>From: "John Hughes" <nysalor_at_primus.com.au>
>I suspect that Heortlings do recognise some myths as 'made-up' - some
>trickster tales for instance - but we haven't explored this or named the
>tales so told. Surely they tell tales of the gods visiting them as poor
>strangers, even though they know that under the Great Compromise this cannot
>be so. They must make up stories and creatures to explain their foibles,
>fears, and failings. They must have fictions.
I'm not sure people in Glorantha distingush clearly between fiction and myth. Similarly there is an overlap between the god plane and the physical world. So when the stickpicker catches the eye of the thane's daughter his and her actions reflect the behaviour expected of their gods. If he succeeds is winning her he is Orlanth triumphant, if he fails there is another god who was rejected by Ernalda. So his story becomes part of and reinforces one myth or another. Even if someone makes up a complete fiction and that story is repeated, maybe for generations, people will assume that's what the god did and start to emulate it creating a new myth.
For the average person this happens on a subconsious level, they act in accordance with a role which happens to match a particular myth. A hero is different, they have sufficent understanding of the hero plane and their god to deliberately follow complex paths and influence the outcome. A few even reach the stage of being able to deliberately create or change myths to achieve their goals. This is generally disapproved of not only because of the danger of lethal mistakes but also because of unexpected side effects.
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