>>Before Arachne Solara created the Web everything had to be done by
>>an active agent to happen. If nobody did it, it didn't happen.
>Please describe an event which is caused by an inactive agent in a
>timely world. Then ponder on why I feel such metaphysical labels
>adds nothing to glorantha.
One thing i should have clarified in what i wrote is that an "active agent" is a redundant expression, as an agent has to be active to be an agent. I didn't know if the meaning of "agent" was self-evident, and so added "active" to clarify, which unfortunately added to the confusion. Mea culpa.
One could say that the patterned events of the Web are inactive agents, but such an agent doesn't have as much to do with agenthood as it has with laws of nature, so i used the term "pattern" instead. Observe that "agent" is not defined by innate nature but by action. A stone is normally dead and can take no action of its own, and thus is not an agent. A living human who, improbably enough, takes no action of its own is also not an agent. A stone thrown by a human is not an agent, but the human is. Non-agents are merely part of the scenery.
I agree that the metaphysical label "inactive agent" adds nothing to Glorantha, and so won't use it.
Events caused by patterns of the Web (Peter's "inactive agents") in a
timely world: the cyclical progression of the seasons, the reality of the Trollkin Curse, the orderly shifting of day and night, the decomposition of a corpse, the endless sequence of waves upon the seas, the non-occurrenceof rivers sneaking into a pub to down a few pints on the way towards the ocean, the expiration of temporal spells.
One way of putting it is that the patterns of the web limit what actions agents can take on the mundane plane. Some agents, like humans, enjoy a considerably larger degree of freedom than others, like rivers.
If i take a sunrise (assuming there were sunrises in the God Time) as an example to explain the difference between the God Time and Time, my metaphysical ramblings might be more easily understood:
In the God Time Yelm rose because he willed it and made it happen. If he didn't will it there wouldn't be a sunrise. If he he felt like it he could suddenly travel to the north to punish the upstart Valind, go back to the east to fetch his lunchbox which he forgot there, call it a day and then go to sleep. It happened because Yelm did it.
In Time Yelm rises every morning not because he wills it but because the Sun is bound by Arachne Solara and must follow the established patterns of the web, unless an agent wills otherwise and quests to change or free the sun's path temporarily or even permanently. A sunrise happens because it has to. Nobody, not even Yelm, needs to do anything for it to happen. If Yelm changed his path and went north to punish Valind, he would rupture the pattern and risk the destruction of the world, which is why he doesn't and so stays passive.
This is of course nothing that ordinary Gloranthans knows or believes. Orlanthings know that Orlanth has decreed that Yelm should travel from east to west each day in an orderly fashion. Dara Happans know that Yelm now travels in a precise because he embodies steadfastness and perfection. Praxians know that the Day King flees the Night Queen which flees the Day King.
If anomalies occur, then we can assume that they are caused by the act of an agent. If an anomaly becomes a regular phenomenon, like the Red Moon, then it has surely established a new pattern in the Web.
I guess that this could explain the problematic postulate that Gods don't have free will. My proposal is that they have free will as have any agents - - they just don't dare exert it much for fear of the chaotic consequences, and so they reinforce the existing patterns of the Web to protect Glorantha from chaos. This doesn't mean that all gods cooperate. Contrariwise, i'd think that most gods constantly try to tweak the patterns in their own favour and foil the plans of the other gods at the same time. That's what they use worshippers for - they send omens and portents (which must be obscure enough not to alert the other gods) to worshippers to guide them and gift them with spells to give them more oomph when executing the god's plans and send spirits of reprisal against traitors.
But the gods are not personality-lacking users of rational choice theory, and so the gods behave differently. Humakt wouldn't backstab Yanafal Tarnils, Stormbull wouldn't make intrigant plots to lure the worshippers of Wakboth into a trap, and Ty Kora Tek would smile smugly and pull strings for the greater glory of Ernalda, while Trickster would dance madly backwards all over creation if he would feel like it.
I just got a vision of a pantheon of gods behaving like a bunch of adventurers wracking their brains to figure out neat ways of thwarting their old enemies, helping their friends and protecting Glorantha from chaos. Almost like Republic of Rome.
I have a growing feeling that the scheming gods, the patterns of the web and heroquesting agents are possible to quantify in pretty simple game mehcanics. Does this qualify me to become a God Learner or just a Mad Scientist (or both)?
Another idea that struck me is that it is possible to play the Primal Order or Amber (with the runes as attributes) in Glorantha. And why not play it via the Internet as a sort of PBEM with Arachne Solara, the greatest goddess, as game master position?
This is spinning out in too many directions, so i better stop before i get utterly fragmented.
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