Lunar plans and Humakt

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 22:31:46 +1200


Peter Larsen:

>I'll repeat: if the Lunar plans are inherently unworkable, then
>it makes the life and death struggle in Dragon Pass sort of
>anticlimactic.

There are a number of objections to this statement.

  1. The Lunars do not actually want to replace Orlanth but keep him firmly yoked to the Yelm's Chariot (Glorantha: Intro p117). FS p68 states the Lunar Plans for Orlanth is "encompass this unruly spirit and, while still allowing it to live, would incorporate it within reasonable limits").
  2. If for the sake of argument, the Lunars have actually ditched their sanity and theirs moderate goals and instead vowed to expunge Orlanth from the Cosmos, then that only enhances the climatic life-and-death struggle. Because if they win, they'll destroy the Cosmos!

This won't make too much difference to a Sartarite campaign (since they'll believe this anyway) but it will have an added tension to a Lunar campaign. The Lunar heroes will discover that the Imperial Goals are being subverted into Orlanth's destruction by Barking Mad Supervillian (Tatius the Bright, King Moraides) and they find that the end result can only be cosmic destruction. Hence they must become countersubversives and twist the derailed Lunar plan into something that doesn't destroy the Cosmos.

> >Well, it follows naturally from "Humakt then showed the secrets
> >of his honor and justice [to his brother]..." so the idea that
> >Humakt's just standing there passively while his brother is
> >casting heal 6 repeatedly seems forced.

>Orlanth betrayed Humakt, misused death, and made a mess of the
>world.

And by killing him and showing him how to rise again, Humakt restored the world to rightness.

>If Orlanth had not seen the secrets of Humakt's honor and justice
>(or, from an Orlanthi viewpoint, if Orlanth had not proved to his
>ex-brother that he satisfied Humakt's tests of honor and justice),
>then Humakt would have been justified in not letting Orlanth pass.

Orlanth has already violated Humakt's tests of honor and justice when he first stole the sword. And not killing Orlanth would have only been worse because from the Humakti PoV, he could not be changed until he had been killed.

>Otherwise, you're writing a Humakti resurrection myth.

Which it is. Only Humakti are prohibited from being resurrected. Most of the time (a few loons notwithstanding), it's okay for other people.

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