Consensual Gloranthan Reality

From: Erik Sieurin <BV9521_at_utb.hb.se>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 20:09:45 +0100


First, Martin Crim voiced my opinion regarding True Mostali. Then, I wasn't sure if Isildan the Wise was a TM or an incredibly ancient Dwarf, so I might have made the list of Known TM (KTM?) even shorter, but what the Heaven, as Uz say. It ties in with my turn at a Philosophical Rambling.

There are many Fundamental Conflicts in the world - Freedom vs Safety, Playability vs Realism, etc. But one very very fundamental in the Digest World is that of One True World vs. A Thousand and One Incompatible Worlds. All seem to agree that there is not One True Glorantha, most importantly the guy who invented the damn place and hold the moral and legal copyrights as far as I know. And I think most of us wants some sort of compatibility between our worlds, our versions of Glorantha.

I mean, I can certainly do it this way:
 I can present an idea to the list, say, "In Vesmonstran live the horrible exploding Ulerian were-hobbits who practice female circumcision  and arrived on Glorantha from Barsoom". And when someone presents any kind of criticism (say, "Greg has said there is no female circumcision west of the Zola Fel"), I could answer, fully legally: "This is my version of Glorantha and I can do whatever I want."

But I don't. And neither does anyone else, at least have no one done it with such blatancy as far as I know. No, I'll defend my opinion, like "But Authority O. Than Greg mentions in Cults of Blasphemy that the Tyrland Clan of Vesmonstran do practice female circumcision, which makes it culturally possible that their neighbours...... etc".

Often (at least can I say this for my humble self) the facts I use to defend myself is something that I didn't really thought of as relevant until I had to find out some desperate defense. But when I do find it, I'll often end up utilising it ("Hey, with a common cultural heritage between the Tyrland Clan and the e.U.w-hobbits, I can have this nifty trading ritual ripped from the quaint Roman travelology I read the other week.......").

Anyway, I continue to waggle in this way, and finally it turns out that Tom, Dick and Harry agree with me (an Gloranthan Digest "agree", which means they actually disagree with 80% of the subject, but that's less then the rest of the Digest do). Since both I, Tom, Dick and Harry are prominent figures of the Digest, the e.U.w-h from Barsoom becomes part of consensual Gloranthan reality.

Consensual Gloranthan Reality, CGR, is MY catchword. It is not the One True Way, since nothing is really certain. It is things that we marginally agree on, like "There are great similarities between the culture of the e.U.w-h.f.B and the Tyrland clan of Vestmonstran, at least if you compare the culture of the e.U.w-h.f.B and the Storm Bill Ducks of Urland Marsh." "We" are an Orlanthi "we", ie not all of us, and we do not interpret the statements in exactly the same way. But it is all we have. And therein lies the difficulties of being a Greggite.

See, being a Greggite is much more than playing in Glorantha (using whatever system or no system at all). That's the Lay Members. Then there are the Initiates. They are serious. They read this thick Digest. They buy TTRM and RQ Adventures. They hunt conventions for ancient works like Plunder and Balastor's Barracks.

(Cartoon by Ake Rosenius in Swedish con advert, defining "Auctions at
conventions": A man stands behind a desk waving a rag in one hand and an auctioneer's club in the other. "...and the next item is a hanky that Greg Stafford once blew his nose in. " Excited Person in the audience: "50 dollars!")

In general, they spend 10% of their income and 10% of their time with Glorantha and gaming in it. But many of them strive to rise above their humble beginnings. They want to become RuneGregs. To do this, they must Convince the Examiners (Don't worry about the skill prerequisites, they all have 90% in Gloranthan Trivia and four other Greggite skills. And they already spend 90% of their time and income on Gloranthan matters, so what the heck) by making an invention of theirs part of CGR.

That is what this digest consists of, to a large degree: We all try to convince the examiners. And the examiners try to convince us, to accept their new ideas as CGR. And the whole time we waver, since though we don't want One True Way, we want it at the same time; preferrably OUR One True Way. Admit it, guys! You and I and all the aspects of Argrath want our ideas to be accepted by The List and Greggites in general, to get them published in TTRM, used as the foundation for discussions by others, associated with our names
("You know, Erik Sieurin, the guy who proved the link between the
e.U.w-h.f.B and the Tyrland-clan...") and finally... PUBLISHED! But at the same time, we really care about the others on the list; we do not want to offend them, we like their other ideas (not the ones that are contrary to our own nest-eggs, the others) and think they are great guys and gals. We don't want a fixed reality, an OTW. So we try to find a Way Between, and it's so damn difficult....

My personal belief is that the CGR should be more consensual, or at least more obvious (How many True Mostali are there - I thought of 45 as "few", Peter Metcalfe thought of 45 as too damn many?) to the outside viewer. OK, part of the charm is digging for the facts, but sometimes I watch, say, GURPS worldbooks with envy: They state the basic facts, often with quite a bit of leeway for your private campaign or short story, you know the way to the capital, you get clear maps. Harn may be dull sometimes, but at least you know where you are, who the king is, and Harnians (Adepts of Crossby!) still finds a heck a lot of things to hold rambling conversations about on the Net.

I love this place, but if my roommates could be better at picking up their things, the place would be even more lovely (he said and threw his clothes on the floor). Not until we know the things all Sartarites have in common do I find it meaningful to introduce the regional difficulties. Not until we know the Regular Way is there any possibility of pointing out the Exceptional Way (or the Way of Exceptions).

Nine embarrasing facts that may be tied to my nature as a Greggite: 1. I am late to lectures due to reading the Digest. 2. As a bachelor, I read in the loo..... and my current heap on the chair that serves as a table are a work on Oriental religion, "Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight" and good ol' Frazer. 3. I have more space on my personal computer devoted to RQ/Gloranthan stuff than I have devoted to computer games, including various forms of external memory.
4. I sneer at other gamers who don't play RQ, especially when they make the comment: "Isn't that the game where you can play Donald Duck?"
5. One-word praise from one of the Apostles or Great Saints of the Digest makes me forget failed exams that means I cannot borrow money to keep me through next term.
6. I constantly try to fit radio hits into a Gloranthan context, as part of my impossible "Glorantha the Musical" project. 7. I always end up associating with the non-sceptics and tabloid-readers in school and at work, despite being a great sceptic, because I can discuss mythical stuff with them. 8. I cry because I cannot translate all good Swedish Gloranthan jokes into an anglo-saxon context.
9. I always make a fool of myself encountering my old gaming group, and must struggle hard not to go into long lectures on things like Gloranthan mycology, lest they cast me out forever.

Deep sigh.
Erik Sieurin


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