dead and gone

From: David Cake <davidc_at_cyllene.uwa.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 02:54:12 -0800

>1. There are lots of dead Gods in Gloranthan mythologies -- but some are
>deader than others. Are the different types of death of Gods comparable to
>the different values of infinity?

        There is dead, and there is gone. Being dead doesn't really seem to be a big problem.... there are plenty of gods that have died previously but seem to be fine now, such as Yelm, and a few that are dead but it doesn't seem to necessarily bother their worshippers much, such as Basmol.

        But gone is gone. A god can be destroyed such that their rituals no longer work. Off hand, I can't think of any god that this has happened too who returned, except the Red Goddess (presuming you take all her previous incarnations at face value). But there are numerous examples of gods who are gone, mostly eaten by Chaos. Often there names are forgotten once they are destroyed.

        And there may be states in between, where gods are destroyed but not irrevocably. Nysalor and Genert may be in this category.

        Cheers

                David

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