One should draw a distinction between self-conscious 'exploration', and mythic extrapolation that happens accidentally, out of sheer necessity, through 'mythic drift', or whatever. And of course, some of the most dangerous innovators are the arch-conservatives who want to roll back new-fangled imperfections and get back to the ideal state of things in the Good Old Days. (Harmast springs to mind.) Few people start out with the intent of screwing around self-consciously with the myth; almost everyone affects it in some manner or other.
Even if there's some degree of intent about the extrapolation, the wedge has a very thin end. To take your own example: it's very possible our CA High Healer (as opposed to simply her player) thinks that there 'must be' a myth for a given situation, but knows only fragments of it, or knows of it third- or fourth-hand, etc. If she finds out that the 'correct' version is known eighth-hand, someplace in the East Wilds (fer-vingkot-h-orlanthssonssakes...), then I'm sure the temptation to 'make up' the details, or better, to discover them experiencially, would be a strong one. "Why, this reminds me a great deal of the time when Chalana..."
Indeed, one could go further: if everything fits the pattern of the myth precisely, it's not really a HQ, it's basically just a worship ritual, though perhaps one done under extraordinary circumstances. What characterises a HQ is making reality conform to myth, which implies that reality is in need of at least a gentle nudge, and likely as not a firm whack (back) into line. Extrapolation is thus a matter of degree: "What did Orlanth do when this happened to him?" "What _would_ Orlanth have done, _had_ this happened to him." "Screw Orlanth, what would _I_ do, if this happened to me -- which it just has."
Of course, everything David says about the dangers of extrapolation is spot on. The HeroPlane is a spectacularly dangerous place, and Gloranthans don't have a 'save game' option. Myths are your cheat sheet, and even following those as precisely as one can, it's still a tricky game, with potentially very high stakes. Doing something simply because 'I wonder what's over there', or 'it seemed a good idea at the time' isn't really a very viable option at all. If you're 'off-track' for one reason or another, best plan is almost always to act in the manner of the closest-fit myth for the situation, or more generically yet, to emulate/identify with your deity as closely as possible (at least for devotional-theism style HQs).
> Performing this myth wouldn't create a spell, it would result in the
> effect. (Performing the Orlanth and Aroka heroquest doesn't give you
> the spell Stop Drought, it *does* stop the drought.)
You're normally the first person to cite multiple possible purposes and outcomes for the 'same' quest, David. This quest _can_ result in a Stop Drought spell -- the more usual terminology is 'Rain Feat', though, and the 'quest' is regarded as Heler (or O. T.) worship ritual. In principle, any quest/ritual can have a result that's either personal or communal, and either one-off or repeatable/on-going, as well as potentially working on several different 'levels' or scale of effect. Naturally that's not to say that all such outcomes are equally easy, or equally well-known, in each case.
Cheers,
Alex.
Powered by hypermail