> Does anyone know where I can get details of the stages of the LBQ?
Best source: "King of Sartar", the Shorter Lightbringers Pilgrimage.
Second-best: "Wyrms Footprints", the Orlanth chapter. (A brilliantly-orchestrated remix of the WF #14 "Orlanth" article, including the Cults of Terror "Cosmology" at the end).
> The way I understand it RQ sight and Illumination is supposed to be two
> different things. They are supposed to be similar but not the same, right?
Not necessarily similar, except insofar as both are perceptions. Certainly not the same.
> Now, RQ sight managed to anoy 'cosmos' so much that it had to remove it.
> One wonders how long before it does the same to Illumination?
Being simplistic: the RuneQuest Sight of the God Learners worked "against" the Cosmos, as it allowed them to understand it in their terms. Illumination looks like the opposite: it forces the Illuminate to understand the Cosmos in its own terms. Other than a general dislike for being understood, I can't see why the Cosmos would necessarily want to get rid of Illumination, which is both more natural and less intrusive.
Besides, the God Learners did really bad harmful stuff (like imposing short-form generic cult write-ups on Glorantha), while Illuminates do spiffy useful stuff (like founding the Lunar Empire and conquering the unwashed hordes of the Barbarian Belt). Again, one assumes Glorantha the Cosmos is more likely than not to be pleased with the latter development :-)
> Mentioning the fact that Mr Devlyn plays Rolemaster is not only irrele-
> vant, its a cheap, dirty rethoric, trick. How about a couple of sponefulls
> of humility guys?
It's very relevant. Richard arrived on the Gloranthan Daily saying that he was desperate to understand and share in "THE" Glorantha, the One True Glorantha in which everyone games...
... and use a different rule system from everyone else ...
... and impose his own Secret Knowledge on the world ...
... and set the AD&D "GDQ" Modules somewhere in it ...
none of which are inherently conduicive to greater Gloranthan coherence. And now, the Theory.
> To be perfectly fair, Mr Devlyn's theory is, according to Occam's razor,
> better since it explains the darkness of shadow's dance, the rains of
> dragon pass and lack of color in Arolanit.
No, it doesn't.
Agreeing that manifestations of elemental energy will be stronger where those elements are worshipped (storms in Dragon Pass, shadows in Dagori Inkarth) does *not* imply or require that the same manifestations will be altogether absent where they are not worshipped.
And *unless* Richard also chooses to ditch the established (and recently repeated) explanations for Dancing Shadows, Hill-Storms and Brithini Greyness, he is needlessly multiplying entities (by adding another one), thus falling victim to Cut-Throat Billy himself.
If we knew nothing about Glorantha, the "Theory" would be a good start. Since we already know lots about Glorantha, including things that contradict the "Theory", it is rather superfluous.
As I hope I have always made clear, I don't mind what Richard or Doyle or Ian or anyone else gets up to in their own games; it's only when offending material is proposed as a wizzo new solution to everyone's problems that I get shirty. As happens, from time to time.
> Could it be that the whole [Malkioni] church system is maintained as a
> way to control farmers / lower class / working class / what have you.
> The more educated upper eschelons of the church think it's ultimately
> a load of nonsense, however all these working classes actually _do_
> worship.
Postulating that any religion is a cynical and deceptive facade (which accusation has been levelled against both Malkionism and the Lunar Way, two of my specialist subjects) is lazy. We don't gain anything from the exercise, apart from rhetoric. We lose plenty. In a world where there were *no* educated believers in the Prophets, *no* pious Saints, *no* Holy Scriptures that were more than a fraudulent attempt at social control, we would lose Glorantha's greatest strength: that it is above all else a world where mythology and belief can become manifest in the mundane world.
"Sorry, guys: your religion was a fake all along."
This can, however, provide great rhetorical excesses for in-game use. It warms the cockles of my heart when someone writes, in character, a detailed exposition of the Evils of the Lunar Way. It bores the deepest recesses of my bowels, however, when people do this as a game-mechanical pseudo-apologia, a fig-leaf to cover up the weaknesses of their own mythological understanding.
"Yes, I know Cults of Terror had a four-fold cosmology, but in my Glorantha three of them are fakes. Only the priests are right: the shamans, wizards and mystics are all frauds, duping their populace -- and what's more, they all know it!"
We do know of a few "fake cults" in Glorantha -- Gark the Calm, the Church of Immortality. Postulating that a major world religion (or two) should join their ranks is unlikely to align anyone's game more closely with "THE" Glorantha.
Just so long as this is noted, I have no trouble whatsoever with the dimly-lit inhabitants of Richard's West being cynical manipulators of their downtrodden population. Hey, Malkion was probably a fraud, there, too. So long as it doesn't affect *my* world, why should I mind what happens in someone else's?
Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>
PS: Re: this "three word explanation of the God Learner Secret" -- I heard (though may be wrong) that this was said by Greg in response to an irritatingly persistent and geeky fanboy's claim that he could express it in five words. That is, its humour value may be significantly greater than its truth value. (As one would expect from Greg).
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #581
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