Re: Gloranthan Cultures

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 01:22:03 +0100 (BST)


Henrix replies to my message on the allegations of western logograms, without saying anything about western logograms...

> > Yeah. Isn't it great when we destroy what little intuition we already
> > have about the West. Similarly, let's make lots of other jarringly
> > inappropriate inclusions into other cultures. Doraddi saunas and
> > Kralori jousting, anyone?

> You mean what little intuition we have about the medieval europeans?

No, about the Gloranthan West.

> Gloranthan cultures are inspired by real world counterparts, but are not, and
> should not (in my opinion, of course) be, Medieval Europeans, British Celts or
> 16th c. Japanese transplanted to Glorantha with a veneer of new myths and
> religious practices.
> Let us keep Glorantha unique.

The point is not so much that they're 'inspiration', or 'clones', but that our intuitions, nay, stereotypes, about RW cultures are a valuable means of conveying understanding. This is what (say) Tekumel largely dispenses with.

> The myths of Glorantha are astoundingly good because they use elements we know
> (the Sun deity has a Bow and a Harp, for instance), but are not just rippoffs
> from earth myths.
>
> Should we not try to do the same when we describe the cultures of Glorantha?

Exactly. We should use elements we know in a way that makes intuitive sense, not play mix and match just to avoid being 'predictable'. (Which in this case, seems to involve being gratuitously different for the sake of being different.)

Cheers,
Alex.


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