EWF

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 22:52:26 +1300


Peter Larsen:

> I think the EWF was somewhat more complicated than this. The
>EWF (or, rather, what would eventually be called the EWF) started
>with some draconic revelations, probably best understood as mystic
>insights. While these insights were new to Orlanthi society, I
>suspect that there were plenty of draconic mystic/dragon worshipping
>groups in Dragon Pass.

I think the pre-EWF dragon worshipping groups were more propitiatory worship than anything else. There's no sign of human involvement in draconic mysteries before the EWF.

> By the end, the EWF consisted of many groups:

>I suspect that these "average Orlanthi" occasionally engaged
>in rituals designed to empower the mystic upper classes/government,
>but how this worked and how it would be described in a "4 worlds"
>way, I don't know.

Mystical entities can be worshipped (for example, see the Vithelan High Gods).

>2. The cynical mystic upper class -- these are the guys who are
>leading the EWF at the end.

I think it's too much to call them cynical. They probably had honest reasons for their actions, it's just that we only have a distorted picture of them through Ingolf's Saga.

>As
>far as I can tell, the EWF and Kralorela differ quite a lot, not
>least in their conception of what it means to "become a dragon."

I don't think they differ and whatever the flaws of the EWF, I like to think it was far more subtle than they interpreted "becoming a dragon" literally and the Kralori didn't. There were differences in style between the two.

>As far as I know, not of the
>emperors ever grew scales and tails, but they are all undoubtedly
>dragons.

When Daruda reenters the world:

         "When the small gods and antigods saw it, they perceived
         a great dragon descending into the world, full of splendor
         and beauty, whose sweet odor brought bounty, and whose
         gleaming brilliance dazzled life to spring from the most
         meager spot of luck."
                         Revealed Mythologies p83.

         He is usually depicted as a human with the head, tail, and
         wings of a dragon, carrying the imperial regalia.
                 http://www.glorantha.com/library/prosopaedia/d.html#daruda

End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #631


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