Malkion, Man or God?

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 13:04:55 +1200


Nils Weinander:

Nils said Malkion was a god not a human being.

I commented:

>>Oh? Everybody on Glorantha seems to think he [Malkion] was a human being.

Nils replies:

>So how come he is said to be the son of a storm god and a sea goddess?

Only the Waertagi and the Aeolian are claiming that Malkion was the son of Aerlit and Warera(?), IMO. This is a rationalization to gloss over the hybridization of the Law of Malkion with the Lore of the Storm Gods or Sea Gods. If Malkion was said to be the son of Aerlit then it follows worshipping storm gods is all right. Ditto for his mother.

What really was the case was that Waertag's kin felt obliged to worship the Gods of their ancestor's mother as well as follow the Law of Malkion. To justify this against purists, they 'discover' that Malkion was actually the son of Aerlit et al. Dissenters got the cement overshoes treatment to cure them of their malady.

And in the second case: having Divine parents does not a god make: cf Vingkot is widely acknowleged to be a human being despite having Orlanth as his father.

Nick Brooke:


On the subject of Malkion:

>> Oh? Everybody on Glorantha seems to think he [Malkion] was a human being.

Nick replies:

>Balls: Theists think he was a god. Unless you've just redefined "human," as
>Westerners are prone to do...

I was implicitly using the Malkioni definition of all in 'everybody'. Those who worship pagan gods as opposed (and in the case of the Waertagi and other henothiests: 'as well as') to the Invisible God and his Saints are not included.

End of Glorantha Digest V2 #127


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