I would say more difficult, but I'd like to think that one would appear in a corresponding area in the God World, that corresponds to *how your mythology views it.* For example, say an Orlanth Adventurous warband dedicated to the Destor the Explorer subcult (I got Thunder Rebels, yeah!) is stranded on an island with no way home, but their Godi has his cart. They decided to try to make their way across the quavering realms of myth. If they cross over on said Island, they'll appear in the local mythic geography of the Island, but they'll appear as Orlanth and his warband, with roles chosen as part of their crossing over ceremony. They may either land smack in the middle of some freaky, unremembered mythic event about the adventures of young Orlanth and his companions in Vithela, or be creating their own new myth - essentially, experimental Heroquesting - very dangerous and very profitable. Perhaps Orlanth is taught a lesson by Vith on his way to Daliath's well of Wisdom. Mucking about with Myth like this can have horrible effects on the Hero and his or her community, or can lead to stupendous discoveries. I'm sure that Arkat, Harmast, Sartar, Argrath and Sheng did this quite a few times. The most stupendous success of this is most likely the creation of the Red Goddess, a composite being which incorporates mythic entities from many cultures (The God Learners would have been proud!)
> > One of Arkats great triumphs, which was later exploited
> > by the God Learners, was making use of local
> > myth and learning how to navigate it. I'm sure with his
> > mystical Illumination ability of "Impersonate God"
> > or "Impersonate Hero", he could take whatever
> > mythic role was needed, sally forth into the Hero Plane,
> > take the role of Orlanth or Zorak Zoran or whatever and
> > complete their quests and gain their powers.
>
> Absolutely, and the more foreign the culture/mythology
> (Orlanthi-Vithelan), the more difficult and dangerous
> it is.
Yup, and the more impressive the results. Imagine the Orlanth priest who dispels Lunar Magic with a mystic counter? "The Wise Man of the Islands taught me the secret of the 8th Silence Wind!"
> Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:56:08 +0100
> From: Nils Weinander <nils_w_at_yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Arkat & Godlearners of Chris Bell
>
> Terra Incognita:
> >
> > Maybe you cannot be in the same "Orlanthi" in the such circumstance, you
may
> > need to change your worship to more suitable style in such a distant
place
> > from your homeland. You know, Orlanthi lives in Fronela, Ralios,
Maniria,
> > and distant Umathela. But all of them don't perceive "Great Mountain of
> > Mother" as Kero Fin or Top of World. You may need similar focus to
Arkati or
> > Godlearners....for Greater Perspective (and faithless) Shape of Worship
from
> > Native Kero Fin to Now lost Spike, true Center of World for Building
Temple
> > of Orlanthi in East Isles. (Or remove to more suitable eastern Wind
Gods.)
>
> That last part indicates a problem both with building
> an Orlanthi temple in the East Isles and with travelling
> from Orlanth's realm in the Otherworld to Vith's realm:
> in the East Isles/Vith's realm, Orlanth is not known as
> Orlanth, the king of the gods, but as Serakaru, the nasty
> typhoon antigod.
I don't think that Gloranthan mythology is that objective. Orlanth
worship is known world wide in Glorantha - he's worshipped not only
across Genertela, but also in Jrustela and Pamaltela (Umathela and other
nations, although not nearly as dominantly as in Genertela.) The
boast of the Lunars that they've chained Orlanth is a flat out lie -
while the conflict in Dragon Pass is important and perhaps mythically
crucial, the Lunar Empire poses no direct threat to the Orlanth populations
in Ralios
or Umathela (yet.) I suppose it's more for the control of *Dragon Pass* and
the mythically important Kero Fin that the struggle in Sartar is so vital.
The Red Moon is intent on devouring the heart of Old King Storm.
That said, if, say, a group of Orlanthi colonists were to migrate to the
East Isles,
they would take their Lightrbringer mythology with them, but as generations
would pass their mythology would change somewhat to adapt to the myths of
the
peoples around them. Serakaru would either maintain his own identity in the
myths of the expatriates, being seen as a child of Magasta and Brastalos, or
perhaps be seen as a cognate of Vadrus. In the course of heroquesting
and worship, the core Lightbringer myths would be seen with local eyes.
Local Orlanthi would no doubt also honor the local gods and myths, while
continuing to
honor Orlanth as King of the Gods and ruler of the world. Probably a new
cycle of local
myths would emerge that detail Orlanth's adventures in the east isles,
including many
battles with local sea deities. Perhaps certain islands would take on the
worship of one
Thunder Brother - welcome to Vinga Isle! Orlanthi seem prone to honor the
local
gods and spirits as well as the Storm Pantheon, as witnessed by the
immigrants to
Prax, who also give a certain amount of worship to deities like Pavis and
Zola Fel.
The Yelmalions have proven that it is possible to worship a foreign pantheon
in
an area and thrive.
Of course, this doesn't mean that native to the area have to acknowledge
the mythology of the new settlers at all. As the Praxian nomads regard
Yelmalio as a foreign interloper spirit, and call Orlanth "Little Brother"
to
the mighty Storm Bull, I'm sure that native East Islanders would regard the
Storm Gods as merely foreign interloper gods (or perhaps new friends.)
But they wouldn't change their own myths to accomodate them, but may find
explanations for the new deities in their own myths.
Chris Bell
argrath_at_agoron.com
coridan_at_shai-net.com
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