I Glorantha is a vacuum fluctuation.
The universe is a an unbounded sea of chaos. Since chaos is without constancy, occasionally bubbles of something else, something totally alien to chaos, appears spontaneously. Glorantha is one such. It is likely that Glorantha is both unusually large and unusually long lasting, but there is no way we can know. There is no way to learn what the outer chaos contains, since not even the gods can survive there.
Glorantha is precious. It is most likely the only place fit for life. Even if it is not, it is still the only place where we can live, since even if other suitable bubbles exist, we have no way of getting there. But ultimately, Glorantha has no purpose. It is just an accident.
II Glorantha is a machine.
This is what the dwarfs believe. What is the purpose of this machine?
IIa The machine is its own purpose. The machine is what was Meant to Be. I suppose this is what the orthodox dwarfs believe.
IIb The machine has some external purpose. Machines are generally supposed to do something. What is Glorantha supposed to do? Somebody (in Glorantha or on this list) must have some ideas, but I don't. Maybe the function is incomprehensible to those who know only of the inside of the machine. The build-in autorepair system does not need to know what the machine does in any event. If it works according to specifications, it will do its job, whatever it is, perfectly. This view is very similar to IIa.
IIc The machine is a home. No doubt some individualist dwarfs believe that the purpose of the world machine is to be a pleasant home for the dwarfs. But what of the orthodox dwarfs? One possible purpose is to be a pleasant home for mankind, either in the narrow sense of humanity, or the broad sense of the man rune creatures (which does not include the dwarfs. Dwarfs were made to serve the machine, not the other way around.) No, I don't think that the dwarfs actually believe this, but they might want to convince the people around them that this is what they believe. The dwarfs are working hard to make a perfect paradise for you. Remember: the mostali are your friends, and happiness is mandatory. Ooops! Wrong game.
III Glorantha is an incubator
I said above that there is no way we can know what the outer chaos contains. That is not quite so. There is one way. We could learn of it from dragons. Dragons can survive the chaos. Can dragonewts? I don't think so. Dragonewts are the offspring of dragons, and eventually become dragons themselves. Is there any other way for dragons to breed? Suppose there isn't. Then dragons, while able to live in chaos, need some place like Glorantha to breed.
While this doesn't make dragons anti chaos, it does mean that they would want to prevent chaos from destroying Glorantha, which is much the same from a Gloranthan's point of view. That does not mean that we should expect a true dragon to off the Mother of Monsters anytime soon. The M of M is not threatening any dragonewt eggs.
There are several possible relations of dragons to Glorantha.
IIIa Dragons are parasites. Discovering Glorantha, a couple of dragons laid there eggs there, and (some of them) stayed to keep an eye on them.
IIIb Dragons are defenders, working hard behind the scenes to keep the Glorantha bubble from collapsing into raw chaos.
IIIc Dragons are builders. Discovering a bubble of unshaped reality, they build the world, including the gods.
IIId Dragons are creators. Whenever a dragon feels an urge (or even half an urge) to procreate, it can make its own bubble, and form its own world.
These are of course points in a continuum.
What did you say those gift carriers look like again?
Klaus O K
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