> > If the myths aren't recordings of events from God-time, what are
>they?
>
>They're explanations of why the world is the way it is. Yelm didn't
>just die in the past, he dies every day at sunset.
That's a given. But creation myths (for instance) have a distinct
historical element, so I think that's only one element. Equally
important
are myths that say "things are like this, because this happened
before."
>Heroquests are
>interactions with the world we live in at a mythic level. They appear
>to be like history because there's a history to the development,
>exploration and discovery of myth, but the mythic world itself is
>truly timeless.
Agreed - questers enter a timeless world, which can be mapped in
terms of
events rather than places or times. Journeying through the heroplane
consists of following a story - this event, leads to this event, this
choice, then that event or that one.
>It's a recording in the sense that the events are described in
>myths, and are the same/similar for all questers. (Lets leave
>aside those who carve new paths for the moment...) I think that
>the Orlanthi (and many others!) would view those myths as forming
>a true history, Godlearners as maps of the mythic realm.
It's a record in the sense that a descriptionin a book is a record, but in a heroquest you interact with those forces directly, now. I'm convinced that the historical component of myth is imposed by mortals due to the fact that myth, or at least mortal understanding of it, evolves through historical time. So we have the history of the poeple and a record of their experiences in myth and these get fused together.
>Personally, I suspect the difference is largely irrelevant.
>It's also a given that those questing from different historical
>periods can interact within the heroplanes at appropriate stations.
I think that where this is true, it's because you're interacting with the consequences of those past hero's effect on the world. A great Troll hero may have made the Troll people of Dagori Inkarth stronger, and effect that persists to this day. If you quest against them, you may have to overcome the increased power of the trolls, which manifests itself in the form of this hero from long ago. The quester, the questor's deeds, and their long term effects become blurred together at the metaphysical level - we are our actions, and the consequences of what we do define who we are in this sense.
>I would like to go back to the denizen question - does the
>heroplane itself actually have inhabitants? Does that even
>make sense? Or are all beings encountered drawn from the mundane
>world?
The hero plane is our world, but experienced through an altered state of conciousness. The distinction between a person, their ideals, their intentions, fears, etc are percieved in a different way. For example whe you fight Zorak Zoran in myth you are fighting Hate because that's what Zorak Zoran is. You could be fighting the Hate of your enemies, or the 'Hate' of darkness for light, or even your own* Hate of something depending on the mythic context. The hate you are fighting exists in the world, but while in the material world you can't (normaly) interact with it as a personalised entity, but in a Heroquest you can.
Simon Hibbs
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