More LBQ and Seasons from Saravan Peacock on 1996-08-01 (Glorantha Digest Vol 03)

From: Saravan Peacock <saravan_at_perth.DIALix.oz.au>
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 15:48:07 +0800

Just following up some of the things posted about the Light Bringers' Quest, and I would suggest, the experience of the seasons in Glorantha:

Peter Metcalfe points out that everything took a long time in the Gods' Age. Yeah, a _long_ time. Thanks, I just checked the mythology in Uz Lore. There we have at least 4000 generations (of trolls) between the IFWW battle and the Dawning!

A bit of God Learner talk: On the universality of the Great Compromise and the LBQ, as discussed by Lewis Jardine and Carl Fink, there is no mention of the LBQ in Uz Lore (surprise, surprise), though there are several references to the activities of other gods during the gods' age. IFWW was the final battle with chaos which the trolls won. For a long time they lived in the ruins of the world before being approached by Arachne Solara with the proposition of the Great Compromise. I don't think that LBQ was the necessary precursor of the Compromise. I think it was the battle against chaos which everyone took part in, in some fashion. Victory, in whatever wuest it happened to be, allowed a regrouping. Arachne Solara then came up with a solution to reunite all the gods and cultures (perhaps she was the first god learner - or rather what the god learners were trying to achieve, though they inevitably failed because they were not gods and not humble enough...) Despite that, all cultures interpreted the events in their own fashion. Hence, as Carl says :

I suspect that if a Dara Happan were to ask Yelm directly, Yelm would say "Yes, my servant, I did agree with the Storm King to permit his continued raging, in order to preserve the World."

I do think the mythology ties into the seasonal structure and the notion of time as experienced by people in Glorantha. The Dawning heralded the beginning of cycles, such as those of day and night, and the yearly cycle through the seasons for nearly everyone (maybe not the Mostali). Some Options:

The seasons follow parallels of our four earthly seasons, and the Theyalan Calendar is just a mythic interpretation foisted arbitrarily onto Time by the Orlanthi (as presumably other cultures do in their lands).
The calendars _and_ the weather follow the major cultural biases of each region. Each culture reinforces the seasons as they perceive them (ie based on the culture's mythical structure) and through mythical re-enactments, they _make_ the weather follow these patterns in their region.
The Great Compromise determined that each major power( eg Light/Fire, Earth, Darkness, Storm/Air, and Water) would have its alloted time on the surface of the world: Hence the runic seasons. And the need for constant restoration against chaos.
and 2) closely follow the arguments discussed recently on the digest, and they seem to have major flaws: How to explain rituals reinforcing winter in Orlanthi cultures, how to evaluate the effects of positive and negative influences on the weather when competing cultures collide etc. I personally tend to lean away from 1) because it doesnt seem to pay enough heed to the mythic and magical basis of Glorantha (too RW). I'd like to hear the results of the panel Nick mentioned, because if we have a situation where the RW Summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring progression is adopted as standard, that would seem a major change from the published material (at least from an Orlanthi POV).

I like 3) coz I'm an Orlanthi at the moment. It doesn't explain other calendrical interpretations though. Note though, in support, that the Yelmic mythology has five phases which are interpreted somewhere in terms of the seasons (I haven't read Glorious Reascent yet so go easy if it has new stuff).

I'm inclined to think that the _runic_ system of weather and seasons is the appropriate one in Glorantha, though maybe a little (or a lot) God Learneresque. It makes sense to me that each power should have a time in the world as a result of the Compromise (which probably is as universal as it gets in the Lozenge), and that the struggles of the Gods' Time is continued ritually as well as physically between their followers which results in the extension or contraction of some seasons each year.

Sorry about the extended length of my posts. I seem to get carried away when I sit down and write. I think I'll go off and do something productive like write some adventures...

Pax Vobiscum

Mr. Saravan Peacock (saravan_at_perth.dialix.oz.au)