> >Fact is that the greatness of gods has changed before, and will again.
>
> But not through the actions of ordinary mortals or communities -
> Arachne Solara usually gets the blame for changing gods. I am
> extremely dubious that an army of heroquesters could change the
> gods and note that all previous attempts to do so have been
> failures.
I disagree very strongly with this. The name of the game is Hero Wars, and it's about ordinary mortals becoming Heroes and changing the cosmos through their actions. In fact, last time we were discussing divine mutability, Greg denied that the gods can change on their own, and hinted quite strongly that the action of mortal Heroes is the _only_ thing that can change them.
In fact, it's a Gloranthan truism that only mortal, mixed, Inner World beings have the power to change, and that it is precisely this that the gods want from mortals. Mortals provide the gods with this power (which used to be called Will in old drafts of HQ) through worship and heroquesting, and gods give magic to the mortals, in exchange.
The 7 Mothers, Arkat, the White Moonies, the God Project & Sunstop, Hantrafal, and Lokamayadon and his struggle against Kyger Litor all spring to mind as examples of Heroes and/or communities Changing the World and its gods (or attempting to). There are also many HW plots and projects that are geared to accomplish similar designs. The Lunar Empire's struggle against Orlanth for another example.
> For the Lunars to control Orlanth would
> require them to dominate Orlanth on the Great Gods plane, rather
> than wrest a mere subcult away from him.
Are the Lunars an exception to your statement that the actions of ordinary mortals or communities cannot cause such changes ?
> >Now the question arises if one culture's subcult rune can be another
> >culture's main rune for a deity, or whether these deities can be
> >considered identical for practical reasons.
>
> No, I don't think subcults can be morphed into aspects. One can
> worship a god as a subcult (like Redayla for Elmal or Rigsdal
> for a number of gods). But one can't turn Vanorlanth (or other
> subcult manifestations of Orlanth) into an aspect of him.
Why not ? I'm not saying that it would be an easy task ; Ernalda was once a mere handmaiden in the house of Yelm, but now she has a Queen Aspect. Clearly, new Aspects _can_ come into existence (but only through the action of mortals and their societies), and it seems clear that if a relevant subcult already exists that this would be a very good basis for such.
Julian Lord
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