I totally agree but would also add that society also defines the Myths as well as being defined by them.
Frex - With the defeat of the Dragon Friends Alakorings view of Orlanthi society was largely accepted in most of the Clans & Tribes. So before the defeat of the Dragon Friends the Orlanthi Mythology was extremely Dragon-Friendly and the High Holy Day ceremonies would have shown the God & the Dragon in close harmony through many events on the "god plane".
Then comes Alakoring who defeats this view in a physical conflict and magical revolution. Several generations later the Alakoring rites at High Holy Day show Orlanth kicking the Dragons butt, again, on the "god plane".
That is a clear case of a change in society changing the Myth that future generations base their society on.
Another example:
Lokamayadon worked to unify Orlanthi society and he failed to do it politically so he achieved a magical stranglehold on the initiation rites to force tribes to unify under his overall suzerainty.
Now Harmast came along and said that this was wrong and heroquested to prove it. He came back with Arkat and smashed Lokamayadons support system and enacted his own rites. Up until that point Nysalor would have been part of the Orlanthi rites as would many other things that would be considered insane by 1620 Orlanthi.
The point is that Myths change and they change because of the actions of a mortal. If the magics and general appearance of a god change because of the way its _looked_ at and worshipped then how can Gods be fixed by a Compromise? If they were fixed they would never change and as they quite clearly do change the Compromise has to be a Myth and not binding reality.
So how does magic function and what is the God plane and how do heroquests happen?
IMO magic is created out of group worship and approach. The worship of a deity actually defines the deity and defines the powers of the god as well. So the way Orlanth is defined mythically also defines what he can _do_ and therefore what his priests can do.
Eg the magic of a EWF Orlanthi Priest would be rather different from a 1620 Orlanthi priest. For a start magic seems to have become more individualised in Orlanthi society. This is another Harmast and Alakoring influence I think. In the past magic was much more ritualised and done with many people at once. Therefore in the Dawn age Orlanthi magic would have been impressive only when enacted by Clans and tribes into a major effect or through a specific person. By 1620 the devolution of power from the group has allowed more potent priests and Rune Lords to exist at the cost of reducing the power of the whole. Dara Happan magic still works on an older model as they had a much lighter series of impacts from the EWF and the GLs.
So a heroquest is usually a group magic that either follows a path or defines a path. So what the hell is a path? And what _is_ the God Plane?
A path is an imprint on the magical fabric of Glorantha. The world is innately magical and a hero path is like a game trail through the woods only its through the layers of magic instead. Well travelled paths are the equivalent of a paved road with nice inns on the way. The High holy day ceremonies at Great Temples are a form of well travelled path as they access a magic which shows the myths as they "happened" to the peoples god.
The LBQ is another form of path but is the physical equivalent of finding your way over the Himalayas while blind, both feet tied together and a small army of people trying to kill you at the same time.
So why are some paths easier than others? It seems to me that the more intricate the mythic path and the more paths of other peoples cultures and myths it crosses, the more diffiuclt it is. Also, interfering in anothers defined path is hard because they have the strength there, its their "ball-game" so to speak. If a Troll hero turned up at an Orlanthi High Holy Day ceremony and tried to prove that ZZ killed Orlanth he'd be wiped out in seconds because Orlanth is defined there and the people have his strength there. This is one reason why DI doesn't work in temples to another god - because their path is so strong there as to preclude any other.
A heroquest can confer power but the power it confers is in proportion to the difficulty. The LBQ is near impossible and very costly because the whole point of the LBQ is that its designed to find something that will save your whole people. To find this thing, the LBQ acts like a kind of divining rod (pardon the pun) to guide the questors to that "saviour".
Of course lesser quests are a lot easier but give less reward. Going off the defined paths is feasible but the results are unpredicatable because - well, who knows what happens when you don't follow the path eh?
So the God Plane is amorphous and changeable. It can be shaped to show paths of power and myth but if those myths are left and less supported, they become the metaphorical equivalent of a road that is no longer travelled. After a while it starts to be overgrown, its forgotten about and the inns along it shut. However, with the right knowledge of myth and rite these _can_ be reopened.
An example would be Argrath and his Dragon magics. He probably used a path of EWF myth to gain powers from them. The path had been unused but still existed, he merely used a little of it to his own purposes.
Paths can also be changed and IMO the most dexterous path changers in the world are the Lunars.
Martin Laurie
Powered by hypermail