P> This isn't how glorantha works - belief and P> heroquests do not make reality. P> J>Huh? J> J>This does not fit my understanding of the situation, J>to put it mildly. HQs do, very much, define reality. P> P>They don't. If you want a exposition why, ask on the P>digest.
I was fairly sure that I'd heard or read Greg saying things that supported Jane's point of view, so I did a quick search and came up with
http://glorantha.temppeli.org/digest/gd8/2001.04/2547.html
where, as befitting a trickster, he manages to seem to support both sides
GS> The "belief makes it so" theory doesn't apply. It doesn't work.
So in terms of the "Is Inora a God or a Spirit" argument, Greg is suggesting that whatever she is, she is regardless of what any potential worshippers might want her to be. Although not talking about this case, he goes on to say
GS>Nonetheless, I am sure that people in Glorantha do believe that they are GS>the same and they probably make sacrifices [...] GS>They get, in return, Feats as always. GS>They don't know they are paying "double Hero Points" of course, for this GS>misapplied worship. They carry on the magic of their ancestors, of or GS>whoever started this cult.
Although I think many people feel that "missaplied worship" may represent some sort of "Gloranthan reality" it is not something particularly useful when applied to Player Characters - after all, they are either all from a culture who are misapplyinmg their worship, in which case, relatively they are all equal, so why impose the penalty unless you wish to de-emphasize magic, or you have one or two characters who are choosing to do so, in which case it seems unfair to impose this additional mechanical penalty on them for picking a particular character concept.
However he end up by saying
GS>FINALLY, the upcoming Hero Wars are going to contain EXACTLY this sort of GS>argument carried to the mythic extreme. The game mechanic of the Heroquest GS>Challenge in which people can pit a portion of themselves against a part of GS>someone else. The loser loses all their ability in whatever they bet. As GS>the Hero Wars progress this very personal challenge will be opened up to GS>allow a group against an individual, then groups against groups, then GS>larger groups against larger ones until you can have, in your campaign, GS>half the world fully backing one party or the other in a contest of cosmic GS>beliefs. Say, Argrath and the Orlanthi Way versus Sedenya and the Lunar Way. GS>The point of this is that you will be able, in your own campaign, to decide GS>whether or not Orlanth = Shargash.
or Inora = White princess, or Yelmalio = Elmal etc
So one can, or will be able to use Heroquesting to prove your reality.
Generally I don't think that people typically Heroquest to *prove* their version of reality, but merely by the fact that they are doing quests they believe in, they will tend to reinforce their version of reality, and (within Glorantha) the only way to prove whether or not two entities are "the same" would be to perform some sort of Heroquest to prove it (Gloranthans can't look to see if their worship is misapplied since they don't know the numbers...)
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