Death and Chaos and Entropy

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_wanadoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 00:50:10 +0200


Michael Cule :

> In my opinion there are only a few Chaos things sufficiently powerful to
> utterly destroy a being. (Well, a few powerful things and one apparantly
> weak thing: the disease Soul Waste.)

I agree that there are few beings that have this ability. (From a Theyalan POV, that is : If you're a Brithini, *all* death is entropic)

I don't think, though, that this is stricto sensu related to the strength of the Chaotic being. The rarity of the ability is due to its very nature.(The Void is rarely so physical)

I think you can gain the ability as a Chaos Feature (even though it isn't in the RQ table for such).

Few creatures are born with the ability though : such creatures almost always annihilate their mothers, destroy their eggs / hosts, etc .. during gestation.

> The demons and devils of the God War could do this [return you to the Chaos
> flux] and so can the few things that survive from that time.

It's a nice idea, but I disagree with it. That is, I agree with your description of annihilation, but I don't agree that it is the sole preserve of Elder Chaos.

One of the big effects of the Compromise was to separate the Void from the Inner World. Entropy *is* part of the cosmos, but it's defined (in myth) as being Outside Reality

(Emptiness surrounds Fullness)
(Myth mirrors Existence)
(Yadda).

This means that entropic powers are generally outside the boundaries of Glorantha in its material nature (permanently trying to break in, and permanently succeeding in destroying Glorantha's Stasis, but don't get me started on the Nature of Time if you value your own ... )

It's *very* difficult to be part of the world, and have devastating entropic powers. It's a kind of Anti-Mysticism, IMO.

But many of Ralzakark's Sword Broos *can* send you to the True Death with one easy flick of the wrist ...


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