Re: Homosexuality in Glorantha

From: Greg Stafford <glorantha1_at_Fwzxqdi0tMplCieK86XDV5nORAs0MspQgUO7gZRwwdZGdvMebeG8-UYm45DPjQaH8>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:26:49 -0700

YGWV On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM, valkoharja <rintasaa_at_vqx8fVJuvmUAc_BYEuf80UVwJvamV-FQpXC6R1niFNhzXQIe7D5hKU7WrAt-VgoUaYqkSwfeTam6XG_X.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

> wrote:
> >
> > I thought the Malkioni disapproved of sodomy generally because of its
> > association with Brown Vadeli reproduction (although is it a sin
> > because the Brown Vadeli do it, or do the Brown Vadeli do it because
> > it is a sin?)
>
> I think I know the article you are referring to (Tradetalk right?) and I
> must say I didn't like the approach.

I have not read the article, so it's not canonical.

I like my vadeli a bit more subtle. I'd also like to know whether the Vadeli
> are categorically evil in the canonical Glorantha,

In my Glorantha, they are one example of evil; and then a bit more so. Like a race of ghouls, they get strange powers through habits disgusting to humans and Brithini. The Vadeli are not as well hidden, and are often caught in their evil ways, some of which require public execution and consumption. Bu the Vadeli prey on each other, themselves and others with equal gusto, and know that what they are doing is not only disgusting but evil, contrary to every Law of Malkion. They delight in triple negatives, they glory in deliberately misunderstanding rituals and worship, they swallow their own tongues to speak only in gutterals, cruder than beasts. No one thinks they are human. They live in the filthy corners of harbors, eating garbage and raiding into the neighborhoods of the poor for victims of their rites. They are largely incapable of non-violent social interaction with humans.

> or are they more like jewish people in medieval Europe...

No.

---

NOW, I know you didn't say this either but excuse the intermission SINCE that comment immediately veers towards a flash point, let me state my canonical viewpoint, and help me to squash any idea that the Vadeli are like the Jews. I have never said this, nor implied this, and it was put here by someone else.
Vadeli are not a stand in for the Jews, Medieval or otherwise; and never were intended to be.
The Vadeli have less social acceptance than Jews had, minimal and formal as that was. They do have similar customs, they do have similar features, and do not share much at all with the Jews other than being rejected and reviled. But plenty of people are rejected and reviled, as Trotsky has listed.

> that is, suspected and maligned for being "the other".
>

This is a pretty modern concept, and as such, I can safely say that "No. Your statement is false." I'm being deliberately obscure on a difficult subject because this isn't the place for a discussion of the Gloranthan Other.

> AFAIK the Vadeli are as different as the Brithini. Elder race of humans,
>

The Brithini and Vadeli are two different types (race or species? neither word is more than 1/4 correct) of people. Outsiders recognize them as being different, and whereas sometimes the Brithini are included as humans, Vadeli never are. If people are aware of the actual prehistoric connections and mythic genealogy, they usually have Brithini and Vadeli at opposite ends of most comparison scales made.

-- 
Greg Stafford
Game Designer


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