived in the mundane world once. That is, it's probably rare for a heroquest to be emulated by another unless it's passed down as part of such a cult.
Anyhow, this is all probably somewhat off topic from the original thread about heroquests in general, hence why I retitled it.
Mike
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