I have been thinking a lot about this question after Convulsion. The
sources for my thoughts are:
- - Greg Stafford's statement that there are far fewer gods than we had
previously believed but, at the same time, each one is actually distinct.
- - Greg's other (but much better hidden) bombshell at Convulsion regarding
heropaths - they are imprinted on the believers not on the heroplane.
- - Greg's latest Q&A.
- - KOS (P97) where it is Alakoring Dragonbreaker, not Orlanth, that finds the
compromise has been broken and starts the war against the Red Goddess (but
after that it is Orlanth, Orlanth, Orlanth....).
- - KOS (P91-97) The Gbaji War, The Dragon Wars, Orlanth and the Machine God,
Orlanth and the Red Goddess.
- - KOS (P195) Making Gods.
My theory is that there are fewer than 30 fundamental gods (Storm/Air, Earth, Light/Heat/Sun, Maker, Grower, Death, Communication etc.) and that they are more like principles than personalities. One might even call them Runes. Way back these principles built Glorantha and then "later" beings with personalities began to emerge. At this "time" it was much easier to invoke these principles than now (and there were far fewer personalities to do the invoking). Over long periods some personalities came to personify the principles. This process continues into modern Glorantha times.
Let's take Orlanth as an example. Initially Umath (or Humath or Worlath?) comes to personify the principles of Storm/Air, Separation/Death and Disorder/Violence (and possibly even traces of Chaos). Then (in my opinion) worshippers belief in Umath falls apart as the increased number of worshippers and all of their slightly different beliefs and requirements introduce too many contradictions and complexities. Many different personalities come to personify different parts of the combination that Umath had. After a time, under the direction of Vingkot and Heort, Orlanth emerges from the re-unification of many different clans'/tribes' totem gods.
The twist that I would add to this is that it was actually Vingkot that came to personify Storm/Air with some aspects of the other principles. Later Heort came to personify a similar set of principles. Similarly Harmast, Alakoring and Argrath (and even, for a while, Lokamayadon). Each of these heroes became, in almost all respects, Orlanth. What drove this was the Orlanthi beliefs and the heropaths created by each of these heroes. This, in my opinion, also explains how the cult of a god changes over time. Similarly it explains how new gods are made or existing gods are significantly changed.
In fact, I would put it that the personality that is worshipped is separate from the principle(s) that provides the godhood. It is their worship (direct or indirect) plus their "historic" actions (or myths or heropaths) that lets them access the powers of those principles. But is the principle that provides the powers of godhood.
Or maybe it is the other way around. Maybe as a being gets access to more of the powers of a principle, the more they become an agent of that principle and their personality becomes the acceptable face of that principle.
At any one point in time, there is one god (or hero aspect) that most personifies one of the principles. It is this god that "owns" the Rune.
How all of this comes about varies by culture.
The Westerners (now) tend to have a very abstract view of the world so the Invisible God is almost purely the principle of Law without any cloaking of a personality. However, Brithos has Zzabur (who, if I remember correctly, personifies the principle of Magic) who claims to remember being created like Worlath, Ehilm and Humct (which, I admit, may well be a counter example to some of my arguments but, hey, "he/it" might be lying) but is not worshipped as such, but then again maybe he structured Western magic so it is an act of worship of him.
The Pelorian Solar culture seems to be very hierarchical in their forms of worship and there is less change in forms over time than, say, the Orlanthi (the Red Goddess excepted of course). This, of course, suits the ruling classes.
The shamanic tradition accesses so many relatively low powered beings that it is difficult to see the wood for the trees. There is no contradiction with my theory that I can think of.
I am not familiar enough with the other traditions such as the East/Mystical or Pamalt to argue a case.
So, finally, how are two gods the same? Well, if you are talking personalities, then if people say they are different then they are almost certainly different. But if you are talking of the powers of godhood and the principles that they represent then, say, two Storm gods with different names and myths are really the same thing.
And yes, I am a subjectivist God Learner!
Powered by hypermail