> I seem to recall that not everyone uses the "5 seasons + Sacred Time"
> calendar, so I suspect that the idea of a sacred time is not
universal.
* But, I'd like to be wrong ... ;)
You'll be proud that you're wrong, no doubt. The idea of a sacred time is extremely widespread.
The major Pamaltelan calendar (used in the interior of Pamaltela, plus among many of the civilized folk; not Umathela, though) incorporates 4 12-week seasons, with 6-day weeks. This leaves one "extra" week at the end of the year, which is in fact Sacred Time.
The major Kralorelan calendar has 6 seasons, with 7-day weeks. The last entire season (7 weeks long!) is considered to be a Sacred Time. It is, perhaps, a bit diluted by being spread over an entire season. Still, the principle is the same.
There are certainly other calendars in use, and I'm sure that there are folk somewhere that don't recognize Sacred Time, but they are a tiny majority. The three major calendars (Thelayan, Pamaltelan, Kralori) are used by 90% or more of the humans of Glorantha, and a good number of non-humans. I predict that most of the minor calendars also incorporate a Sacred Time at year's end.
Michael Raaterova
>Since Sartar was a pretty potent magician and seems to have travelled a
lot around the countryside of his >kingdom to be, it seems likely that
there should oodles of local magical/mysterious/haunted landmarks called
>"Sartar's [this]" and "Sartar's [that]" or be explained as some result
of an action of Sartar
In my example, I used Froalar specifically to tie it to a Western village - to revolt against the sometimes-prevalent concept that Westerners don't have heroes, or believe in nature spirits, or that kind of thing. I'm sure there's plenty of Sartar-connected stuff in Sartar - some of it was probably by him; some is probably falsely attributed to him; and some are possibly by him but attributed to someone else.
>> ... every midsummer, for three or four days, the village is
>>pestered by visible but intangible fairies.
So i can take it from you that there are faerie-like beings/spirits in
Glorantha? I've always expected Glorantha to be filled with them, and
have always been baffled by the lack of nature spirits in official
Glorantha.
I think that the lack of such spirits is more a failure on the part of
some of Glorantha's scenario authors. Games run by Greg and myself
usually have such spirits. The known existence of pixies, gremlins, a
variety of spirits, and nymphs would seem to imply more such beings. And
they are a fundamental aspect of "useless" magic, which as I've said
before ought to be everywhere.
Graeme Willoughby
>1) Why do animals die? (they're not decended from Granfather Mortal)
The answer depends upon the person to whom you talk. Some folks
will, indeed, say that yes they come from Grandfather Mortal. Others
claim that it's because they came into the world after Death was already
present. Yet others say that beasts _don't_ die, they just have their
spirits recycled immediately into new forms. Other answers exist.
>2) Since the Knight caste was invented by Hrestol, what did St
Horal do? (Horal is the 3rd son of Malkion and >supposedly Patron of the
Knight caste that was only invented after the Dawn).
Who says that there were no Knights before the Dawn?!
Let me at 'em!
>3) Who/what is the God of the Silver Feet? He is the God of
Communication of an area that is almost definitively >Malkioni and whose
inhabitants don't believe in him (or at least his godhood). It's
calimed that the Ban was >caused by his death - how can this be
reconcilled in the West with Malkioni beliefs?
He is Issaries. Malkioni beliefs are more flexible than they are often portrayed. The Malkioni know that there are gods (or at least god-like beings) with authority over the weather, fertility, the sun, etc. This doesn't mean they're supposed to be worshiped. Certainly some Malkioni don't accept that these beings have true personalities. So, if you ask a traditional Malkioni, he'd reply, "The God of the Silver Feet is the spirit with charge over Communication. No doubt he was assigned to this task by the Invisible God himself." If you ask an iconoclastic rationalist Malkioni, he'd reply, "The death of the God of the Silver Feet is just a symbolic poetic way to refer to the destruction of the Principle of Communication within Fronela."
>4) anyone got a good definition of "human" for Glorantha? That is
, if you have a gift "double damage against >humans" or a geas " never
kill a human" (say) what does this include /exclude? Agimori?
Hsunchen? >Hsunchen in were-form? Weartagi? Vadeli? Tusk Riders?
Half-breeds like Pavis (the person) ? >Ogres?Human-Broo? Any other
near-humans I've missed?
As far as that geas goes, I would adjudge that Waertagi, Vadeli, Hsunchen, Agimori all count as humans. However, I would not include hybrids such as broo, tusk riders, Pavis. Nor ogres. Go by the species. Homo sapiens.
>5) Why doesn't Issaries have a doubled "Issaries" rune?
Four possibilities: 1) he's not the origin of the Rune. (My personal choice.)
2) So-called "Secondary" Runes don't have Origins. (A cop-out.) 3) The Issaries cult Runes were fixed & set in stone before theGod Learners came along and figured out the Runes of all the Gods. It was judged too hard to change Issaries Runes. (Possible, but I still like #1 best.)
4) Issaries lost one of his Runes, possibly during a God Learner experiment.
Sandy
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #196
Powered by hypermail