RE: The Glorantha Digest V5 #7

From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_ensemble.net>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 12:29:42 -0500

        Hero: One common non-subjective definition of a Gloranthan hero is "an individual whose accomplishments are so impressive that a new star appears in the sky to mark them." Note that this is even true for troll heroes; however, their stars appear in the Hell Sky, and so are normally invisible.

>Rich: I was wondering just how literate 1620ish Glorantha is.
Using the crummy character creation rules, >Barbaraian initiates get read/write own language for each year in the cult. Does this mean that Orlanthi >have Big Bibles?

                Many (not all, perhaps not most) Orlanthi in Heortland and Sartar learn the rudiments of reading 'n' writing during their initiateship, as one of the magic secrets of the world. They are certainly the most literate Orlanthi in the world. Most Gloranthans are totally illiterate, and there are entire cultures without any written language. For example, Praxian has no true written form (Orlanthi scholars have transliterated Praxian words and stories into the Sartarite alphabet, but this isn't quite the same). Praxian knot-writing is, of course, not a language, but a message code system.          

        Sandy


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