I was teasing you, Peter. Sorry about leaving out the ;)
>I was saying that he wasn't the 'Earth King' of Genertela.
Looking >at the surviving counterpart, Pamalt, we see that he comes
into >power quite late in the Gods War and even then his influence
only >weakly extends to the shores. And furthermore there is no
sign of >an 'Earth King' predecessor whom Pamalt displaced (like
Orlanth >displaced Umath).
Hey, I'm not disputing that the history of Genert and Pamalt are utterly different. They're no more alike than the story of King Mark and King Arthur, maybe even less so.
If there was an equivalent in responsibility and power in Pamaltela during Genert's heyday, I would vote for Artmal. In any case, had Genert survived the Gods War, I believe that the Earth culture instead of being suppressed and spread everywhere, with deities taking different names, powers, and personas, it would have thrived much more, and more lands like Esrolia would be known, plus religions with earth partnerships, like Yelm/Dendara and Orlanth/Ernalda would have a more equal status between them. Dendara would no longer be Yelm's footstool, and Ernalda would be Queen to Orlanth's King, instead of just his wife.
I believe that Pamalt today is the closest thing to Genert in power and responsibility (NOT in details) that we can see in modern Glorantha. But studying him to learn of Genert is a bit like studying an insect's wings to figure out how a bird is able to fly.
>As for parentage of all the Land Goddesses of the continent, this I
>dispute. IMO, Ralios and the West originally thought Flamal of
>Hrelar Amali to have been the 'Earth King' who fathered the
>surrounding land goddesses
Hrumph. If you're going to listen to raggedy-ass barbarians and snooty religious prigs instead of me ... *sob*
I suspect theologonists deal with this "problem" by explaining that Genert was "ancestor" to all the land goddesses. In some cases he was father, in some grandfather, but still technically "father", just as Abraham is the "father" of the Jews. (Yes I know this leads to conflicts about where the heck Flamal came from -- what would a good myth be like without contradictions?)
Sandy P.
Another explanation I've heard is that the land goddesses had more than one father each. After all, their mother had more than one lover. So no doubt Esrola has Genert, Flamal, and Orlanth all three for her father, at a minimum.
Sandy p
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #233
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