HQs, was, Re: Faith in Glorantha

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 20:09:12 GMT


Julian Lord:
> Erm, not *quite*. Most heroquests are magical rituals
> that aim to preserve the world and/or a cult as it is.

A 'heroquest' with that objective is just, in essence at least, a worship ceremony, not a HQ in any 'strong' sense.

> But, from the questor's POV, it's a dynamic process of
> interaction with the world and its myths, enacting a
> deep personal change (most likely via crisis)

If you're changing your self, you're changing the world. Many HQs have an explictly broader purpose/side-effect, too.

> If the questor actually tries to change the world
> *willingly*, he'll be up against so much magical
> opposition that his chances of surviving the quest
> will be _minimal_, unless he's the Arkat/Harrek/Jesus
> Christ type ...

The bigger than change you make, the harder it is, of course. The most usual type is making some small part of the mundane world conform 'correctly' to the 'appropriate' myth, not outright wholesale change, out of whole cloth.

> > Once again returning us to the central semantic
> > quibble at the root of this discussion: is the
> > validity of Greek philosophy, and the testimony of
> > the Gospels, and of others with direct personal
> > experience of god (like himself, and subsequent
> > types) 'no evidence'?

> As far as I'm concerned, this isn't 'central' at all.
> This isn't the Dogma Digest after all.

It's central _to the question posited_. It may be pretty left field as far as the Digest is concerned, which is another matter. (One on which I largely agree with the late, lamented Gian on. Fractious and over-reacting, yes; devoid of topicly merit, no.)

Cheers,
Alex.


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