Hey Peter. The answers to your questions are all in the text quoted from Cults of Terror. Well that's what I based my bit on.
Mallia transforms from a form of healing spirit to a carrion eater to a corrupted aspect of Death to a lingering, festering dimness to an eternal blight. This to me allows construction of a story and so a quest.
The problem with the word 'heroic' (and any other word whose definition is central to a concept) is that it implies different things to different peoples. To me it means risking yourself for someone else but with another set of values it could mean something else. I believe the hard part when talking about non-existent cultures is having a handle on how they see reality. Look at a RW culture that has a different perspective, for instance Islam. It takes a lot to even understand the intellectual concepts, let alone the further reaching spiritual enlightenments.
I agree that this was probably not what Pentallion was going for initially but I do sense that there is potential to play it this way.
Taking this back to Mallia, the hero's quest could be nothing like that which we have for the Orlanthi or Praxians. Perhaps the only common thing is that it's based on a story, one that informs as to the things important to the culture. What is important to Malliants? Well, taking from the quoted CoT passages: causing eternal misery, the spread of her diseased dominion, the love/respect/fear/servitude of chaos creatures. She seems also pleased with the propitiary attention. This last may be a good place for Pentallion's player characters to start.
The transformations could be dramatic/traumatic and we could construct story from that for followers to emulate.
An added note on the issue of love and Mallia: from memory the text was talking about love directed at Mallia but I can see expressions of it in both directions. I think it boils down to the definition of love; as in the paragraphs above, definitions are crucial to the meaning of the word. A worshipper's love for the goddess might be expressed by adherence to her ways and by the pure fact of the act of worship "oh Mallia, you are so wonderful...". The goddess' may requite this adoration with a more complex variety of her own, centred around "oh, my children".
World domination. Yeah it's not credible but it's doubtful that Mallia is playing with a full deck anyway! Her worshippers may have great or small designs for domination. Why? Well, because Mallia deserves worship from the whole world, of course!
Cheers.
p.s. chaos feature competition!
-----Original Message-----
From: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
[mailto:WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Peter Metcalfe
Sent: 25 December 2008 19:35
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: Re: The Unholy Trio: Rephrasing the Question
At 12:36 a.m. 26/12/2008, you wrote:
>So we see a journey of transformation: a fusion with the power of Death,
>living off the dead and dying,
What has she transformed from? And how is the change in Malia different from the change in the Cosmos in general (once growing then destroying)? Lastly the action of change by itself is not the heroic action that Pentallion was asking for - something more is required.
>a fading into the mythic background, an
>adaptation from direct assault to subtle attrition - the aim: eternal
>dominion.
Does a bacillus plot to take over the whole world? An agenda of worldly domination is credible to the cults of Yelm, Argan Argar while the only motivations of the Disease Masters is causing disproportionate misery to right the slights of the past.
>Then, to her further degradation, joining with those who would
>destroy the world.
And here is the big question: why? And an even bigger question arises from a part that you didn't quote: why stop?
>The last paragraph is interesting to me because it reveals that love plays
>its part in Mallia's life.
Yet there is damned little indication of love when someone is struck down by disease. Love is neither intrinsic nor apparent in Malia's actions - all we have is something written by the God Learners.
>There is also mention of the propitiary worship.
Which nobody has denied.
--Peter Metcalfe
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