The point is, if you don't recognise more than the four worlds, then they 'must be' mystics (or some crossbreed thereof -- let's not get into that). If you're prepared to recognised the draconic world as being in some way distinct, then you needn't explain them with reference to mysticism at all. Though there are certain methodological similarities...
> but this is doesn't matter because what they really are is a unique
> culture with many elements that could be identified as a part of something
> else, which they aren't.
Right. I think. ;-)
> The GL saw their connections to the
> "worlds" as they called them and reduced the cultures they encountered
> into their basic components, althought the sum is greater than the parts.
Exactly. The God Learners have the best 'unified theory' on Glorantha going. The GL account of, say, the Kralori is a lot more informed, accurate than useful than would be the Orlanthi acount of them, for example. But it elides part of the truth that _only_ the Kralori viewpoint itself can give you. (Which itself is pretty sucky at explaining, oooo, say, the Orlanthi...) So what you get in HW is sort of a stream of consciousness mixture of the GL take, and the native one, the better to cover all the bases, while being at least notionally 'consistent'.
Cheers,
Alex.
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