>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-occurrence
>of rivers sneaking into a pub to down a few pints on the way towards the
>ocean, the expiration of temporal spells.
These things occured during the Godtime. We have people aging and dying. We have days, nights and hunting seasons.
>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.
But these things occur now. Yelm stops in the Sky. Tanian creates the sea of flame. A rogue planet interposes itself between the Red Moon and the Battle of Dwernapple. Zistor invades Esrolia. Waha sacks Robcradle. Orlanth defeats Kargzant. Wachaza sends Magasta to the Underworld. Orlanth and Arangorf dance the Perfect Dance.
The observant will point out that these require worshippers invoking the aid of their gods, but we can easily postulate that the Godtime myths are of gods acting on the wishes of their worshippers. Some of these acts are explicitly acknowleged as such (like Orlanth's reason for going after the Blue Dragon is because of a famine).
Lewis Jardine:
>However, I believe that Gloranthans know the "exact" length of the
>year.
They knew it long before the Dawn. The Orlanthi 294 commoners. The Kralori year. The Red Sands of Time.
Nick Effingham:
>>>I'm saying that the Orlanthi version of Godtime IGNORES time,
>>>completeley. Utterly.
>>Wrong. What were those KoS fragments that I just quoted at you?
> The fragments were all written by someone with a perspective of Time.
But the fragments are still the beliefs of the Orlanthi. Thus your statement is wrong. You can't just drop all statements that say that the Orlanthi believe in timely godtime and then conclude from the remainder of the corpus that that the Orlanthi believe in a timeless godtime when in fact they do.
Your hypothesis that the Orlanthi statements have been contaminated by an exposure to time to insert timely markers in their mythology is unproven and doubtful. Look at the mention of the Godtime genealogies in KoS - are we really expected to believe that a Grey Sage invented a Vingkotling genealogy and inserted the references so as to make the myths more comprehensible to the Orlanthi?
Oliver Bernuetz:
>Yes, I'm aware that the Dara Happans are said not to acknowledge
>the Compromise at all but why would Yelm want his worshippers to
>know he wasn't any better or more powerful than the rest of the
>gods)?
Does the Invisible God tell his worshippers that he's bound by the compromise? Does Pamalt? Does the Dragon-Emperor? Does the Nidan Decamony? Then why do you assume Yelm must know of the Great Compromise but chooses not to tell his worshippers? It's like saying that Tolat knows of the City of Alkoth where he is worshipped but hides this fact from the Amazons of Trowjang.
The appearance of an divine intellect which one can talk to is an artifact of the worshippers IMO. This persona only knows what its worshippers know. So yes, the Dara Happans do not acknowlege the Great Compromise but this is because the known actions of their god translated into human terms does not include participating in any such compromise. The chief reason for this is because the Great Compromise is a World Council Myth IMO and reflects the New World Order (so sue me) in terms of the Interacial Unity that the Monsters, er, denziens of the World Council of Friends enjoyed. Thus Orlanth makes friends with Elmal, Arangorf and Kyger Litor.
The Dara Happans view the New World Order in terms of the Sun bringing Justice back into the world. Thus Yelm orders his repentant servants, Kargzant and Shargash about to remake the world. In effect, they are describing the same thing. In practice, the terms that they use are geared towards sustaining their social system rather than the truth.
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