Peter Metcalfe replies to me
me>>Surely the God Learners knew enough about various Gloranthan lands
>>and history to know that there were other Blue People besides the
Vadeli? >>For example, Troll Gods states that the blue Loper People were
defeated in
>>Seshnela in the year 805, with an implication that they were known
before
>>then for at least awhile. Do you think the God Learners viewed the
Loper
>>People as Blue Vadeli? Surely not.
>The issue is their origin, not who they are. The God Learners seek
>to explain all origins in terms of their own mythology because they
>know that is true and not the half-baked folk lore of rank barbarians
>and the ignorant supersition of fuzzie-wuzzies.
>
>Thus whatever mythology the natives have for their origins, they
>are simply wrong and the God Learner scriptures are right. As
>proof, I shall cite the relevant passages from the Anilla cult
>writeup which is a God Learner compliation.
Um, this does not sound like the God Learners at all -- it sounds like the Brithini. The God Learners studied all of Glorantha's mythologies (well, most of them anyways), and then created the Monomoyth to fit as much of most of them together as possible. How is the Monomyth evidence of a God Learner belief that only their [Western] "myths" are true?
>Nevertheless Orlanthi culture is quite conservative. The last
>major interaction between the Ralian and the Dragon Pass Orlanth
>was in Alakorings day. Despite this the two are still recognizably
>Orlanthi. Thus I don't think that any differences between Sarro's
>Orlanth and the Genertelan Orlanth would be any greater than the
>differences between the various forms of Orlanth in Genertela. Of
>course there is always the example of Tyloque in Umathela...
Except that the humans of Dragon Pass and Ralios are all of the wareran "sub-race" of humanity, and are all Theyalans to boot. The possible Orlanth worshipers of Fonrit are doraddi -- though they are long-removed from the plains, their culture and worldview are wildly different. This would lead to much greater differences than in Genertela, IMO.
Sergio asks:
>My question is: how does a Wastes and Prax rhino look like? AFAIK
>current
>RW rhinos are the survivors of a very ancient lineage of different
species
>of rhinos with great variations both in size and features. Are
Gloranthan
>rhinos like today's RW rhinos or are they like some extinct variant? Or
are
>they completely different from any of present and past RW rhinos?
Despite the clip-art I put in Drastic: Prax, my understanding of the Praxian rhino is that it is single-horned (not two-horned as Sandy says), and very similar to the one-horned rhinos found on earth, though perhaps they are a slightly more primitive breed. The stats I used for rhinos in The Book of Drastic Resolutions, Volume Prax originally came from Chaosium, and thus from Sandy I suspect, so perhaps he is making a change here.
I believe that the Praxians believe they were woolly rhinos in the Golden Age, or that they developed into Woolly Rhinos during the cold Darkness, but no longer need their heavy coats.
I believe someone (Sandy?) has also said that there are multiple breeds of rhino in Pamaltela, including one with more than 2 horns. I could be wrong.
But, AFAIK, there is only one species of rhino in Prax, and it is none too gentle. You don't think the rhino riders actually try to milk them, do you? :)
Peter some more
>I still think the idea of the Dawn Age Fonritans worshipping Jraktal
>sounds cool. The ideal of a civilization being enslaved to cruel
>gods has much to recommend it IMO as chrome for Fonritan History.
>Making them mere sorcerers sounds insipid and boring. BTW what
>don't you like about idea of the Artmali worshipping Jraktal?
Other than that "Jraktal" is being used far too many ways and places for it. If you say "A deity similar to Jraktal" I will probably be more receptive. Also, I find it difficult to believe that Dawn Age Fonrit was dominated by worship of chaos deities. Jraktal is the God of Tap, which is (ultimately) what a large part of Sorcery is about. It is not just the spell called Tap, it is the concept that powering your sorcery spell steals mana from the surrounding environment, even if you don't specifically "Tap" someone or something.
That is sort of what I read into Jraktal, at least in its earliest concept -- as a chaos deity, it is the embodiment of the spell Tap, true.
>IMHO there is a real danger in having God Learners
>in every nook and cranny of Glorantha whereever inhumanly possible
>and blaming them for every evil that walks on earth, because in
>doing so, we flatten out whatever variety that exists in glorantha
>in favour of what?
But isn't this what the Gloranthans often do? If something bad is not because of Gbaji, who else could be behind it but the God Learners?
And, given the great power and extent of the God Learners, throughout all of Glorantha, I just find it difficult to believe that they were not present in fairly great numbers in Fonrit, where they would have thrived.
Passo on Trolls:
> Uz consist of body (eat-matta) and uzpart (soul). Soul is made of some
> lead, spiderweb, and darkness. Eat-matta is mostly mud and stuff like
> that, just better tasting.
I think that truer words about trolls were never spoken before -- cool!
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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