Ivan asks:
> Am I making the right assumptions?
Almost. The key points where you're misleading yourself:
- People had heroquested before Arkat, and continued to do so afterwards,
in ways which owed nothing to Arkat's discoveries. Arkat introduced
"creative" heroquesting -- wandering around "between myths" on the Hero
Plane, and mucking up previously unrelated myths -- whereas most temples and
most heroquesters have preferred to perform ritual re-enactments -- doing
the Done Thing, in the right place to do it, and obtaining the expected
benefit from it. Cf. the Shorter Lightbringers Pilgrimage in KoS for an
example. (Yes, I know Harmast Barefoot "created" this -- but you don't
reinvent it every Sacred Time, do you?!)
- God Learner heroquesters are specifically stated to have lost touch with
Arkat's basic rule: "No questing without respect and humility" (Glorantha
Book p.24). There was clearly a difference between Arkati quests and God
Learner ones; the Glorantha Book article on RuneQuest Sight makes this
mechanistic world-view the obvious culprit (something the GLs had and Arkat
didn't).
- The God Learners nicked the secrets of creative heroquesting from Arkat.
Saying "Arkat was a God Learner" inverts this historical progression.
Logically, one could heroquest in a pre-Arkati manner (no creativity), or in
an Arkati, non-God Learner manner (creativity, but with respect and
humility), or in a God Learner manner (creative but "soul-less", sans
respect and humility), or in any other manner that mixes and matches the
aforegoing. Likewise, a God Learner could even try to heroquest in an Arkati
or a ritual manner... and so on.
See the Appendix to the Elder Secrets book for more on the history (and
future!) of heroquesting. Not all heroquesters are Arkati, or God Learners.
Not all cultists are God Learners. Don't worry so much!
Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>