Defining Gods: Starting Heroquests

From: Mike Cule <mikec_at_room3b.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 26 May 1996 11:44:04 GMT


David Dunham commenting on me:
> Mike Cule claimed
>
> > lots of people around here seem to believe that the gods of Glorantha are
> > totally defined by what people believe of them (even the Crimson Greg)
>
> I don't *think* that's what Greg Stafford thinks, and it's not what I
> think. Greg has said that Shargash (the destructive war god of Alkoth) and
> Tolat (god of love and war of the Amazons) are the same being (they are
> definitely the same planet). Their cults are radically different.

Well, that's an example of my problem. The God doesn't seem to have a nature that he teaches to his worshippers. The worshippers just impose whatever image they want on the god.

It struck me today that you could use the explanation used by M.A.R. Barker for his gods of Tekumel. They are such huge and transfinite beings that limited creatures such as mortals can only see limited 'aspects' of what is in truth a whole and integral being. You could but I don't know it fits all the things we know about Glorantha.  

A.R.Wilson wanted to know:
>
> What exactly IS a HeroQuest, and how would one be initiated?

Glorantha has two parts: the Mundane World and the GodTime. The GodTime is the Platonic reality of Glorantha, where the first causes and patterns of everything that happens on the Mundane World are to be found. A HeroQuest is a journey by a mortal being into the GodTime to acquire some of the magic and special abilities that can only be found there. On the more powerful, difficult and dangerous HeroQuests, the voyager is actually trying to alter the nature of the GodTime in order to change the reality of Glorantha.

There are Rune Spells that will open the way to the GodTime and I believe that there are sorcery spells as well. I don't believe that there are Spirit spells but I might be wrong. It is also possible to physically voyage to the GodTime by going to the fringes of Glorantha and crossing over. There are also places like Hellcrack and Magasta's Pool that lead to the Underworld.

The mechanics of running a HeroQuest have been the subject of much argument. See TOTRM number seven for more details.

Actor and Genius.
AKA Theophilus, Prince-Archbishop of the Far Isles (Arms: Purpure, an open book proper, without clasps. On the dexter page the Greek letter Alpha or. On the sinister page the letter Omega of the same. Motto: nulla spes sit in resistendo.)
Ask me about the Far Isles Medieval Society: Better living through pan-medieval anachronisms.


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