Underworld.

Julian:
> Basically it's from our knowledge that the Underworld has a link to
> Ultimate Reality.

Greg was very vague about that, I thought. I can't remember what he said, though I do recall him being asked, and I do recall thinking "hrm, that was a not entirely certain-sounding response".

> The Black Age is pure in itself : a remnant of pure pre-Blue Age
> Glorantha, lnked to Ultimate Being, uncorrupted by subsequent
> upheavals (but not previous ones) ;

This sounds to me to be _in effect_ an analogue of the Green Age, then. (i.e., it's the uz "version", or understanding of the "creation is on-going, things aren't yet meaningfully differentiated" part of myth). I don't know if it would be meaningful to say it was a "part of" the Green Age, or "parallel to" it...

(I know that the sequence of creation is, in strictly elemental terms, Black -> Blue -> Green, but I very much doubt those correspond to distinct "Heroplanes", each. (Though I don't know that Greg has even been specific as to whether there are a discrete number of HeroPlanes... Or even if they are arranged linearly... argh...))

In any event, it sounds far from "pure", since by your construction, it's a Hero Plane ("Mythic Age" type...), and thus mixed; and as (one of) the very earliest one(s), it "predates" the 4-fold separation, and is thus by that logic also "mixed"...

> in its deepest place, this is Glorantha
> at the exact moment that it came into existance, and is thus
> "transcendental" Reality, in all senses of the t-word.

I can see why you'd say this, because there's nothing "before" the Black Age (let's dodge the issue of there being things "before" the Green Age as such...). But things like the Wonderhome myth are obviously very "late" after First Creation, by that measure; the actual 'moment' of Creation is something only the mystics would dwell on over-much, and them not in the least lucidly to any non-mystic.

> Similarly, the pure
> Chaos areas of the Underworld are directly linked to Ultimate Reality,
> although I think that it would be a contradiction in definitions to call
> this state of being an "otherworld".

I think I'd need to see nailed-down definitions of all the above terms before I'd be drawn into agreeing or disagreeing with either of the above propositions...

> Is the Black Age an Otherworld ?

> I've no idea ...

By your own logic, it would not.

> Any clearer ?

Good deal clearer and more concise than your other message in that Digest. <g> (I think the "HPG" billing of those sets my teeth on edge, and then the contents just exacerbate the situation...)

Cheers,
Alex.

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