> Would there be a Realm of Chaos or something alike? What would it be
> like? Something like Lovecraft's Dreamlands? Could it be explored?
I cannot think offhand of any Gloranthan references to such a place existing, or to anyone travelling there. "Chaos" per se usually suggests a festering ooze or a devouring void in Glorantha, not a Lovecraftian or Moorcockian other-planar dreamscape. As Greg Stafford is very familiar with the works of Lovecraft, Moorcock, et al., and has never referred to a Gloranthan "Realm of Chaos" (as Heroquest location or otherwise) in any material I have seen, it's unlikely to be a feature of "official" Glorantha. YGMV. [I note in passing the existence of the "Chaosium", the point at which Chaos seeps into Glorantha ("at the bottom of the Underworld" on God Learner schematics), neatly described by Sandy Petersen at last year's Tentacle-Con.]
> Is only Chaos that can enter Glorantha, or would there be other things
that
> could? Is (in view of this) Glorantha really a closed world? Would an
alien
> to Glorantha, maybe a painted Pict from Earth, be sensed as chaotic? Maybe
> that's the key to understand Chaos: what does not belong here.
Glorantha is "officially" a closed world, though in practice many games (including Chaosium's own house campaigns) have included intrusions from other worlds, games and genres. I don't think that "inter-planar travellers" would necessarily be sensed as or believed to be Chaotic, unless they made a point of emphasising their strangeness. A painted Pict from Earth? Not likely to be a problem. A Minion of Cthulhu? That's another question altogether...
> If Chaos can enter the world, can something escape? Is Glorantha embedded
> in a larger universe, but confined by the Net and the sacrifice of its
Gods?
I don't think the Gods believe this to be the case, or that there is any evidence in Glorantha itself that points in this direction. So if the Gods don't think so, Chaos provides no evidence, and Gloranthan peoples have no reason to suppose it's the case -- well, YGMV, but it looks unnecessary to me.
> This may also explain why Glorantha's history is so impervious to change
I truly cannot understand this statement. Glorantha's history is alive with change, and a Good Thing Too. (One form of "change" is the dramatic destruction of mighty experimental Empires, but this doesn't ever return the world to the status quo ante).
Cheers, Nick
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