I'm working from the common theory that sacrificing for a rune-spell
involves a mini-heroquest.
Therefore, turning it around, a heroquest must be at least a bit like
getting a rune spell [2].
Consider some observable facts about rune magic:
There are things called _temples_ (broadly defined to include natural
features like the HellCrack).
People can walk into a temple, spend some time, and come out again with
a - some magic they didn't have before.
b - a lower reading on the old trusty 'power-o-meter'
Those who've been through this experience report that they experienced themselves as an actor in a form of psychodrama. The nature of the magic they acquired relates to the role they played and the actions they performed in the drama, or _myth_[3].
A Type I heroquest follows the same pattern as sacrificing for a runespell, but:
The POW the questor gets as support can be thought of as payload
(or burden).
It may get expended in the course of the quest, to fuel magic, pay
tolls, or whatever. However, it's main purpose is to pay for the new
magic gift that's the object of the quest.
In theory a quester could work all their way through a quest and then
refuse to sacrifice for the gift - this would be a form of leaving the
heroquest path, as discussed below. Exactly what would happen would
depend on the myth in question - for example, refusing a gift from Yelm
sounds like a good way of testing your immunity to sunspear...
A Type II heroquest is one where, instead of simply grabbing the prize, the quester attempts to influence the rules of the game. At a chosen point in the myth, they _leave the path_, taking some different action from the standard one.
To succeed in this, it is almost always necessary to have some special power, know some secret knowledge, or similar. Just trying to make friends with Zorak Zoran, without a whole _load_ of Harmony powers, will get you mashed into a thin paste.
So you normally have to do one or more Type I quests to stand a chance of success at a type II quest. Doing the 'normal' version of the quest first is probably a good idea as well, so you know what's what.
If all this works, the relevant myth changes _for the following groups of people_.
Any of the above re-experiencing that myth sees your version, and can sacrifice for magic appropriate to the way you did things. They can still remember the way things used to be, but usually have a strong tendency to believe that the new way is better.
Normally this only affects obviously magical things such as other quests and rune magic. However, it is possible to succeed so well, or fail so badly, that you change the basic myths used for 'baptism' or initiation. This can be good (e.g. giving everyone in your clan increased resistance to disease) and can be bad (e.g. everyone in your clan becomes incapable of learning to read).
Making direct real-world changes (e.g. moving a star) by heroquesting is not possible. However, you can go on a quest and come back with the magic needed to move a star (or raise a moon), so the distinction is pretty moot.
Example:
Before the battle of Moonbroth, the Praxians shamans prepare a Type I quest to get the major magic 'summon Oakfed'. This succeeds - for them it's probably easy or even routine.
Meanwhile, the lunar magical elites, planning ahead, do a double quest. Like the Praxians, they do a type I quest to get something functionally equivalent to a few hundred points of summon fire elemental. However, being sneaky lunars, before that they do a type II quest to change the abilities of the elemental they will summon. Going through the story of 'Lodril and his children', they emphasise the way in which Lodril was eventually able to control his unruly sons.
This changes the nature of the magic they get in the later quest/ritual, and so the elemental they summon has, in rule terms, a 'control fire elemental' ability, at the cost of being slightly smaller than it would have otherwise been.
In addition, they could, and perhaps did, have worked through an insider in the Praxian camp to weaken the relevant Oakfed myths. For example, a Sable Rider shaman could have persuaded the others to go along with an attempt to reenact the myths about Oakfed originally being a messenger of the sky gods. This might have giving them some extra communication powers, at the cost of acknowledging that Oakfed once took orders...
And so Lunar foresight, flexibility (and maybe treachery) wins the day.
Richard
[1] well, it was short when I started...
Part 2 (at least) to follow, including some examples of free will and of how to actually use all this in a campaign.
[2] Scatter disclaimers such as 'in the Dragon Pass area', 'one
common form of', etc. throughout the text to taste. If anyone
objects to the whole idea of an objective description of Glorantha,
think of it as the perspective of a Western sorceror in Pavis,
such as Atelan(sp?)[4].
Alternatively, feel free to treat it as objectively true,
objectively false, or the perspective of some deluded madman
who can't even spell proparly.
In any case, this is definitely not the whole story -
Is that non-committal enough for everyone?
[3] Within a given temple, at a given time, the reports of actors in
the myths will be mostly consistent, with only very minor details, if any, varying.
Between temples, myths vary in an apparently 'contradictory' way (i.e. if you assume the Orlanth-role at the Pavis temple is the same entity as the Orlanth-role at the BoldHome temple, you get paradoxes).
Myths at the same temple also vary over time - in fact, the rate of change is more or less enough to account for the differences between temples, if you start from the time of founding of one temple by emigrants from another, and fudge to adjust for cultural contact since.
Sometimes the origin of myths can be traced to recorded historical events - in such cases, the original form of the myth often corresponds closely to historical records, but diverges over time.
[4] In fact, some of the more pompous and arrogant bits _were_
written by him. I couldn't do the whole piece from his perspective as I wanted to use some rules terms/modernisms, and present some facts he wouldn't have access to.
[5] They didn't have to know that this was what they were supporting...
[
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Richard Melvin
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #546
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