I suppose that at a mythical level (in the God's plane) the DH emperor can
be both human and a god, and can dealt with both in an human and in a god
fashion.
In the mundane plane he cannot be both things at the same time, but he can
be a god in a certain moment in time, and an human in a different moment in
time. So, it realy depends: When the DH was a god, a faction that would
deny his godhood would surely fail. After he lost its godhood, the faction
that defended its godhood would fail. Remember: time is not an empty
concept without mythical influence. It conditions how mundane creatures
deal with the divine. From the POV of the divine which is not subject to
time, both parties are right, and both are wrong. But since the different
parties are mundane, they are subject to the law of time. So, its within
the framework of time that the fact that they are right and wrong will show
up.
> But how can you tell whether you're making a necessery evolutionary
> change to your religious practices, which you admit does happen in
> Gloranthan religious traditions, or are perpetraring a heresy? How do
> you know?
You can't *know* ! You only can believe, be certain, have faith, that you're right. No mundane mortal can claim to know for certain anything about the divine. The divine is behond a mortal's rational understanding. All you can know is that time will tell. Religion is a matter of faith, not a matter of science. (Disclaimer: when I speak here about religion I AM NOT including the Invisible God.)
> Are you seriously telling me that the god has a clear actual
> opinion on this, but despite the availiability of divinations,
> heroquests to talk to the god directly and their ability to inspire
> divine revelations, they obtusely refuse to say anything?
Yes, I'm seriously telling you that. You are betting too much on divinations, heroquests, divine revelations. Here are somethings that may interfere with all those possibilities:
and I think that any answer would be subject to interpretation. Since mortals have limited abilities to interpret a god's will, they may get it wrong.
(I suppose that there is no god-digest_at_glorantha.com or a FAQ in Glorantha... with the possible exception of mostal-digest_at_glorantha.com and Mostal FAQ...)
> Instead they just watch the war continue, and then mysteriously
> wipe out half of their potential followers, but right up till that points
> they continue answerign their divinations, granting them magical
> powers, etc?
[examples of direct divine intervention in the mundane plane sniped]
> f the gods want one side or the other in a conflict to win, they bloody
> well do something about it and no mistake.
Point #1: your examples work FOR my argument, not against it. They show that gods can intervene in the mundane plane sustaining a faction of followers against those that staied away. There is no space for ambiguity FROM THE GOD'S POV. Mortals may misunderstand what's happening, they may see a contradiction where from the god's POV there is none.
> The magic the gods grant to their followers are the method they have
> for intervening in the world, and it's largely the only method they can
> involve themselves in the affairs of men.
The compromise limited a god's ability to act in the mundane plane. Most of the time they cannot act directly. As you say, is through their followers that the god may intervene in the mundane plane. Your examples of extreme and ultimate action are exceptional. IMO the rule is that the worshipers will fight in place of the god. If that happens in the case of an heresy, the true faithfull will fight the heretic and win. This may take time, and for a while it may be hard to know which side is right. That's because mortals think within the framework of time. That framework is misleading since gods are not subject to it.
This seems to be a paradox? Of course! Thanks goodness for it. It makes things in Glorantha even more fascinating and, from a game POV, MGF.
Sergio
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