This is true as far as it goes, but it could go a lot further. As I see it we suffer from two fundamental curses as far as truly seeing Glorantha from the point of view of a Gloranthan. The first is due to our rational upbringing in a scientific culture. A lot of the magic/mystery/strangeness is missing from our lives. Miracles surround us, and so the miraculous becomes the mundane. Secondly, we often unconsciously take the viewpoint of the God-Learner Heresy. This can be seen in how most of the early information about Glorantha was profoundly based in the God-Learner monomyth. Even the idea that every cult can be described using the same format carries a strong unconscious message to the reader (although one does have to admit that it is useful for a GM to be able to quickly look up the appropriate information). After all, wasn't our objective to create a whole world ... which was exactly what the God-Learners were trying to do.
Dealing with the second curse is simple, especially once we realise it exists. In fact, much of what is being written nowdays no longer reflects this bias. Instead we have local flavour and local variations in the myth structure. Suddenly we are unable to create a whole monomyth without a lot of cutting and hammering the individual myths to fit. And yet one can still see the common threads which form the basic myth structure. This is all for the better.
Dealing with the first curse is much harder. We have to abandon our common sense and sure knowledge about the universe. We can no longer be sure that the sun will rise into the sky each morning. For a long "time" in Glorantha it didn't, and can we who inhabite Glorantha be sure that this won't happen again? If the Lightbringer Ritual is not re-enacted each Sacred Time will Yelm not return? I think this is something that is very useful to do.
Which finally leads me to the whole point of this reply: the Myth/Magic debate. Personally I see the Myth as being the structure in which Magic works. It's the "rational" explanation of how you can accomplish this by doing this and this. The corollary of this is that many actions which accomplish some task are magic, even though we Mundanes may not call them magic.
The simplest example of this is the bronzesmith. His magic is to shape bronze into weapons and tools. In Glorantha such a working would probably be accompanied by prayers to Gustbran (these could probably even take the form of special Gustbran spirit magic spells such as Purify Bronze, Maintain Even Heat, etc.). The forge becomes a shrine to Gustbran.
Sowing a field is a magical ritual. It must be done at the correct time of year, and in the prescribed manner. Failure to follow the ritual will generally result in a reduced crop. A Mundane farmer would say that this is due to doing the wrong things. A Gloranthan farmer knows that this is due to angering the Grain Goddess by not performing the ritual properly.
This is exemplified by the sorcery spell Form/Set Rock. How many sorcerors truly know what we would call the spell, and how many simply know how to make concrete? And is there a difference beyond the equipment required?
Ian Borchardt (iborchar_at_physics.adelaide.edu.au)
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