> I'm saying that the "Monomyth" is the only published (and I mean
> commercially, not in fanzines) overview, and it has pretty darn
> much been declared to be invalid repeatedly.
Like when? Your saying so don't make it true.
> The rpg stuff up to RQ II was based on its basic (if not total)
> validity...
I'm working on a new section of my homepage, "Whatever Happened To...?", devoted to exploring myths like this. Thanks for giving me the idea! (FWIW, the Monomyth is still "Basically Valid", but was *NEVER* presented as 100% accurate, complete, comprehensive and all-encompassing. Misinterpreted as such, perhaps, by some RQ2 players and by the Jrusteli both).
> ... while now if one brings up something from the Monomyth
> or an RQ II supplement it is likely to be refuted by something
> in the _Glorious Reascent of Yelm_ or _The Fortunate Accession_
> or something in _Tales_ or whatever since after all the Dara
> Happens have umpty zillion years of written history while the
> Orlanthis figure on 1600 years of Time...
This is, of course, nonsense. If you went to a Jrusteli God Learner and said, "Your Monomyth must be invalid, because the Dara Happans, the Kralori, and dammit even the Brithini have annals and histories and dates that stretch back into your 'Godtime'", he'd have laughed himself sick and explained the self-evident fallacies in these local beliefs. Which are, of course, incorrect in the light of Monomythic superiority.
(Have you ever actually read the "justification" for the hundred- -year "Timeline" of Dara Happan history? Be honest, now. If you had, you wouldn't believe it for a moment).
I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but can you think of anything that has absolutely and concretely been "refuted" by one of Greg's recent works-in-progress? Instead, we have more clutter, confusion and variety, but the basic outline works the same way it always did. History and myth seem to have fundamentally changed at a point the God Learners would have called "the End of Godtime", albeit the Dara Happans didn't recognise (or later *chose* not to recognise) this fact.
> Yeah, yeah I know about [the Lhankor Mhy Library] and it's cool
> and all that but a goodly portion of it is *invalidated* God
> Learnerish Orlanthi Perspective Monomythical stuff and is thus
> not necessarily authoritative now, is it?
[my emphasis]
Look, V.S. me old mucker, if *you* think something is invalid, then why should we try to persuade you otherwise? I still hold the firm belief that the best introduction to Glorantha ever written is the Cosmology from "Cults of Terror". If you *really* want sources for Glorantha to be written from some omniscient, universal-cosmic-truth perspective (shared by nobody on the lozenge), it ain't going to happen. And if it did, it'd annoy more people than it ever pleased.
> No one is stopping newcomers from asking questions...
In fact, we positively *encourage* newcomers to ask questions. It's (in large part) what this Digest is *for*.
> Who'd dare post an elementary or junior-high school question to
> a seminar for advanced graduate students? How many new people
> have posted here in the last year? Answer: damn few. =
And when they do, they get answers. Watch that happen a few times, more people might even join in. Unless Peter "depressed" Maranci scares them away with his pessimism and his zeal for segregation.
("I'm sorry, that idea is too controversial for the rq.gamers list: you'll have to re-post it on the rq.scholars list").
Just to reiterate: if there's *anyone* out there with a question to ask, please, ask it! You *must* have seen other people getting useful answers to their questions, by now! Whining on that "I don't understand Glorantha any more", or "I'm not interested in what all the other people are talking about, but I don't want to say anything myself", or "TSR's worlds are more original and creative than this 'Glorantha', anyway", doesn't really help us at all, now, does it?
> I'm willing to create and post new material (NPCs, plot hooks,
> whatever) here at least two or three times a year.
Why do you feel you need our prior approval before doing this? Your previous posts and the scenario I recall were good stuff, well worth sending (and reading). If that's what you want to do, I'm sure you'll find an appreciative audience. But it's completely unnecessary for you to tell other people to shut up so you can post a scenario, or an NPC, or whatever. Just go ahead and post it -- you don't need to clear your throat and warm us up beforehand.
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Nick
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