Re: Re: Greetings and Felicitations

From: donald_at_...
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 23:52:17 GMT


>(Hell, I can barely tell if all the cultures even believe in a God
>time and Great Darkness -- it seems that the Malkioni shouldn't, at
>first glance.)

They do but their view of it is substantially different. I'm not familiar enough with the details to describe it properly.

>But what I miss is the idea that since history started, there have
>been a skeleton of actual events. The reason, meaning, motivation,
>detail of the events may change by interpretation in voice, but
>certain things HAVE happened. But even that is hard to ever find.
>
>Thus the Moonson question. Moonson IS, there's a Red Emporer, and
>certain facts are known. Now, that the REAL story behind those facts
>and what they mean (he's there, he dies and ressurects, he no longer
>always looks the same, he throws huge decadent parties) is completely
>different to someone in the Empire, or the court, or different cults,
>let alone people outside the Emporer, is fine. Great, even, it lets
>you play. But it's that touchstone skeleton of actual events that is
>so frustrating when you can't find it.

This is because history and myth are intermingled in Glorantha, even more than they are in the real world. At one extreme you have:

     The official version - that the Red Emperor is one person who has 
     lived since the Goddess placed him on the throne and if his body
     is killed reincarnates even though his behavior and policies may
     different.
At the other:
     The cynics version - that the Red Emperor is a position filled
     by whoever comes out on top in a power struggle following the
     death of his predecessor.

One of those, or something in between is the truth and no one in Glorantha knows in an objective way although many believe in one version or another. They may even be able to prove their point of view by heroquesting.

It's just the same as trying to find out the background to leaders in the real world, all sorts of stories get told about them. Some are true, some are false and most selected to present a particular point of view.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/

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