>
> If there is a rune of Balance, what does it look like?
As said by others, it is a circle divided neatly in half (it does not matter which way--the line can be vertical, horizontal or at any angle and it is still the same rune. All runes are the same if reversed and/or turned upside down.
> Also, how is it classified - a Form (doesn't make much sense to me apart
> from the fact that Chaos is/was traditionally seen as a 'Form' rune, a
> 'Condition' rune, or even as a non-Celestial Court 'Power' rune
And sometimes as an Elemental.
In fact, the people of Glorantha (and of Earth too, apparently) do not
really know how to classify this rune, or power, or cluster of powers that
are always associated with each other but maybe should/need not be grouped
as such. [You know, like how we say "touch" is one of the 5 senses, but
people who study such stuff identify several separatable senses, such as
hot/cold, pain, rough/smooth, etc.]
Is this power entirely new, born inside the world (Teelo Estara!), an
eruption into Glorantha from outside (you know, like chaos!) or the rebirth
of a supressed power from old (Rufelza!) or something that was always here
and was just supressed or not properly identified (Gerra!!).
The Red Emperor knows the truth, honest he does, I swear it. And his sister,
who is just like him but she's a woman and she is not his twin or mirror
image, knows. They both are absolutely certain, and are both absolutely
correct, and they give different anwers.
Several other beings claim they too know as much of the anwer as Takenegi or
Elder Sister. I won't vouch for them.
A larger number of leading spiritual pracitioners, explorers, high priests
and mystical seekers all say that they think they understand one tiny part
of the so-called "lunar power" but that they know they have only a fragment
of its Wholeness.
In the past, the runes of Death and Harmony have been combined to denote the
> Hunter, who kills but so as to support his commmunity by poviding food, and
> who kills no more than is necessary so there will be animals for food later
> as well as now. Though there is no reason why a third rune could not carry
> an alternative meaning
>
> Maybe a voodoo-style cult in Gloranthawou ld use the Harmony Rune to denote
> the relationship between Death and Spirit? If indeed one would need the
> Death rune at all for this?
If "all this" includes a Baron Samadi-like figure, then certainly Death will be somewhee in the mix. But if we are talkin about an Obatala or Oshun, death is not necessary.
If there was a voodoo-style cult in Glorantha, where would it be? My money
> would be on Fonrit, as a shamanic tradition amongst slaves who were
> resisting the cult of Ompalam
How much of this discussion is fueled by knowledge of voodoo, and how much by the sensationalized version of pop culture? None of the voudon ceremonies I have attended had anything to do with zombies or snakes or dolls with pins. (Those are special cults and rites).
> On the subject of the links between power runes and the members of the
> Celestial Court, presumably even though the power runes themselves are
> universal, the idea that certain power runes are linked back to the gods of
> the Celestial Court is a culture-specific myth.
Well, transcultural. It (or something quite similar) is found in most of the god-worshiping places. It seems to have been the truth of the origin of the God World. Similar myths document the origin of the Spirit, Sorcery and Eastern World, and are widely found throughout the other quarters of the world.
Although the shapes of the runes are reasonably universal, I would imagine
> that the stories behind the designs of the runes are different.
Correct.
The story part of Mythology is very flexible.
> In cultures which don't know Humakt (even by another name), presumably the
> Death rune is not the shape it is because it symbolises the First Sword, nor
> does the Harmony rune symbolise the harp of a goddess of the Celestrial
> Court, nor does the Truth rune symbolise the torch of a sky god. What are
> the stories in other cultures like?
Remember that the Runes that we all know and love is a GL construct,
synthesized from hundreds or thousands of similar forms. Thus Death is
always two lines crossed, but the relative dimensions of the arms and where
they cross is extremely variable.
The equal armed cross: 1. this is a map of the road where Denji had to make
his decison (Kothar story); 2. It's a symbol of the closed cave "mouth" that
Malkion the Wanderer led his people through when they left their homeland;
3. it's the weapon that Heng Yo threw at his mentor and killed him (East
Isles).
Note how they all deal with the central power: the first Death; but the circumstances--the mythic story--differs.
I know that the Harmony Rune is, somewhere, the claw marks of something.
--
Greg Stafford
Game Designer
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