>Ah, this makes me think: perhaps the lunars (and Argrath when he
>gets going against them properly) perhaps *make* a big event (eg. a
>battle) against perhaps superior forces in order to be able to come
>back and change it in the future. Of course, they wouldn't do this
>if they could win at the time! But I think they could go into it
>knowing that, even if they lost, it's possibly redeemable. Of
>course, the grunts in the front and second and... lines may not
>share the same opinion as the top brass about this :-)
Yes, that's it! We all know the lunars have really powerful magic and always win at big battles! We also know that the Red Goddess is connected with Time and her cyclic nature casts doubt on her linear nature. So, yes! I think that Lunars, and Lunars only, can use magics to ensure that people from the furutre will turn up and help them win the battle! With the aprropriate downsides of course of that it doesn't help the grunts at the front, who get slaughtered before the cavalry turn up.
Also, I think this might explain a turn of the tide, maybe the Lunars start using it more and more, and more! Then, suddenly, rather than Lunars arriving, all these Sartarites from the future appear, just at the right moment. Yes, I can see that working.
What I believe about this is, however, that it is Fixed at the time. In my game, you would not fight the battle, lose, use Chronoportation and then travel back, fight it again and win - allowing you to change time. Instead you would fight the battle, your magical comrades turn up and you win, then you have to travel back and fight it again, doubling the chance of you dying... Personal risk here is quite high.
See GURPS Time Travel for more information on such tricky paradoxes.
Joerg:
>IMO the Lunar term "Chronoportation" derives from their pernickety
>attempt to measure time before Time. If an Orlanthi visits a myth he
>doesn't care when it happened, he just starts out with the proper
>re-enactment and gets it done.
>
>If this mythic event happened again/simultaneously within history,
>the Orlanthi might as well be able to interact with the historical
>event if turns at the right bend.
Ahhh, this is where things get tricky IMO. If a character in my game HeroQuested along, say, the path of Gerak Kag to get the ability to Jump, then he does NOT chronoportate. Instead he travels to the HeroPlane where the myth of Gerak Kag can be re-enacted. If, after all, he did in fact travel back then Gerak Kag did his HeroQuest with lots and lots of people alongside him...
I think Chronoportation is actually possible, to actually travel into the past, but that time is immutable. Secondly, I think that HeroQuesting enters Myths, not Time. So Chronoporation is related to HeroQuesting, but in my use of the word (and that is all it is) as you are not re-enacting a myth, Chronoportation is not quite HeroQuesting.
Someone please tell me that makes sense.
>There are a few historical events which did not just happen in
>mundane history, but also in mythic environments, leaving a deep
>print there. First Battle of Chaos might be one such, Castle Blue or
>the destruction of Clanking City surely qualify. It should be
>possible to witness these, participate in the ranks, and even gain
>some personal benefit from that.
I think, if you got the spell, then you could Chronoportate anywhere, the only limit is that cults generally only have spells that send you to certian places. As I said, you can't find a way to Chronoporate into the Red Emperors toilet one afternoon when he went to bed for an early nap so that you can kill him and still his gear (as killing him IMO would have no effect on the future, but nicking his kit could be quite useful in the future). I think that most of the HeroQuests like those you gave send you back in time, rather than to a mythical re-enactment on the HeroPlane. Greg only knows how you'd figure out a hard-and-fast rule for if you get sent to a mythical re-enactment or back through time. The difference is that back in time, if you appeared at the Castle Blue you'd partipcipate as one of Orlanth's soliders or thanes or what have you, whereas if you HeroQuested to the mythical representation you would BE Orlanth in effect, and do what Orlanth did. A major difference exists between the two.
All IMO. And I am starting to get interested in what other people think.
>I guess that each hero cult has - unwittingly - a ritual of
>chronoportation to its hero's activities. It should take
>considerable heroquesting experience to do anything but aquire
>similar powers to those the hero used there and then, though.
I think that when the Hero carves out a Path on the HeroPlane he leaves his mark which can then be re-enacted by other people. I think only very few, and very momentous, occassions can be accessed via Chronoportation. Such events would include (in rough chronological order):
I Fought We Won (Grey Age)
The Battle of Night And Day (First Age)
The Cursing of the Dragons (First Age)
The Birth of Ostentalka (First Age)
The Battle of Kartolin Pass (First Age)
The Tower of Dreams (First Age)
The Clanking City (Second Age)
Various destructions of the God Learners (Second Age)
The Birth of the Red Goddess (Third Age)
Battle at Castle Blue (Third Age)
First Battle of Chaos (Third Age)
Battles versus Sheng Seleris? (Third Age)
Godunya versus Sheng Seleris? (Third Age)
Boldhome (Third Age - remember if you're Sartarite then you lose!)
Future battles perhaps? Perhaps you can chronoportate into the future
to see what and aid in Battles that WILL happen (being a Babylon 5
fan I'm all in favour of this : )))
All IMO,
Nikk
>In Ralios, the technique to do this might be about to be
>rediscovered.
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #449
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