>> That's a God Learner argument. [...]
> No, it's a Monomyth argument.
Since the God Learners invented the Monomyth, that's a distinction without a difference.
> The people of the First Council recognised that many of the deities
> of Glorantha were the same, so they identified, for example, Yelm
> with the Evil Emperor, Rebellious Terminus with Orlanth and so on.
> The God Learners simply extended that and made more connections.
The God Learners did not simply extend that. They brutally forced connections in order to force the world's mythology into the Monomyth. Part of that forcing was making similar deities the same regardless of the differences between them. The differences built up, exploded and destroyed them in the end.
Secondly the identifications that the world council made were not successful on the grounds of being correct, they were successful on the grounds of being compatible. The Evil Emperor that Orlanth slew may have been Harono, King of the Sky and worshiped in Nochet. Likewise Rebellus Terminus did not kill Yelm, he slew his son, Murharzarm, instead and the Empire fell apart.
> However, I can see nothing
> wrong with a major deity doing lots of different things in lots of
> different guises.
Arrian says it better than I:
The report is, that [Nysa]'s foundation was the work of Dionysus, who built it after he had subjugated the Indians. But it is impossible to determine who this Dionysus was, and at what time, or from what quarter he led an army against the Indians. For I am unable to decide whether the Theban Dionysus, starting from Thebes or from the Lydian Tmolus came into India at the head of an army, and after traversing the territories of so many warlike nations, unknown to the Greeks of that time, forcibly subjugated none of them except that of the Indians. Anabasis of Alexander.
> By the way, Oakfed was conquered by the Lodril Priests in the Lunar
> Army at the battle of Moonbroth by them showing Lodril as Oakfed's
> father, according to at least one published work.
The published work happens to be Nick Brooke's article on Moonbroth in Tales #14 or #15. Secondly it is not an example of an absolute truth that was revealed at Moonbroth but merely the example of a temporary truth that was forged in battle and broke apart afterwards. But the Lunars didn't care then because all their nomad foes were dead.
--Peter Metcalfe
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