Aaah : I'll just double post, and let others deal with the consequences thereof ..
Simon :
> The main point I was trying to get across, but didn't perhaps put
> very succinctly, is that if there is any confederation it is between
> the cults - the human social organisations that worship deities -
> not between the deities themselves (except of course in the case of
> deities with a common mythology).
I don't believe that it's worthwhile to segregate the mesocosmic (social) and the macrocosmic (mythic - magic - philosophic) 'levels' of Glorantha in Hero Wars.
I personally believe that the 'Pavis pantheon' idea is a good one : but it should be well thunk out.
There are three levels, probably :
Remnants of Genert's pantheon ?
Secret draconic societies ?
Myths and Magics of Pavis, the experimental HeroQuestor ?
(possibly, he HeroQuested to meet Genert, and re-created an Enclosure of Genert's Garden within the City Walls ?)
Cults imported by Pavis ?
Earth Goddess of the Old City/Wife of Pavis/Daughter of Genert ?
etc ...
Mostly, how did Pavis turn these elements into a society and a religion ?
(Unquestionably IMO he did, and there *is* an archaic - currently moribund - Pavis pantheon ... )
2) New Pavisites : hardly coherent enough for pantheonhood : rather a heteroclite collision of mismatched beliefs.
3) Lunar Pavisites : theistic, and attempting to integrate 1) into their own celestial and inclusive pantheon. This is of course an attractive proposition for the conservative believers in 1) who loathe the various newcomers of 2). But do they hate them *more* or *less* than the Lunars ... ? :-)
> If I were an Orlanth priest in
> Pavis I would _never_ say that Orlanth had accepted the rule of
> Pavis, but I might personaly accept the local authority of the
> Pavis cult on Orlanth's behalf.
I think that it's probably more complex ...
> I don't see that describing the gods in that region chummying along
> with each other is a helpfull one. On what level is a confederation
> between the deities themselves meaningfull? If there is no
> myth for it, then I don't think it realy means anything. Unless you
> can point to a specific myth where Orlanth deferd to Pavis (bearing
> in mind Pavis was deified in historical times), then I don't think
> you can say Orlanth has entered into a confederation with him.
The Pavic Orlanth cult(s) might be very different to the mainstream Heortling cult of the Storm god.
> Some people in Glorantha might describe the situation in the way
> you do, but making it an objective rules-level fact is something
> else.
I disagree.
> What is actualy happening is that a number of cultures share a
> geographic relationship with each other and have reached a
> political (and perhaps even magical) status quo. Why not simply
> describe it as that?
Because it is Hero Wars, instead of Heroic Statu Quo ?
(whooops : bordering on the aggressive ; no offense, Si ... )
cheers,
Julian Lord
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