I think that this is a correct analogy, but it is misapplied to heroes and superheroes. Superheroes are _just_ like heroes, except they are tougher and they have the Infinity Rune.
There _are_ entities in Glorantha who have chosen to wield power instead of being helpful, and we all know some of them: the Red Emperor, the Pharaoh, Androgeus, Delecti the Necromancer, Lord Death On A Horse, among others. Folks like Argrath, Jar-Eel, Snodal, etc. are individually less mighty, but historically far more important.
But it's not a superhero/hero difference, it's an inward/outward difference. Plenty of superheroes are worshiped after their death: Arkat, Hon-Eel, the Kralori Emperors (who each achieve the Infinity Rune before death), Yanafal Tarnils (if he's super). Heck, even Sheng would be worshiped today if his soul was accessable to anybody. I must admit Harrek is not particularly palatable, but even more icky dudes are worshiped as deities.
John Snead
>Other than Centaurs, Satyrs, Minotaurs, and Manticores, what types
>of beast men are found in Genertela?
Baboons and Ducks are commonly counted as beast men, too. Not counting baboons and ducks, probably 95% of all beast men in Dragon Pass stem from one of the four varieties you named. In Seshnela, it's probably down to 85% or so.
Other types are rare enough that they're not generally categorized into "types" except by anal-retentive God Learneroids. One visitor to Beast Valley carefully tallied all the beastmen in Ironhoof's court as follows [notes in brackets are mine]:
Ape 1 Baboons 3 Centaurs 23 Cynocephali 2 Ducks 3 Earth-Man 1 [further description indicates that this entityhad four arms, no body hair, a "peculiar" nose, and a roughened leathery hide]
Giant Otter 1 [perhaps a visitor from the New Fens] Gryphon-Man 1 [A double-hybrid? Or mistaken identity.] Manticore 8 Merman 1 [? does he mean a real merman ?] Minotaur 15 Mole Man 1 Newtlings 4 Ostrich-Woman 1 Ox-Man 1 [?? Evidently not a minotaur] Ratlings 2 [humanoid rodents?] Rubble-Man 1 [does he mean a Rubble Runner man?] Satyrs 18 Serpent Man 1 Snout-Giant 1 [a mammoth- or elephant-man?] Tailed Man 1 [from other remarks it is apparent that thetail is both long and prehensile, and that the man's other body features were also nonstandard]
Telmori 2 [Genuine Telmori? Or Wolf-things?] "Vampire" 1 [presumably not undead, but some sort ofbatwinged humanoid]
Note: these proportions doubtless have nothing to do with the percentages of such creatures in the population at large -- Ironhoof presumably is selective about who is in his court.
Note that although you limited your remark to Genertela, there are also many Pamaltelan beast-men, and they are quite different from the Genertelan types. There are no minotaurs, for instance, and the centaurs are considered to be semi-chaotic, much as are giants or werewolfs in Genertela. The centaurs, it must be admitted, tend to worship evil deities, such as Sikkanos or Bolongo.
>Are there any carnivore based beast men other than manticores?
Yes.
>has the Arachne Solara cult ever been described in detail
Kind of. No one gets any real spells from her.
>Also, what (if any) is the relation between the beast men and
>Hsunchen groups like the Telmari and the Basmoli
Beastmen that happen to "match up" with a particular Hsunchen tribe may be considered sacred. Some beastmen (esp. in Ralios) are believed to actually stem from degenerate Hsunchen. The uneducated may easily mix up a Hsunchen and a beastman -- both have beastly and human-like features, after all. Oh yes, since beastmen "culture" is generally pretty primitive, and Hsunchen are not particularly urbane, this also makes it hard to tell the two apart, at least if you're a civilized guy.
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #272
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