I Fought, We Won; Vadeli in Scripture from Nick_Brooke_at_deloitte.touche.co.uk on 1996-08-20 (Glorantha Digest Vol 03)

From: Nick_Brooke_at_deloitte.touche.co.uk
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 96 13:10:36 PST

Re: recent reports that Greg Stafford has said that the "I Fought, We Won" myth is local to Dragon Pass; I still hold that, to Westerners at least, it is known as the greatest single act of the Prophet Malkion, his Re-Creation of the World. Dragon Pass had participants in IFWW, of course -- it *was* a truly Universal experience -- but the major local embodiment of that mythic principle, I believe, would be the "Unity Battle" (when the different races united against Chaos and won, founding the World Council of Friends); just as in neighbouring Prax it was Storm Bull's fight against the Devil, when all the Elements and Powers of the world lent him aid, until finally Cosmic Law could reassert its superiority.

Clues to a Malkioni ('humanist') origin of IFWW are:

     
1)        The protagonist is a single man, alone, un-named and unarmed,
          facing all of the evils of the world. He is mortal, not a deity. 
          This fits very well with Malkioni preoccupations.
     
2)        The myth is currently widespread and almost universal, which
          is usually a clue that the God Learners were involved in its 
          dissemination. And their own myths were Malkioni -- they were, 
          after all, the founders of the Cult of the Invisible God (tm), 
          and would have spread this story to as many places as possible!

Now, *maybe* IFWW was a truly cosmic, universal, non-locatable experience. But in that case I have no myth in which Malkion *does* anything, and this creates rather a big hole at the centre of my Malkioni account of Godtime. So I'd still have the Westerners adopt and explain this myth as their own, and credit the departed Prophet with its inception and successful result, and have this be their Scriptural Truth, proclaimed, supported and proven by the Wizards.

Anyone interested in this line of argument can find more on it at

<http:/ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke/i-fought.htm>

and in the surrounding articles of my "Malkioni Scriptures" index.

Brithini on Vadeli

Sure, Brithini scripture paints a terrible portrait of the Vadeli. But what they *probably* do is include a Leviticus-like list of things that Must Not Be Done (menstrual intercourse, incest, infanticide, sodomy, etc.), and then (in a more "historical" account) accuse the Vadeli of breaking *ALL* the laws of Malkion. Not listing them, not giving instances and clinical details, just that sweeping statement.

Also, remember that these self-same Brithini scriptures say that Malkion went insane when he had his "prophetic vision", that his followers were sad, deranged losers, illogical and doomed people who were rightly expelled from Brithos to preserve the Land of Logic, that Solace does not exist, that Faith is a lie, and that Hrestol was justly done to death for his crimes against Malkion's Laws.

There are many rumours against the Vadeli, sure. But (as Sandy says), there is No Proof. (Yet. The West has only had contact with the Vadeli for the generation or so since Dormal's Voyage). And those rumours can easily be made to look like hysterical xenophobia and religious bigotry from biased and discredited sources, which is all to the good...

Nick