Re: Resurrection; deities

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 17:55:58 -0800


Ian Thomson proposed

> Please can someone(s) tell me exactly who can perform resurrections
> from the discussions so far my house rules is forming something like

> L Mhy Non cult enemies and non chaos
> I Ontor Lunars and allied cults

I'd like to hear your logic for the Knowing God, the god of lawspeakers, resurrecting folks.

> Teelo Norri Non cult enemies

The Lunar goddess of youth grants Resurrection? Deezola would be the Seven Mothers source, surely.

> Xiola Umbar Trolls

No Resurrection listed in Troll Gods...

> Daka Fal Nomads, Waha and Strombull cultists

More likely it's kin only.

> I'm also toying with the idea that unless you are an Initiate at
> least there is no chance of resurrection

An initiate of whom? Chalana Arroy will certainly resurrect those who aren't Healers.

> Also I'm heretically allowing Humaktis to be resurrected by DI only,
> ie at point of death, basically big H says "Go back your work is not
> yet done" or some such, cos the body is still warm and the blood
> still coursing so they aren't really dead

Nothing wrong with that, it's not truly a resurrection (since the RQ3 game rules are probably broken with their death within seconds).

Robert McArthur wrote

> I think that resurrection is pretty much as
> hard (easy?) as RQ has it. ...

> What you have also not considered is acolytes (if they are in your
> Glorantha).

Wait a minute, if you're going to argue from the rules, there are no acolytes of Chalana Arroy. (River of Cradles p.170 -- ignore the bogus reference to them on p.169 because unlike other cults in the volume, the status is never described).

I think there aren't acolytes in part because just being an initiate is about as hard on people as acolyte is in most cults -- and gives about as much prestige.

Richard Develyn

> AM: If the Lunars go out and eventually kill all the Orlanthi, so that
> no one worships Orlanth, and then they HeroQuest against Orlanth, will
> he cease to exist?
>
> GS: Yes. He will not cease to have existed, but he could cease to exist.

> I deduce from this that a god only exists within his worship-space. This
> seems to be in keeping with Gloranthan writings - if a god isn't
> worshipped somewhere he simply isn't there.

I'd put more emphasis on the second part of the question: "and then they heroquest against Orlanth" -- I think this is what would cause him to cease to exist.

> a God cannot affect the way that he is worshipped

True. But a god can indirectly affect it -- if Chalana Arroy never ever answers the sacrifice of a living being, and Shargash always answers a human sacrifice, people will adapt their way of worship accordingly.

> Imagine an island full of atheists* and no outside contact. Do they
> experience death, disease, wind (you know what I mean), do they even see
> the sun in the sky? I reckon not.

I can't agree that the theistic viewpoint is the only valid one. I think one of Glorantha's coolest features is that you can't dismiss the materialist viewpoint out of hand -- it works well enough to explain Glorantha that many Gloranthans have adopted it over the years. I don't think it's necessarily as fun to *play* as theists, but it cannot be proven wrong.

> > Not gods (you don't see Cacodemon himself, after all).
>
> You do! See Dorastor pp 73-74.

You're right, I was thinking of the other writeups. Still, he's pretty restricted in where he shows up -- he can't just show up in Dara Happa if he feels like it.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein


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