> . ........However, I
agree with several
>Previous Callers that mutual incomprehension ought not to feature
>on a quest (or at least, a Sufficiently Advanced Quest, whatever that
>is) unless it's a feature of the corresponding myth.
Quite. I have no problem whatsoever assuming that the gods of a culture, and the enemy gods of that culture, know the language(s) commonly spoken in that culture. Any being you encounter in the otherworld that can't speak your language is obviously foreign and is therefore undoubtedly and enemy. That's the way it is in the mortal world, so why not on heroquests?
Ok, there are obvious exceptions - the Issaries foreigner befriending heroquest for example (I'm sure there are several such).
>So if there's not mutual incomprehension, how exactly do entities
>communicate? I don't think it's something you can necessarily
>answer in Reductionist terms.........
To the extent that they communicate concepts that are communicable in a mortal tongue, I'm sure they use the mortal tongue to do so. Beyond that, I don't see any need for any form of communication any more esoteric than, say, Mindlink.
The God Learners may well have posited the existance of a godtongue, much in the same way that modern physicists posit the existence of gravitons (particles of gravity, no less). However from a mortal standpoint any communication beyond the scope of a mortal tongue is obviously magic, and Mindlink is a divine power (a common one even), so what's wrong with that? Issaries has a few other tricks up his sleeve such as spell trading, which is an obvious magical communication power, but then he would, wouldn't he?
Modern physicists can actualy describe physical systems without resorting to using gravitons, they're just convenient sometimes. I'm sure the God Learners were in a similar situation with Godtongue.
Simon Hibbs
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #175
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