Use of Analogies

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_btinternet.com>
Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 09:36:00 +0100



Guy Hoyle writes:
> I personally have enjoyed the Soviet analogues as a model for the Lunar
> empire; damn clever, those Brits.  However, I do see the point that the
> model would sort of break the suspension of disbelief that is so important
> for Glorantha.

Thanks. But it's an analogy, not a model. And it's not the only one we use. As I expressed on the Lunar Discussion Group a year and a half ago:

: When we use an analogy, it is because it "fits". Aspects of the British
: Empire, the Soviet Union, etc. *do* fit the Lunar Empire remarkably well.
: We would be foolish not to bear these in mind when exploring how the
: Empire might work, how its citizens would feel, how its policies would
: be manifested and defended.
:
: But note: I said "bear these in mind". If we can extract the RW "jokes"
: from any "official" Issaries publication, but retain the underlying
: Gloranthan realities which the RW joke served to illuminate, I would be
: happy.
:
: I think Martin and [N] may not realise that we have generally been in
: the business of communicating a vision of the Empire to our readers. I
: firmly believe that the Masters of the Danfive Xaron cult are as descri-
: bed in Mike Hagen's write-up: black-robed self-torturing sickoes. I was
: delighted when Mike added the blind Yelmic priest Cenobius to the mix,
: as Danfive's cultic founder. If these two elements survived the transition
: from fandom to Officialdom, I'd be completely happy. I would not miss the
: word "Cenobite" from the Official Source; while I would use it myself in
: unofficial discussion, in panel talks, on the Digest, and in anything I
: wrote for "Hero Wars", I'd not feel that this word -- multiple-meaninged
: and resonant though it is -- was worth chucking the exquisite Cult of
: Danfive Xaron for.
:
: (Likewise Raskolnikov, my own coinage for the DX Spirit of Reprisal. I
: believe that "initiates" (ex-cons) of the cult *do* come over all guilt-
: ridden and remorseful if they slip back into criminality. The name is
: just the icing on the cake. It tells people what's going on, far more
: efficiently than a half-page description of the effects would do.)
:
: [N], Martin: we have been writing material for people unfamiliar with
: Glorantha, for people to seize on and use in gaming. We have been deli-
: berately "obvious", while Greg has slid down a path towards deliberate
: obscurantism. Our sourcebooks, cult writeups, et al are accessible and
: approachable to newcomers; the deliberate, jokey use of RW analogies
: *helps* people see what we're on about. (Take a non-Gloranthan, and tell
: them to play a Zasturnic Illuminate, and they'll look at you funny. Say
: "you're like a guru" and they'll get it at once. That's what I'm on
: about!)
:
: Given the presumably larger page-count of an Official Lunar Book, we
: won't need these shortcuts. We can lose the surface gloss (of the more
: obvious and "offensive" Soviet or English or Roman analogies), while
: retaining the underlying Truths that those glosses served to illuminate.
:
: If you see what I mean.

And from another related post, for Steve Lieb's delectation:

: Have you now disappeared so far up Greg's Bottom that nothing from
: the real (interesting, meaningful, amusing) world can connect, any
: more? Does every humorous part of Published Glorantha have to be retro-
: spectively deleted from the record? Are we not allowed to have fun any
: more, or present any material capable of attracting new players?
:
: I *am* getting angrier about the suggestion that only Greggly referents
: have any value. Gloranthan warfare is unlike anything else; Gloranthan
: culture is unlike anything else; Gloranthan religion is unlike anything
: else...
:
: Carry on down this road, and you'll end up less popular than Tekumel.

:::: Email: <mailto:Nick_Brooke_at_btinternet.com>
Nick
:::: Website: <http://www.btinternet.com/~Nick_Brooke/>


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