Jus' catching up--a quick thanks for the comments on the Banner; sadly OiD is beyond my ken (though not through want of trying to get a copy), but that Vingkotian passage sounded great. I'll immerse myself in Kagemusha again (a rather lengthy process), and see what flows. As to double-headed Haggars, well... as a Habsburg fetishist I can only say WOOOOOAAAAARRRR!
But onto the Bat. I haven't a history of being a long fan of Glorantha. But when I see the reality-bending monstrosity that is the Bat, I have a good enough grounding in Lovecraftian cosmic evil to approach it from a different viewpoint. My apologies if any of this has already been postulated.
Beyond the elements of magic, and a strong embracing of contradictions inherent to the whole ethos, I've 'always' pictured the Bat as a somewhat nebulous horror. With its Illumination and links with Chaos, the Bat could appear as many things to many people. It goes beyond even the 'magical mundane', and then some.
Picture a rather lucky bunch of CoC investigators. One asks "Say Bob, did you notice Great Cthulhu's gait?" And in the gibberings that follow, you'd probably receive a whole gamut of answers, moulded by the perceptions and fears of the witnesses.
I quite easily see Braggi the Blundersome gawping in slack-jawed horror at the Bat's approach, muttering about its slow, near imperceptible motion, hanging in the air as some horrid pall in the sky, its onerous passage turning seconds into fearful aeons.
While next to him, Egil the Excitable is wittering away at its strobelike flittering across the sky, twirling and phasing in chaotic abandon, its passage measured in the briefest of moments.
I don't have sources to hand, and can't comment on what has been written. But seems to me that if by definition the Bat's motion is down to the perceptions of its audience, there's a lot of room for manoeuvre. Elements of what everyone has described would be really cool at varying dramatic stages. Does it have to be defined? Is allusion and suggestion more appropriate for this beast?
Perhaps this is lack of rigor is unsatisfactory to many, but elements of "Ia! Ia! The Crimson Bat!" define the way I've perceived the matter.
All the best,
Stu.
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