Re: Praxian tribal campaign

From: Simon Phipp <soltakss_at_...>
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:34:50 -0000


Chris Lemens:
> My take on Praxian mythology is that it is terribly broken and that the Praxians fail to see it, through a combination of ignorance and pride. This is not false pride. The Praxians survive in one of a small handful of the least hospitable places in Glorantha. When outlanders come to even the best part of Prax, they find it hard to survive.
>
> There are two huge breaks in Praxian mythology. The first was the devastation of the darkness. There was a thriving set of overlapping cultures in the greatlands. Chaos destroyed it so thoroughly that many of the Praxians' stories about it amount to fairy takes -- they have a hidden grain of truth, but the Praxians cannot find them on the hero plane.

The thing about Gloranthan myths is that they can be experienced through worship ceremonies and HeroQuests. So, cults find it difficult to "forget" myths - they have to be shattered by GodTime events or blasted out by better HeroQuesting.

So, amongst the people of Prax, we have the following:

Oasis Folk - They have scattered remnants of the cults of Genert and Tada, but have lost most of their connections due to the ravages of chaos. Each oasis remembers something of a golden age and that provides them with the food they need to survive in their oasis. Each oasis remembers things differently and has some specialised knowledge, but someone would have to travel to all the oases and take part in their worship ceremonies in order to piece together anything resembling the Genert myths.

Paps - The Earth complex of the Paps remembers those cults associated with Eiritha and the Praxian Earth, but doesn't know a lot about Genert and his ilk. However, they do have access to those spirits that were not shattered by chaos. They are very disjointed, though, and nobody knows about all the earth cults. Many of the myths are from the Storm Age, though, and very few from the Golden Age.

Agimori - These know of the Golden Age, but not of Prax. Their Praxian Myths are of how they arrived in prax and how they integrated with the Praxian deities and peoples. So, pretty much all Storm and Chaos Age.

Praxian Nomads - They have some myths from Storm Bull and Eiritha, but most of their myths come from Waha. This is what defines them, this is what allows them to survive and this is all they need in Prax. So, they have Storm/Chaos Age myths in abundance.

Sun County - They are newcomers and have few Praxian myths. However, their myths are of the Golden Age and also of the later Storm/Chaos Ages. They have very few links with Praxian Myths, though.

Sacred Societies - These have access to the myths of their founding deities and these might connect with the myths of the other cultures. Those societies that are not founded by deities still have myths that connect with minor spirits and these would have connections to other myths.

Each of these remember and experience their own myths, but cannot remember the myths of the cultures that preceded them. So, Praxians don't have access to the myths of the Forest of Prax, as it came before Waha. Some of their societies might have access to the Feeding of Oakfed and the destruction of the Forest, other societies might have some myths where one of their founding deities/spirits did something in Genert's Garden, but most of them are dead.

The trick in rebuilding the myths is to take them from the people who hold them. So, learning all the myths of the Oasis Folk allows someone to work out the connections and build up the greater myth. reawakening Tada's people might give access to his myths. Joining the cults of the Paps gives access to all the earth myths. Learning the secrets of many Sacred Societies would allow the myths to be reconstructed and joined together. Doing all of this and HeroQuesting in the Waha myths allows a HeroQuestor to rebuild the shattered mythology of Prax as a whole.

Simon            

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