Spot the Death God.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_interzone.ucc.ie>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 18:50:39 +0100 (BST)


Owen Jones returns to a topic discussed somewhat recently, in the Eternal Elmal Thread:

[Bjork, Humath worshipper, and Bjorn, Humakti, meet the Big H.]

> [...] either (i) Bjork or Bjorn converts: Bjork's belief may be the stronger

It's probably not simply a matter of belief; the Actions of each will almost certainly determine what he/Humakt/the other Questor does subsequently, or can do -- effectively the quest has become "adversarial" at this point. For instance, Huma*t* might just look expectantly at the two questers, and depending on what they do, and how well they do it...

> (ii) their beliefs cannot be reconciled, and their heropaths diverge [...]

They could also diverge in a somewhat different way: they might "realise" that Humath and Humakt are Different gods. "Go help my Brother and Thane, Orlanth." "Holy shit, _that's_ not Humakt!" (The situation seems to presuppose each quester initially thought they were the same.)

> Does this make me a subjectivist?

I'm not sure. I think a sufficently mentally nimble person of any of Viewpoints #1-#5 could account for this, depending on the details of their exact beliefs. (And their facility with Spurious Logic, perhaps.) It may be most characteristic of the Nick Brooke style 2.5-4.0 Floating Voter, though.

> When he returns does he (a) find they have
> shared his revelation (b) solomly declare his revelation and get torn to
> bits by the mob (c) realise they don't get it when their support leaves
> him while he's still in the heroplane?

I think in principle, any of these could occur. I think it depends largely on: what sort of "support" his clan offered him, and how "unconditional" it was; whether, and in what terms, he won/succeeded on the quest; and on what sort of "feedback" the clan were getting on the progress of the quest, that might have enabled them to pull the plug. If, for example, the statue of Orlanth in the Humath temple suddenly shattered, then the clan might decide this was a good time to cut their loses. Or to convert to the ways of the Mysterious Stranger.

Cheers,
Alex.


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