>I have no problem with Humath being a storm/war god in Ralios. I
>seem to remember (was it Dave Dunham?) posting a story recently about
>a Ralian Hsunchen meeting a bunch of Theyalan immigrants, who
>thought that Humath must be Humakt.
Actually a story written by Jeff Richard based on a scenario by David Dunham. It's on David's web page under the Hsunchen. The Bemuri (Cow people) were told by the Theyalan Missionaries that the Ralian Humath was actually the brother of their god Orlanth. Humakt doesn't come into it for David had been polluted by the Broken Council Guidebook.
>The names Yelm, Yelmalio, Elmal, Ehilm, etc are too close for it to
>be a coincidence. What we realy need to know is - what do the Dara
>Happan, Yelmalian, Theyalan and Western names for the Fire/Sky
>rune sound like? Anyone want to bet they all sound similar, and all
>bear a similarity to the names of the associated god?
The only listed example I can give is Dara Happan and they merely say Yelm when confronted with the rune. The similarity of Yelm and Yelmalio is not mysterious as Cults of Prax translates the latter as Son of Yelm. Elmal looks to me like a corruption of Yelmalio or vice versa. I believe the cult of Yelmalio and Elmal to have orignally stemmed from the worship of the Sky Dome in the time when the Sky was still Golden after the Sun's Death. During the Great Darkness the worship was transferred to Heros of the Sky Dome Cult who still had access to some Sky Powers. When the Sun rose again, the Theyalans and the Aldryami thought it was their Solar Hero come again and so transferred their cultic worship onto it. Ehilm is rather different from the others, unless you are arguing that the El is to be found in ehILm.
>Perhaps the word for Fire/Sky is 'El'.
>Thus the similarity in their names is simply due to their association
>with solar powers.
With other Fire/Sky or Sun Gods such as Aether, Primolt, Somash (of Teshnos), Kargzant (of the Grazers), Cronisper (of the Doraddi) and Yamsur (of the Wastelands), the hypothesis looks weak for a universal pronounciation. A Wareran-wide pronouciation could be argued but since we don't know of any common history of the Warerans (Pelorians, Westerners and Theyalans) during the Gods Age, I'm rather skeptical.
It seems far more probable to me that the 'El' for Fire/Sky was spread as a result of missionary activity during the first age.
Jonas Pope:
>(1): The distinction between False Gods and pagan gods that Peter
>Metcalfe suggests. This is an erudite explanation, and I admire its
>ingenuity. Yet, I find it a bit complex for my tastes (others may
>disagree). Further, it doesn't explain why the Wizard of "What the
>Wizard Says" fails to make any mention of the False Gods (in the
>prosopaedia sense).
My take on this is that he is using little words. He doesn't go into great depth of vile heresies for fear of giving his charges ideas. He has enough problems emphasizing the transcendant nature of the Invisible God in the minds of the laity to bother telling them about the historical details of Ehilm etc. The actual stuff the laity hear is from folkore tales. This differs not very much from your position no. 2.
>(2): Westerners have a variety of different explanations for other
>people's gods. A Malkioni can explain Orlanth or Yelm, etc., as a
>personification of natural forces, human desires, etc., *or* as an
>evil Western sorceror who is now worshipped by ignorant foreigners.
>Probably those with good theological training (like the Wizard)
>accept the first explanation, while the less-learned laity embrace
>the second.
>...
>But Malkioni, as a whole, do not divide other people's divinities
>into two classes: Pagan Gods and False Gods.
> From my perspective, this interpretation accords more closely
>with what the Prosopaedia says about the individual False Gods. The
>paragraphs on Humct and Worlath sound to me like a lay Westerner's
>perception of Humakt and Orlanth. It doesn't matter that these
>aren't very accurate perceptions - --I wouldn't expect Western
>Malkioni to have a very good grasp on foreign theist's beliefs. For
>a RW example (I know, Glorantha isn't earth), consider the things
>said about Islam in "The Song of Roland."
My feelings exactly. I don't expect most Malkioni to actually understand the distinction between False and Pagan Gods or even most Wizards. The actual records are probably dry and boring Brithini Prose and that most of the juciy detail comes from the fairy tales.
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