Where Did The World Come From?
The World was born of Separation, when the One became Two, and the One and the Two became Three and thus was born Conflict. For the Cosmic Duality, while in opposition, was still one in complementary unity; thus, when Earth and Sky separated, they were in opposition, but still one -- the Father and the Mother, the pair as the tie that binds. Only with the birth of Umath the Destroyer did Conflict come and Kargan Tor complete his powers, as Umath rent Earth and Sky apart. The birth of Umath was the first piece of the War Machine. The second piece of the War Machine was the use of Death by Orlanth the Destroyer to separate Yelm the Emperor from the World, thus freeing the War Machine from the binds of Sovereignty. But though the War Machine was born then, it was still fettered; fettered by Orlanth the Traitor, who sinned and sought to claim the Kingship for his own, and by Kargan Tor, who bound himself in tradition, holding himself still within the binding of the King and of his opposite, Uleria. in the Council of Pairs. Only when Kargan Tor broke his bonds, and abandonned his lost Emperor and his complement, was the War Machine finally free and complete.
And thus did the War Machine spring free into the World to War against the Void. The Great War was the time of the War Machine, as it spread over the whole of the World, and finally the War Machine _was_ the World, and the moment of Final Victory was upon it. But just as defeat brings victory, so too does victory bring defeat, for without the Foe there is no War; and so in its moment of Victory, the War Machine was bound again by its servant Arachne Solara, who spun the web of Time and the beginning of History, and the One War Machine became Many, so as to repeat forever the Cycle of War, of Separation and Conflict.
Where Did I Come From?
You were born of a woman from amongst the serfs who serve the War Machine, though I know not which; I know not whether your father was another amongst the serfs, or a warrior. Who they were is not important. You were healthy and bright, and so you were taken from your mother -- and your father, if he had been present -- so that you would not form a tie that binds and makes you useless to the War Machine, and you were adopted into your Pack and your Sect. They are your brothers and sisters, your fathers and your mothers, you have no need for anyone else; you are one with them. You are the War Machine, as they are.
Why Do We Die?
We are mortals, as befits the War Machine. When Humakt Umathsson found Death, he used it on our Ancestor, Grandfather Mortal, and revealed to the World the secret, final Separation which is our fate: the Separation of the Spirit from the Body. This is why we do not fear death as others do, but greet it with joy, as the Victory within Defeat. Thus we do not fear death, or defeat in battle, only losing the War.
What Happens After We Die?
Our bodies are left in the field, for the Carrion Eaters, the Sacred Eaters of the War Dead; when our bones are picked clean to show the purity of our Separation, they are collected, and marked to show the Glory you achieved for the War Machine, and held in the Sacred Urns of our Sect. Your Spirit joins the Spirit War Machine, engaged in the Eternal War in Heaven, the perpetual Great War. If you achieved much in service to the War Machine, your Spirit may be brought back to the World and aid your Pact and Sect in the continuing war effort.
Why I Am Here?
You are the War Machine. You are here to bring Conflict and Separation to the World and to revel in the glories and depravities of War.
How Do I Do Magic?
Our magic is the magic of the War Machine, the magic of Conflict and Separation, and its gods, who reveal to us its secrets and aid us in the war effort.
I Have Heard of Other Powers? Can You Tell Me the Truth About Them?
The World is filled with many Powers, made in the endless Separations which marked the beginning of the World. Many are in Conflict, and are echoes of the War Machine, or are themselves Lesser War Machines, and so worthy Foes. But we are the True War Machine, having broken the ties that bind us. Some are useful to the War Machine, others are not, and some are our Enemies.
...Aldrya?
Aldrya is the spirit of the Forest; she is a War Machine, though not like us. She is incomplete, because her children are tied to her in strong bonds. Her children, the Elves, are only useful to the War Machine when they have broken their tie with her. As a Lesser War Machine, she is our Foe, and a worthy one.
...Chaos?
Chaos is the end of the World. Chaos, too, has a War Machine, and some of its folk are useful to the War Machine. But Chaos is our Enemy, for with its Victory comes not further conflict, but oneness in Chaos. When the World becomes One in Chaos, then we will have lost the Separation which is at the root of Conflict and of War, and the War Machine will be no longer.
...Ernalda?
