I agree with Tim, and for those fairly new to Glorantha will give this comparison: Gloranthan myth is at least as complicated, varied, and self-contradictory as the Bible....without all being written down or fully known by any one person.
So in fact, there are almost always multiple 'old ways' some of which people will know about ("well yes, at one time Barntar was exiled onto the bare hills and ploughed right through the rock and grew crops in what had been bare stone, angering the dwarves, but who would choose to do things that way?"), and some of which they won't (and may deny or embrace at first exposure to them).
To stick with the example of Barntar (hardly the god that most adventurers will follow!), followers of Barntar farm rich river valleys and thin hill tops and steep slopes in between, they farm in the very temperate (if not sub-tropical) lands of Esrolia and they farm in the frigid uplands of Sartar, they farm near the skyfall where storms are frequent and sunlight scarce and they far on the borders of Prax where the ground is always thirsty. Furthermore, most clans have moved around since the start of time, and have probably had to farm in different conditions.
They couldn't have survived and thrived if they were totally locked into the one true way of doing things--they can adapt and change. But as said, they'll want to mythically prove that change is right. A clan moving from a rich, well, watered area with heavy soil to a dry and thin soil will doubt seek out appropriate magic for the new conditions, and if they can't learn it from others will seek it out through risky hero quests.
But most of the people at most times will tend to believe that they are doing things the one right way....kind of like people on earth :)
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> --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, "michaelL" <michaelalewis25@> wrote:
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> > Thanks Bryan, your rich examples are very helpful.
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> > These Orlanthi don't seem like an innovative type of people. I don't see them inventing news ways to make farming more productive since Barntar has "always done it this way."
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> This is sort-of true - but on the other hand, if they find a "new" and "better" way of doing things, they will be able to Heroquest and prove that in fact Barntar has "always done it this *new* way"...
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> When the Barntar worshipper thinks of a new way of doing something, he will believe the inspiration comes from Barntar, - he may have come to some new understanding of an old myth, or learned some new myth. If his idea works, then the rest of his clan will realise he was right, and this new myth will become part of the way things are done here. If his idea fails then the clan elders will deny his inspiration came from Barntar. Maybe he was deceived by Eurmal the trickster, or some untrustworthy foreigner, or just his own lack of understanding - It just goes to show the importance of following our traditions!
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> The Orlanthi can be quite conservative - they like to do things they way they were done in the past - but one of the things that the Orlanthi did in the past was to change the way things were done when the old ways were not appropriate or not working - which gives them an advantage over the Yelm-worshipping Dara Happans who like to do things they way they were done in the past, and that was to not change when conditions changed...
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