more Great Gods

From: simonh_at_msi-uk.com
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 14:01:10 -0000


Peter Larsen :

> ....(And that "great god" means something
more
>cultural, but we've pretty much run that one into the dirt.) So
Orlanth is
>the Biggest Storm, not the Only Storm, Yelm is the Biggest Sun, not
the
>Only Sun. Chalana Arroy is the Biggest Healer, not the Only Healer,
and so
>on.

The point is that Orlanth's storm powers and secrets of storm will trump those of any other god from any other culture. If the Orlanthi were to come across another storm worshiping culture who's god could match Orlanth in stom-ness, then the Orlanthi would have to conclude that this god is also actualy a manifestation of Orlanth. The same goes for Yelm, as (I think Alex?) pointed out, vis a vis Somash.

There is plenty of historical precedent for this. The Egyptians and Greeks had great mutual respect for each other in antiquity and in some cases recognised their gods as being different manifestations of their own deities. To them it would make no sense to say that one high god of the Sun is different from another high god of the sun from another culture. There is only one Sun, and it shines on everyone.

Peter Larsen :

Humakt isn't a Pelorian god, so the Pelorians do not worship death through him or his cult. Humakt is IIRC associated with bats, who show up in his myths as allies or helpers in the same way as they do for Odin. No pelorian death cults have greater death magic and know more secrets of death than the Humakti.

> OK, and I'll buy this, too, but, if you acknowledge a god of
death,
>and that god has none of the qualities that otherwise distinguish
Humakt
>(ie. he's a warrior, he stands for truth in some way, he's
coonnected to
>swords specially) what is the relationship with Humakt the God
worshipped
>by the Orlanthi that is distinguished less by being Death and more
about
>being a warrior, being truthful, and having a thing for swords?

I would deny absolutely that Humakti are distinguished more by these things than by their worship of death. Can you offer any justification for this? The Humakt writeup on www.glorantha.com says this :

"Humakt is one of the most single-minded of deities. In recognition of this, the Rune most commonly associated with his worship is that of Death. The other Runic Power associated with the cult is Truth."

So Death is explicitly more important to Humakti than Truth. Swords are merely the favoured weapon of the Heortlings, so that's just cultural trappings. Do they deny that people killed by arrows are touched by Humakt? I thought not!

Humakt is also the god of executioners in his role as the gallows god, so hanging ropes are also associated with him, and not just swords. There's also no reason why an executioner must be a warrior. Just because _most_ Humakti are warriors and _most_ of them use swords, and this is the weapon most often associated with Humakt should not blind you to the wider nature and purpose of death, as it is recognised by the Heortlings as a whole culture. There are even aspects of Humakt worship that are outlawed due to their extreme anti-social effects, yet they are still recognised as part of Humakt's mysteries.

Simon Hibbs


End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #514


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