>Ok, but the gods aren't stupid... they must know there are
>other deities around. Nonetheless, what I am hearing is
>that the gods each live in their own plane of existence and
>don't really have a mechanism for communicating across those
>planes, yes?
The gods (well, most of them) exist in the physical world too, Orland is in that storm on the mountains over there! The problem is that us humans can't interact at a human level with the gods in the material world. I can interact with Oralnth's thunder, his lightning and his rain in the physical world, but I can't experience him mythicaly in the material world.
In some FRPGs gods are depicted as these people who hang out in the higher planes ofg existence and use their divine powers to make thingts happen on the material plane, a god of thunder makes storms happen using his storm powers, for example.
In Glorantha this simply isn't so. Orlanth doesn't make storms happen - he is the storm. The winds are his body, the clouds are his cloak and the thunder is his voice. If anything, it's the human form you meet on the otherworld that's a magical projection.
>> But as I understand it, no gods who participated in the
>>Great Compromise will do this (since this would require
>>the gods to change)... but perhaps chaos gods still do
>>this?
>
>Wait, could they still do this? Or would it break the
>Compromise?
The Compromise is a human explanation for the distinction between myth and reality. It's real inthat it describes a real effect - the gods can't act in the world in the same way that they can in myth. Note that the Lunars do not believe in the Compormnise - it's just not part of their theology. They have different beliefs about their gods and myths, and their gods can apparently manifest in the world. Their belifs define what is a god and what is a mortal in a different way to the Orlanthi, and so their magic is different.
>> Take a good look at much of the supposedly sentient
>> human race, and be very depressed.
>
>Heh, yeah, but we can assume the gods are better than
>that... or maybe not, given that Gloranthan gods seem
>to have every human fallibility, and then some.
The idea that the god(s) should conform to some ideal moral code is rooted in our monotheistic cultural heritage. Christians worship a god of universal love and peace (despite much historical evidence to the contrary), but the Orlanthi worship Storm. They see that the storms that dominate their lives rage and are destructive, but always subside and the rains they bring give life, so their god is violent and dangerous, but also loving and willing to constrain his actions within certain limits. Their morality is very practical and direct.
>>They can only react to unusual change (i.e. that
>>not decreed by the Compromise - such as the Sun rising
>>and setting) and not initiate it.
>
>And how can they react?
That depends on the nature of the god. How do you think storms would react if the sun failed to rise? Humans in glorantha can't rely on their gods to fix everything for them. That's why heroquesters go on heroquests, and why the greatest cultural champions can make such huge changes to their cultures and religions. Humans can use myth and the magic from their religions to help themselves and their people, but they can't always rely on the gods to act in their best interests.
...
>
>Well, forgive me for being OOC for a sec, but given we are
>talking about an invented mythology here, and everyone
>involved in the creation is still alive, there should be
>some clear answers available. Unless no one knows and it is
>all just a bunch of technobable (or in this case
>mythobable)
If you were to ask a Hindu priest what the true nature of the Hindu gods is, and exactly what they can and can't do, and what the exact relationship is between Brahma and this god and that god, etc, etc he'd probably have to say that such details are beyond the comprehension of mortals because the true nature of the gods transcends the limits of human conciousness. You'd get similar answers from priests of other religions. Jews don't expect to be able to comprehend the totality of god, etc.
So it is in Glorantha. After all, why would you expect religious theology in Glorantha to be any less complex and mystical than it is in our world?
..
>As many point out, time doesn't happen for them, and
>'all day' has little meaning - yes, I realize, I was
>just being anthropomorphistic, which is reasonable given
>how 'human' these gods are.
But they aren't human by a log, long way. They can present a human appearance, and some of their behaviour corresponds to human behaviour, and this correspondence is magicaly significant, but that doesn't make them human.
Simon Hibbs
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End of Glorantha Digest
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