Ahem.
Greg says that the God-learner secret can be expressed in 3 words; this sounds like Greg further obfuscating the issue (which is A Good Idea, as far as I'm concerned). What about:
Knowledge Is Power
Now, one might argue that that's no secret, and you'd be right. It's a concept seldom applied by people in Glorantha, though, except, of course, when it comes to understanding their own myths, and sometimes the myths of their enemies. Few people try to understand the myths and points of view of others; they just proclaim them wrong, and say "these foreigners are crazy" or "kill'em all" or "Gbaji Riddlers, burn'em" or something. OK, there are exceptions, but if anyone does try to learn, like Lankhor Mhy/ Irrippi Ontor types, it is in the context of knowledge for the sake of truth, rather than power. Tanatari use knowledge for power, but as a means towards personal, rather than community, power (And Thanatar has a truth rune too, I think). The God-learners, as well as about everyone else, understood that powerful heroquesting was best performed at the community level, with tons of support. What the God-learners realized (that others didn't) is that a lot of power was theirs for the taking if they could learn the mythic pathways of all the cultures they encountered. When they learned these myths, they saw similarities between many of them (like Joseph Campbell, earth's preeminent God-learner, did). They codified the myths of the world into classes, which gave them the ability to apply lessons learned from many sources while heroquesting, increasing the probability of knowing a workable, appropriate solution to an obstacle or problem, and thus their level of control over the natural world (which is inextricably linked to the mythic, of course). They learned that compacting all the myths in the world into one, more succinct, all-encompassing cosmology would make the road to power shorter and easier. It's easier to mash 57 similar stories into one story containing all the core elements of each, then use it as a heroquest path, than it is to heroquest along all 57 paths. Hot-damn, they thought. We rule! We are the ultimate power, able to manipulate the gods themselves! Nothing can stop us now! (Does this remind you of any other power-mad, must-understand-it-all bunch? Have you looked in the mirror lately? (No! Bad! No self-referentiality allowed!!))
Which brings us to the other part of the God-Learner secret (the part they didn't even know themselves):
Everything You Know Is Wrong.
Of course, now the secret is longer than 3 words ;)
Eric Hansen
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