[after providing a number of definitions for Great Gods]
>This thread seems to me to turn on a stronger proposition (which I've
>not seen stated explicitly as such, but which seem to be lurking behind
>much of the heat therein): which is that the such definitions are
>_always_ equivalent in extension in Glorantha (or that some of the
>senses aren't really valid, but that the remainder are indeed equivalent).
I don't believe that the definitions are _always_ equivalent but that a few gods are recognizably Great and that the definitions that we have are imperfect (to some extent or another) ways of delineating their greatness from hoi theoi.
Complicating this is that the assumption of a Great God for every rune is known to be broken in a few cases. Truth has no associated Great God (as Dayzatar is no longer a god), whether Eurmal holds Illusion or Disorder is probably unknowable and so forth.
>That, I think, would be to overstate thing. Mastakos is cited
>as the Movement owner, but seems unlikely to qualify under any
>of the others.
We simply do not know Mastakos's worship in other areas (i.e. the Merfolk) nor do we know the precise relationship between him and crippled Larnste. That he manifests as a subcult of Orlanth in Heortling society is known but we do not know if he manifests aspects elsewhere. Hence I'll suspend judgement on whether he qualifies under any other criteria or not.
>Humakt also seems "iffy" to me on some of them, though this
>one is obfuscated by various appeals to some sort of "Great Humakt"
>of which the Heortling deity is just a cultural perspective.
I don't recall calling Humakt a cultural perspective and I do recall asking just what was so Heortling about Humakt. That the Carmanians worship Humakt is known (cf Glorantha:Intro p121). What was speculated was whether Humakt had other aspects among the Carmanians (another possibility is that the Heortlings worship Humakt with a 'fused' aspect). Secondly Great Humakt is no more redundant that the usage of Great Orlanth etc mentioned in Thunder Rebels.
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