>Both are demonstrably true to their respective culture.
I think in Glorantha, it's more than that; the myths are demonstrably true to someone from ANY culture.
I'm sure a Malkioni would dispute the meaning of Orlanth killing Yelm, and might not see the event quite the same way (perhaps he sees amazingly dense clouds cover the sun for a century), but there's something that's true for all observers. A hsunchen might see big spirits battling, or a scruffy alynx killing a noble horse, but if you take him on a heroquest, he's going to see some version of the same myth.
Probably a better example would be a less universal myth, like Orlanth wooing Ernalda. In this case, the non-Orlanthi would have fewer mytho-cultural expectations, and might see something closer to what the Orlanthi sees (and would all see about the same thing).
>The idea of the monomyth is an out for lazy
>gamemasters and would hold no appeal to a real culture anywhere
Au contraire; not only is it useful for the GM to know about the commonalities of the myths (as long as he then embroiders them with cultural detail), the monomyth was a way of looking at the world that gave great power to the Jrusteli (much as the scientific method is a way of looking at the world that's given great power to Europeans).
And to latte-swilling Dan:
>Shamen
The plural is shamans. (Neither it nor human [pl. humans] are related to man.)
I don't think Kiwis have lattes, but Peter wrote:
>This speculation that the Lunars keep Shargash controlled seems to me
>largely a retrofit considering how Shargash's existance was unknown
>prior to the Glorious ReAscent of Yelm. If he is tightly controlled
>then we don't have to explain why he was unknown in Cults of Prax and
>other works.
A simpler explanation is that Shargash is not a prosletyzing cult (Yelm is a perfect example of such a cult -- you _can't_ become a member unless you have [or can concoct] the right geneaology). Nor is it a cult that the savvy Lunars think would be accepted in the Provinces, so they don't bother trying to export it. No retrofitting needed.
Nils Weinander, who's probably a teetotaller, answered me:
>>>I'd prefer to say that a hsunchen
>>>'initiate' (adult) may transform into his totem animal once a year.
>
>>I could go with this, tho I like the concept of half-transformed hsunchen.
>>Maybe they made only some of their virtue rolls?
>
>Excellent idea. Now that only requires the mapping out of various tribes'
>animal body parts to teir corresponding personality traits...
It could be as simple as make 4 rolls, get 3 parts, make 3 rolls, get 2 parts, make 2 virtue rolls, only one part transforms. Which part could be random, or they transform in order of rune cost.
(For different animal totem virtues, you could do worse than look at Roderick Robertson's choices in Beyond the Wall. I'd be tempted to use Pious instead of Worldly.)
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