Re: Ages in Glorantha

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 21:22:03 GMT


Ben Waggoner:
> So, does the 4th age have a descriptor?

The Post-Modern Age? (I'd have said "Modern", had Greg not swiped that for the 3rd, one imagines in desparation for anything else to say about it, theme-wise.)

> Or is the character of the fourth age supposed to be determined through
> play?

At least one throwaway comment (and at least one throwaway gesture), not to say some of KoS, might be held to indicate a "magic goes away" (or more precisely myth) sort of 4th age.

> A startling percentage of modern fantasy stories seem to take place at
> the cusp between 3rd and 4th ages. Some kind of "rule of threes" thing
> going on here?

Probably. Plus a large slice of homage to/ripoff from Tolkien. It's quite interesting that in Glorantha and Middle Earth the "first" age is defined very similarly: the (re)ascent of the sun, following the failure of previously operating illumination methods. Though the two worlds "get bent" at very different times (2nd age in Middle Earth, rumouredly 4th age in Glorantha).


Powered by hypermail