I read once that the Sumerians had trade outposts as far away as the coast of Palestine, though this may have been later.
>Since Teshnos has a solar culture, how about something that has evolved
from the same roots as the Dara Happan script, as an echo of a common
past in the world-spanning (almost) Godtime empire of Yelm?
Gee, Nils. Open coat and glue target to chest! It's a splendid idea, but does anyone really believe in Yelm's Godtime Empire? Might it have been carried or rooted in the Pentan horse nomads? Do they have a script? Do they have any ties to Teshnos?
Peter replies to my wild speculation on isolated religions:
>A bit of a futile dream IMO. The cultures have now come into contact
with each other and are aware of each other. Plus 500 years ago, the
God Learners did a good job of screwing the original myths to such an
extent nobody is sure what they were. What was true then, is no longer
mythically true now.
Quite true - and what the GL's didn't alter the Lunars are busy bending to
their own agenda.
But there's a lot of Glranthan history before them, and some areas did not
have a lot of GL contact. (Peloria, peasant Heortland...)
These happen to be when and where our campaigns are set. Besides, we find
it useful to sort out the original myths -before- they were muddied by
foreign influence, so one can then figure out how they've changed.
>>In short, why does the Evil Emperor of the Orlanthi myths
>always have to be some Solar furriner?
>Because said Solar furriner happens to have a better army than the Orlanthi
do and has conquered the Orlanthi's pitiful excuse of an civilized country with one hand tied behind its back and is now taxing it without mercy.
Now, Peter, be nice. Orlanthi are not always under heel. There's Ralios, Western Kathela, pre-1620 Heortland, etc.
>Elsewhere, I'm sure that the Evil Emperor will seen to be of some other
tradition than the Sun worshippers. I suppose some Ralian Barbarians, for
example, have tales about the Evil Emperor Malkion who was killed and thus
his cult sucks because his worshippers can do no true magic (only false
sorcery).
Makes sense to me. See, isn't this fun?
>Of course they would then have to explain why Orlanth went into Hell and
brought back the Sun.
He went to bring back Ernalda tha earthmother, of course, to make the land
fertile again.
To do so, he had to make peace with the EE. (Deal peacefully with the
Authority Figure. This is not easy for an Orlanthi.)
>The Seventh Wane is fast approaching and the Moon is no Whiter than she
was six-and-a-half wanes ago. There is nobody else to kick around save
for unrepentant unwashed savages in the South....
Yeah, yeah. Of course the Lunars are going to pit two of their own old enemies against each other. More's the tragedy.
>And Plentonius, in describing the Wars of Dara Happa against the Monster
Army (ie the World Council of Friends), makes reference to the humans
being 'all followers of Rebellus Terminus, who they called Oralanatus'
on p52.
Drat! You pulled a "Consult Book" on me! Hmm. Well, perhaps they were merely a manifestation of RT.
> Although you are right in saying that the Last Rebel is not
necessarily a Storm God, you're still stuck with the fact that fact that
the Dara Happans think so, having 1400 years of precedent.
Being such a mystical, varied, and snobbish place, perhaps their ideas of RT change over time. Their concept of Yelm certainly does. No doubt Oralantus has a rep for being unruly, unlawful, thieving, etc. Thus he's on the banned god's list - with Uleria, I think. Unhealthy influences on the children, you know.
Dennis jumps in:
>In mundane history one's neighbors gods are always devils, so I don't see
anything unusual about cross-cultural mythological influences.
This is an excellent point. But one's neighbors and enemies change over time, and so do one's devils.
> In fact, I would hesitate to call them cross-cultural. Oralanatus is as
much a Pelorian deity as is Yelm. When you try to figure out whether
Oralanatus or Rebellus Terminus is really the same deity as the Theyalan
Orlanth, you enter very sticky territory. I prefer to stick to a purely
subjective view and get out the stake and firewood whenever anyone delves
into comparative mythology. :-)
That's what we were trying to do - make myths more subjective and local. Why should you keep relating a myth based on a deity or people you haven't encountered for 300 years? Make it relevant!
I know this all sounds sort of wierd, but we were looking for a way out of the endless cycle of PC "My god killed your god" arguments.
Pam
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #66
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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