Not really. I don't think the Lightbringer's Quest is really *for* anything -- it's a sequence of mythical events that can be repeated. It has the apparent effect of bringing someone back from where ever, but I think it's real *purpose*, as far as it can be said to have one, is the reaffirmation of the Compromise and the creation of the modern world. Arkat, Sheng, et al are "merely" the byproduct (or the method) of the reaffirmation. I think this is true of all heroquests (except maybe the exploitive, experimental ones) -- you might do the "Hedkoranth Slays the Mountain Kings" heroquest because you want the cool feat Bash Mountains, or the affinity Mountain Fighting, or to make peace with a mountain clan, or whatever, but the purpose of the quest is to retell Hedkoranth's story and support him in the process. Your cool power is just a side benefit.
Second, I am not sure a quest designed to end the Darkness would benefit Darkness at all -- sure, Chaos wrecked everything, but before that the Uz were well on their way to making the Surface World the nice place that Hell had been before Yelm dropped in.
Anyway, the LBQ can't be the *only* way to bring heroes back from the dead -- for one thing, it's a Theist (and largely Orlanthi) take on the events. I'm sure that Malkioni or Kralori questers would have a very different approach to the problem. Even theists relatively "meshable" with the LBQ would likely choose a different myth -- a Solar heroquester should focus on the death and dismemberment of Yelm, the sorrow of his loss, and the way his Justice eventually dragged the Rebel Gods to Hell to atone for their sins and restore the world.
> > Surely there would be a Darkness approach to the problem -- journey
>into
> > Subere's darkest hells for information and aid, damage the gods who
>damaged
> > Darkness, prevent the ceremonies that keep that big sword in that
>dead
> > monster of the OOO, etc.
>
>Quite possibly true - but then why would the AA faction want to get a
>bunch of hoomans involved? I was trying to come up with a suggestion
>in which the trolls would see the use of human involvement - in this
>case there is a human heroquest with a proven track record of working
>that they would surely know about (trolls are unlikely to forget
>Arkat after all).
But the Uz experience of Arkat comes a bit after he returned from Hell, and his "conversion" to Darkness came as a rude betrayal to his Lightbringer-oriented allies (picking Light to oppose Nysalor was maybe not the swiftest move Harmast ever made, after all). They may not have a really clear idea of his origins, or consider that he "began" with his rebirth as an Uz. AA has a significant human (or, at least, non-Uz) component, being the God of Surface Darkness and all -- my thought is maybe that human AA cultists are trying to bring the OOO back as a human link to Darkness; that might hurt Kygor Litor and help AA. Which ties in better with your first approach; retelling the life of AA and OOO but replacing the Uz elements with human ones -- sort of an Uz-ecotomy of the myth. Get rid of the Pharaoh but don't let the Uz bosses back in either.
>The other option I mentioned (birthing a new OOO) would probably need
>human intermediaries to Esrola for the wooing as Esrola's support
>within the world is primarily human.
Fair enough.
Peter Larsen
Powered by hypermail