Re: Bias in Glorantha?

From: Dennis L Hoover <dhoover_at_interramp.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 12:40:25 -0500


All Hail the Reaching Moon!

Now what's all this balderdash about anti-Sartarite bias in Glorantha?

Tim Eccles writes:
>> with this enlightenment, comes a tendency to be anti-Sartarite and
>>view them as dumb barbarians.

I don't think it's an anti-Sartarite bias so much as it is Glorantha becoming more sophisticated. RQ2 came about in the Star Wars era, complete with freedom-loving rebels and an Evil Empire to hate. It's world view was dualistic and simplistic. Glorantha (along with Greg, I think) is becoming more complex and relativistic. It's still OK to be pro-Sartarite and hate the Lunars, but this is only the Sartarite perspective. What's changed is that it used to be the "right" perspective. Now it's OK to have the pro-Lunar perspective and see the Sartarites as ignorant (not dumb) barbarians.

As to Sartarites being viewed as dumb, I don't see it. Of course I'm a known Lunar sympathizer and maybe I can't see my own bias. On the other hand, maybe you've been viewing the Sartarites as more noble than they really are. Sartarites can be brave, loyal, honest, and clever. But they can also be vain, arrogant, quarrelsome, and treacherous. And they've always been that way, even the oldest Gloranthan sources The Sartarites are, well, barbarians.

Dennis Hoover
dhoover_at_interramp.com


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