Re: replies to Mythic Stuff

From: richard <richard.develyn_at_nwpeople.com>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 10:21:52 +0100


First of all let me nip this one in the bud:

> (Possibly there are "Develyn Theory" priests who don't know the name
> of their deities, have never seen their manifestations, etc. I don't
> have any of these IMG, and so won't comment further).

There is no "Develyn Theory" - I'm just asking questions. (And please call me Richard).

Let us recall that this dicussion started off as an investigation into history, from the POV of your average Gloranthan in the 1600s. In particular I wondered how we knew that Gods predated worshippers - or is it the case that the first we hear about a god (chronologically speaking) is in the writings of his worshippers?

Now I believe that the discussion has proceeded as follows:

Writings are rare, oral traditions are more common. Some ancient creatures may actually remember what happened eons ago. None of these methods provide particularly accurate information.

Myths are more interesting. Take crystals, for example, how do we know that they really _are_ the blood of the gods?

Answer: You HQ somewhere and see a godly battle taking place, watch the blood fall and turn into crystals.

How do you know what myths exist so that you can go and see this stuff for yourself? Can you look into the Hero Plane? Can you wander about until you stumble on a myth and see what's happening?

Answer: No. You act according to a script. You learn what myths exist by your teachings in your temple - writings and oral traditions - then you re-enact them.

[BTW: I know you can push a myth in a new direction, if you're good at it. You can then come back and tell your temple about it and they write it all down (or whatever). Next time the HQ can follow a different route. I think that this makes myths even less reliable historically speaking. A few people said how your new interpretation could be wrong, and it would be a very imoral thing to do. ISTM that the only way that you can tell right from wrong in this sense is according to your adherence to a script.]

That seems to have brought us round full circle, but for two issues that Nick introduced.

Let me finish this with three questions:

  1. Is my reasoning about going round full circle correct? In particular, are you ultimately reliant on inaccurate written / oral material to find out what happened in the past?
  2. Can you use divination as a research tool? I understood that a God couldn't tell you anything new about itself (new to you I guess) through divination (more like the God is finding some knowledge within you and bringing it to the front of your brain).
  3. Can you talk to spirits as a way of research history? Do they actually tell you about what really happened in the past or do they just tell you what the current myths are?

Many thanks

Richard

P.S. Caveat: I haven't read everything published on HQ yet. I've only just got hold of some of the Reaching Moon stuff and I'm catching up as fast as I can.
- --


Richard Develyn                                 Tel: (UK)-1732-743591
Principal Architect / Development Manager       Fax: (UK)-1732-743597
Network People International                    http://www.nwpeople.com

------------------------------

End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #627


Powered by hypermail