>Having said that, I doubt it's actually true. C&A has a rather odd
>structure, but only one real "Rune Level" position. (Which is a
>"twofer", of course, somewhat obfiscating matters.) Chalana Arroy and
>Lhankor Mhy both seem very likely to be merged, and just have yer
>standard RP's.
Um, have you read the Caladra and Aurelion cult write-up, either the RQ2 version in Different Worlds, or the RQ3 version in Tales 7? In both cases, you have the Companions of Tessele, who are very clearly and unambiguously Rune Lords, and the Twin Priests, who are Rune Priests.
As for Lhankor Mhy and Chalana Arroy, I do not believe that they are merged cults. Why do you think they are -- what aspects or beliefs imply this? Rather, I think that the original cults (Lhankor Knowing, the Lawspeaker, and Chalana Who Calms, something not quite a healing goddess, though she did have healing abilities) added new facets either in the First or Second Ages. I see no indication that a Lawspeaker God and a Library God were merged together -- I see a Lawspeaker whose abilities were logically and successfully transferred from Spoken to Written Word. As for Chalana Arroy, since I don't understand exactly what she was as Chalana Who Calms, I can't speculate on why she is the way she is now.\
As for Thunderous and Adventurous being separate cults in Sartar, this comes directly from Greg, and from a gaming playtest as well -- it seemed to be his opinion both in a gaming sense, and objectively and mythically, since it was as a preliminary to our initiation that this was being discussed, when we were creating our clans. I don't think it can be any clearer than that.
>I think a lot or rural areas certainly only worship O. Thunderous.
>Go back a few centuries, and I think it would have been altogether
>rarer, and possibly unknown.
Going back a few centuries, I think it would have been more common -- I think the two aspects are converging, not separating.
Finally, I think that the cult of Orlanth Lightbringer is actually completely unknown in the cities, and is found in the more rural areas, because I think that this is the cult which is found _including_ those deities as parts of Orlanth. When you have priests of the LBs, then you do a joint ritual. When ALL you have is Orlanth, you need his priests to fill all the roles of the Ring. Thus, IMO Orlanth Lightbringer gets only a few of the "standard" Orlanth spells, maybe a couple each of Thunderous and Adventurous. But, he also gets a few of the spells normally part of the other Lightbringers as his own spells, not just as associate spells. Thus, a Minor Temple to Orlanth Lightbringer would get the Orlanth spells _and_ the associate spells, even though normally all it could get was Orlanth's spells until you found a Major or Great Temple. These spells might be the ones normally available from the associates, or might be ones more appropriate to the LBQuest, I haven't looked at it closely enough to have an opinion.
Peter Donald/Jane Williams/Winter Grapes
I don't know about this Ohio stuff, I always thought Greg meant this literally. Like the player (Gregg Maples, as I recall) whose player came from a clan which grew Winter Barley. And, when they brewed beer from it, it was cold, instead of the normal warm stuff most of the tribes drink! Don't overlook Glorantha's magical aspects when trying to understand individual references -- not everything is a direct transplant of a RW object or person!
ferro_at_clipper.ens.fr (Frederic Ferro) Time Before Dawn
Dave Cake wrote (in V4, #346):
> My own current opinion is that before the Dawn, time did indeed
> work much the same as it does afterward. Cf. GRoY, Entekosiad...
>I have no knowledge of the Dara Happan lore <sigh> but what would be
>the role of Arachne Solara, if the Time really flowed before the Dawn ?
That's simple -- she does not exist for the Dara Happans, and so has no relevence to their beliefs. To the Orlanthi, she is extremely important in a mystical sense, and more or less of an oddity for everything else. Except during the Sunstop, of course -- I am not entirely unconvinced that the Orlanthi concept of Time and Arachne Solara did not begin then, for the very first time. It is the origin of her most common name, that is certain -- Sun Spider.
Carl Fink
Of course the Sun ruled Glorantha before the Storm. And of course the Storm God killed the Sun God. And, it may even be that there was a single event. What we "splitters" are doing (to use a term from Sandy Petersen) is presenting a version of myths believed by a group of people whose ancestors experienced this event thousands and thousands of years ago. GRoY and KoS both agree that there was a Sun God who ruled Glorantha. Both agree that the Storm God killed him. What they disagree on is the specifics, on whether it was right or wrong, and of what it all means to them today.
The God Learners were completely correct, in their own way, when they constructed (or continued construction of) the Monomyth -- there ARE universal events and entities in Glorantha. Most cultures agree on the basic chain of Godtime events, though there are many local differences, even important ones. It's like I've been saying for years -- the GLs must have based their beliefs on what they already saw in the world. They were simply trying to "clean everything up" so that everyone agreed on the exact chain of events and details again, as they must have in the very beginning. They may have been wrong on a few points (as RW scholars are sometimes wrong in their theories about ancient events), but their mistake was in ignoring the millenia of history which depended upon these different beliefs. Dara Happa could not exist in any form if Yelm was not the Emperor, and always right. Orlanthi could not exist if Orlanth did not free the world from tyranny. The Kralorelans could not exist if they did not believe that their Dragon Emperors have ruled all of Kralorela since the time of Daruda, even though the evidence I have seen indicates the land was actually first unified by the God Learners themselves!
Different is good, as long as each mythos created fits the Monomyth to an appropriate degree. The problem, of course, is determing what is appropriate. If you are creating a mythos in Orlanthi lands, more is probably better. If you are in the East Isles, you can get away with less in some areas.
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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