>Let me first point out that your words do not agree at all with Simon's.
>You say that Glorantha arose from chaos, he states that they are different
>manifestations of some other precreated state (which for some unknown
>reason is unnatural), with zero creative interaction. In fact, he implies
>that interactions with chaos are always destructive, never constructive.
Chaos is the manifestation of uncreation in the world. I'm distinguishing between the two where Nick didn't. It's just a matter of detail and semantics, not a difference in opinion i don't think.
>Then you seem to say that nature only exists within Glorantha, which is
>patently false to all us here on Earth.
I don't see what you're getting at. If you want to be strict Glorantha is the figment of our collective imaginations and doesn't exist at all in any real sense. How does this progress the discussion?
> ....(I really dislike your use of the
>term nature, which seems to actually mean "Glorantha" in your definition)
How else would you define it, in terms of 'gloranthan reality' (for want of a better term)?
>Then there's some weird distinction that Chaos is unnatural. If Glorantha
>== nature, and there's Chaos in Glorantha, then sorry, it's natural. Are
>you stating that the dragonsnail in front of my character is on some other
>plane of existance, not "of this world", so it can't hurt me?
A virus can live inside your body. Does that make the virus a part of you?
>If Chaos is "not of the world", why did so damn much
>of it survive the Compromise to eat my characters? :-)
The virus is an invader from outside your body. Unlike a red blood cell, which was grown in your bone marrow and is ultimately descended from the same fertilised egg cell as the rest of your body. The virus is not. Imagine that the virus is actualy of alien orrigin and evolved on a planet in another solar system. It isn't even part of the same system of evolved life forms as you.
Unfortunately this is a problematic analogy, but I hope it helps somewhat. As with all analogies it has it's limitations. Part of a dragonsnail is natural, but the essence of chaoticness within it is not.
This is where Glorantha gets realy metaphysical and weird. A thought is part of creation. It may not be a physical thing, but it can affect physical reality. I can think "I want to go to the post office" and lo and behold, 5 minutes later there I am. The thought and the action are both part of the world. Chaos is a manifestation in Glorantha of unbeing. How can a thought or concept represent antithought? How can we comprehend uncomprehension?
Chaos is not the dragonsnail, nor is it the broo. It is un-dragonsnail and un-broo. It is the annihilation of order, nature, thought and being. This is why chaotic creatures manifest chaos features. It is part of the process of becoming not themselves. Has anyone ever wanted to be someone, or even something else? Do you think Broo like being what they are? (Although they may sometimes enjoy doing what they do). Chaos gives them an offer of release which even death cannot provide, in a world where continued existence after death is a provable fact.
Simon Hibbs
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