Lhankor Mhy and literacy

From: David Cake <dave_at_difference.com.au>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 01:28:05 +0800

Greg wrote
> >Only if literacy is the norm in the culture, which I doubt is the case
>Reading and writing is MUCH MUCH more rare in Glorantha than among
>us. Among the Heortlings it is the sole provence of the Lhankor Mhy
>cult, who tend to mistrust anyone else (even among Heortlings) who
>has acquired the skill. That is, they do NOT teach it to anyone else.

        Are other lawspeakers (such as Heort cultists?) literate, or are they all purely oral in their learnings? I tend to think that they are also literate - if nothing else, they would want to compete with the Lhankor Mhy lawspeakers by also being able to learn from ancient precedents and such, so it would at least be a common skill.

        Also, I would presume that the Issaries cult teaches at least minimal Tradetalk literacy, enough for simple record keeping and contracts. Of course, many Issaries cultists might travel far enough afield to pick up other languages as well.

Roderick wrote
>Note that literacy in Glorantha won't be that useful for the "average
>person" - there are no street signs or menus, no popular fiction, no
>newspapers, no libraries.

        I think that some areas might be moving towards some of these things among their literate classes, such as the upper echelons of Glamour (filled with religious functionaries and bureaucrats), or among the Kralorelan mandarins. They probably maintain libraries for state purposes, and probably even get a bit close to popular fiction with circulation of scripts of plays, or histories of a slightly sordid and juicy nature. But I don't think there is any area of Glorantha where literacy extends much beyond a particular restricted educated class. Its just there may be some areas where that caste is quite concentrated.

	Cheers
		David

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