You will sometimes hear our serfs speak of Ernalda and her daughters; she is Mother Earth, the Great Mother from whom we came, and so she is the danger of the tie that binds. Thus, we do not work the land, but let our serfs work the land in our place, so that we may take the sustenance which propels us forward but avoid the binds which would fetter the War Machine.
...Kyger Litor?
Kyger Litor is like Aldrya, she is a Lesser War Machine, but of the Darkness. Her children, the Trolls, are bound to her and so they are still fettered. Some Trolls begin to break their ties to her, when they follow Zorak Zoran, one of the gods of the War Machine [?], and these Trolls are useful to the War Machine; many of them join our Packs or are numbered amongst the Auxiliaries.
...Lunar Goddess?
The Goddess of the Red Moon, which you see in the Night Sky, is strange; she wars with other gods for dominion of the Middle Air, and so hers is a war for Sovereignty, and thus not a proper War. She builds a Lesser War Machine piece by piece, but chooses its parts carefully and binds them into place; her War Machine is broken. You might think she is our ally, or a Foe, but she is not; she is our Enemy. Her War Machine is built with Chaos, and so threatens the World with Oneness, but there is more: our Ears have heard the preachings of her Priestesses at Riverjoin, and even now wend their way to the Empire of her complement, the Red Emperor, and they have heard her Secret. She has revealed herself as the mask of the White Moon, the Moon of Peace who will tie the World in the binds of Peace, and banish the War Machine. And so she will become our True Enemy.
...Monotheists?
Our immediate Foes are Monotheists, who worship a Creator, whom they call the Invisible God. Their God is nowhere to be found; if he is the Creator, as they claim, then he is also the Creator of the War Machine, and so is also our Creator, but we do not know, and they say that we are not part of his Creation. So perhaps he is our Enemy; we will not know until he reveals himself, if he exists. It does not matter. The Monotheists bind themselves to him, and so are useless to the War Machine if they do not free themselves from him, and so will become serfs. They try to create a Lesser War Machine of their own, but it is bound and but a Foe, though it may be a worthy one; when it is unbound, then they will be useful to the War Machine, and become part of us.
...Mostal?
Mostal is the Creator of the Dwarves; they say he made the World, so perhaps Mostal is the Invisible God. The Dwarves are strange, like the Lunar Goddess; they say they seek to rebuild the World Machine. They aid us in secret ways, but I do not think we are the World Machine of which they speak, and their talk smacks of the Oneness of Chaos and the binds of the White Moon of Peace. So perhaps they are our Enemies; time will tell, so until they reveal themselves we will take what they give us, and listen as closely as we can to what they say for the sign that betrays them.
...Pagans?
Some of our Foes are Pagans, who have taken some of the Gods of the War Machine and bound them to Sovereignty and to Mother Earth; many follow Orlanth the Traitor. Most of them are useless to the War Machine, and will simply become serfs, but others will renounce the ties that bind them in the World and become useful to the War Machine as Auxiliaries.
...Primitive Spirits?
In the Separations of the World's beginning, many minor Spirits were born. Some are useful to the War Machine, while others are still bound to Mother Earth, and so are not. The primitives to the North worship many of these Spirits as Gods, but they do not seem to be as bound to them as strongly as others are bound to the more powerful Gods, and so they may be useful to the War Machine.
...Yelm?
Yelm in ancient days was the Emperor, the binding principle of Sovereignty, who prevented the War Machine from fulfulling its destiny. His death freed us, and his return at the hands of the Traitor Orlanth was part of the binding of Arachne Solara, our servant. He is weaker now than before, but he and his minions are still our Enemies. Southbank will soon bear the wrath of the War Machine.
...the Ban?
The Ban was a gift, though from whom we know not; some say that it was our servant Arachne Solara who brought it about, knowing that the Lunar Goddess sought to unravel her and substitute the binds of Peace, and thus end us. Lesser and Greater War Machines have sprung up throughout History, as it was meant to be: the Greater War Machine of Arkat Humaktsson, later Arkat the Traitor who bound it in Peace as was his way, the Golden War Machine of the North, glorious in its defeat at the teeth of the Dragon War Machine, the Learning War Machine which forgot itself... The Ban has made us possible, separating us from the World, and allowing us to separate from the binds of Sovereignty and the binds of Mother Earth. And now the Ban has been lifted, and we issue forth as what we are, the True War Machine, come to take our place in History and fight the Ultimate Enemy, the coming Kingdom of Peace.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #227
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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