be enraged by the =3D signs appearing everywhere.
BTW those signs must be coming from Chaosiums end cos no-one else I email seems to get them.
So to avoid answering all, here is my own perspective =
on Glorantha dn the objectivists can tell me why _I'm_ wrong or whether I'm right.
Firstly there are definite historical facts in Glorantha ie things that definately happened. Major ones are:
(1). The darkness
(2). The dawn
(3). The Sunstop
(4). The rise of the Red Moon
(5). The Closing
(6). The Syndics ban
These are facts. How they are interpreted is another =
matter. =
Some things are undoubtedly true in Glorantha:
(1). Magic works
(2). Magic from one culture works against any other culture
unless they have non-magic which is a form of magic =
anyway.
(3). Gods do not interact with their priests in a procative
way, they are definately _not_ striding around doing things
in _any_ culture though they do have a prescence and can be =
viewed on the hero plane.
(4). The myths of a god change with time and with the actions
of their worshippers. =
(5). Different cultures incorporate the myths of others when
its functional, much as they do in the RW (Father Christmas =
frex - once a Scandinavian thing, now all over the Western world).
(6). We know that magic has not always been as powerful or as =
specific for the individual ie that Rune Magic, Battle, Sorcery =
are ritual constructs or shortcuts to obtaining power - each and =
every rune spell is the product of painful questing and research by =
a cults priesthood.
So taking these points as a bedrock I can go further and use the historical information we have at hand to see how the world works.
Looking at the Orlanthi we know that they went through several =
stages of evolution. Firstly they were Vingkotlings and formed large tribal groupings but the clan system and the law system =
had not been invented yet. Then came Heort who defined the laws of the Orlanthi and created their system. Then the Orlanthi in Heortland lived in large tribal groups but the rise of Alakoring and his Ralios clan Orlanthi system changed the Dragon pass =
Orlanthi into a small tribal kingdom people with a weakened =
priesthood.
So what we have among the Orlanthi is a standard evolutionary process that has been influenced by numerous events. The EWF, Arkat, Lokamayadon and the Lunars Empire. It is important to note that Orlanth has CHANGED over time. In the dawn, Orlanth was very different to 1620 Orlanth (which has massive geographical differences anyway).
Lets take the Lunar Empire as an example. When the Red Moon rose the Orlanthi in Heortland or Quivini wouldn't have had a clue as to its purpose or origin but the tribes and clans emigrating into Tarsh from their defeats by Hwarin Dalthippa _did_ know of the Moon and recruited many Quivini to help fight it. Naturally the returning warriors took home reports of this evil Goddess who wants to end the clan way of life =
and stop raiding, Orlanths laws and everything else. There =
was no Moses-God like pronouncement of the Goddess being evil. They simply associated her with evil given the evidence of =
the Empires culture and how it opposed thier own.
So from the evidence its plain that the Orlanthi have changed and evolved over the centuries into what they are now - which =
is a divergent people with considerable and growing cultural =
differences but with a worship of one common god or different =
attributes. In some cultures (Imther frex - Orlanth has become associated with attributes no Orlanthi of Sartar would consider correct yet they get magic anyway.
Lets take Humakt. Humakt was oringally Humath and tied to =
Orlanth as his weaponthane. Through this connection, Lokamayadon controlled the Humath cult and its warriors. This caused Arkat many problems as he attempted to wrest control of these warriors from the Bright Empire. Lokamayadon used his imperceptor powers to deny these men magic as he did other rebellious Orlanthi. Arkats answer was to sever the link with storm and create a new cult, a cult of war without the previous storm aspect. =
If it is clear that the gods are changing as the people are =
changing and that new forms of worship can arise and even new gods can be created then there must be a reason why these power work and how they function.
This is where IMO the God Learners come in. They were orignally western monotheists who saw the potential power sources that the theistic worship created as useful and proceeded to learn how to =
exploit them. This they did and given their understanding of the powers that they tapped they often circumvented the worshippers =
themselves and left them crushed and beaten. However, they failed to take into acount the powers of a priesthood to change the myths to suit the need. The Orlanthi simply got round the GL =
circumvention of their powers by changing the worshsip of Olranth just enough to get those powers back. Frex they broke the GL =
control of the wind in the Choralinthor bay area by summoning a hurricane wind - ie they changed their worship or Orlanthi King =
and Storm God to that of Orlanth Smash Stuff Storm God or whatever and this happened to the GLs all over the world over a period of =
a hundred years or so.
There ar emore examples but I won't go into them, instead I'll =
summarize my position:
(1). The Gods exist and will always exist, they simply =
don't exist as individuals. They are an expression of elemental =
and worshipful forces which in Glorantha is as real as it gets.
(2). Heroquesters are armed with the mythic knowledge =
of their world and God and see the heroplane as a mirror
of that knowledge. There are common paths to many
divergent cultural heroquests because many cultures
have the need for the same myths - ie defeating evil,
winning battles, becoming king. Many cultures have them
and thus people who travel through many mythic realms
like Arkat see the similarities and can use them to their
advantage.
(3). All cultures are equally right in their mythic views =
and none of their gods are lying, telling fibs, whatever because the truth of one culture is not the truth of another so such concerns are irrelevant as they have no practical =
effect.
(4). Any use of these arguments to a Gloranthan is a sure sign
of illumination or GLism and a quick ticket to getting killed.
(5). People can become gods but the more worship a person recives
the less free will they have as they _become_ what that worship
defines. ie a hero of Humakt who is worshipped becomes what his
image is. Hero status is not all its cracked up to be.
So how do I run a game those of you who think that its impossible to run a game without knowing the objective truth?
Its very simple. When I run Orlanthi, they are of course =
completely right in their views. SImilarily if I run Lunars they are completely right in their views. As a Shargashi I am completely opposed to the Orlanthi and in some cases, the Red Moon too! When you _Roleplay_ a character you do so with only that characters knowledge of the world. They would not be at all interested in esocteric discussions of the Gods reality because they _Know_ the God is real, he cast =
Crush and SHield on him when called the other day didn't he?
Every argument I've seen so far seems to worry about this, as if it is impossible to roleplay wihtout knowing some obejctive truth and that the Orlanthi you are playing are RIGHT. Personally whenver I play an Orlanthi I know I'm RIGHT, don't need no rule book to tell me that! This is the bit I don't get - how can all those obejctivists out there fail to see that simple fact?
Martin Laurie
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