I feel a bizarre urge to jump in on the discussion about the nature of Time before the compromise, though it seems to be proceeding quite happily without me.
I have to agree with the general line provided by Peter Metcalfe (yes, agree with Pete Metcalfe. Curiously fashionable of late). I think that time existed before the compromise. It could be measured with clocks in the conventional manner, or in the simpler fashion of counting sunrises, or generations, or whatever. And the laws of cause and effect worked much as they do now.
I think we just have to face up to it, much as many people don't want to. Theyalan myth and Gloranthan history simply are not the same thing. There is simply not much evidence to support the idea that time behaved weirdly before the Sunrise, and normally afterwards. And plenty of evidence to suggest that it had behaved relatively normally for long before the sunrise.
But a possible compromise on the Compromise is to say that there was a change in the nature of the heroplane, not the mundane world. I think before the Compromise, the heroplane was newer and more fluid. The basic mythic geography was still unsettled. New powers were discovered, new quests, new magics. And what was magically undone could be magically redone. Then I think when the powers of Chaos were temporarily defeated, there was some sort of agreement or event which to some extent froze the mythic landscape. A Theyalan might think of it as an agreement between the gods, and a defensive one so that there great victory over Chaos could never be reversed (for fear that the universe might come even closer to destruction). Ever since then it has been difficult (though not impossible) to create new powers and forge new quests.
Think of the myths as chronicling the discovery of the Heroplane powers (this comes across fairly accessibly in the Entekosiad IMO). When Humakt discovered death, that was not really the first time people died. But it is a memory of the first time people realised that Death was a primal power, that could be invoked in their magics. Humakt is not a real person, he is just as symbolic as Grandfather Mortal is. But the tale made a simple fact of existence (growing old and dieing) into a great mythic truth (Death) (and furthermore one owned by Humakt). And its not just a story either - 'true' myths like this one are the geography of the heroplane, and quite real to heroquesters.
And the Compromise was the point where the powers of the world, whether you think of them as gods or the personifications of cultures, or impersonal principles, or whatever, decided/reached the point that the geography of the heroplane was more or less settled.
And because the only way mortal beings can experience the earlier times of existence directly is via certain types of heroquest, thus we have the idea that Time was different before the Compromise.
So, theres my metaphysics.
Cheers
David
NB 1 of course, this all ties in with the 'can you time travel in Glorantha' discussion. My answer is not really, but you can sometimes affect the past, probably directly only past events that occur in the heroplanes.
NB 2 more big picture thoughts about the nature of the RQ magic system, which might help explain my ideas about the heroplane, though with no direct Gloranthan content, can be found on my web page http://www.cwr.uwa.edu.au/~cake/glorantha.html
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