So Give Us A Cult!

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_...>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:03:29 +1100


My personal response to Gareth Martin's posts about signs, symbols, stereotypes and sexism:
  1. The very short answer: Glorantha is bigger than that.
  2. The short answer: any symbol is multivalent. You can't limit it to a single interpretation. Taking 'negative' or 'stereotyped' symbols and inverting, subverting or re-empowering them into new forms is a very common strategy among all sorts of groups.
  3. A practical answer. HW is a commercial product. To survive it must appeal to a wide customer base: from twelve year old nieces to old geezer shaman types, schoolkids, professionals... you name it. Glorantha has a history of taking very common 'stereotyped' ideas and symbols - even DnDisms - and morphing them into something strange, new and unique. It begins with the familiar and leads you into something unique, and its something it does very well. Trolls are just trolls. Cept they're Uz. The TOTRM Lunar Empire begins with genre stereotypes and produces subtle philosphies and marvellous insights. There are dozens of examples like this. There are few fixed points of reference in Glorantha, little that is black or white: viewpoints and values contend and clash.
  4. The long answer: we need a pub and three hours.
  5. Another way: Write up a Cult.

Perhaps the best solution, and the one most pertinent to this list, would be for you to write up a cult description (Thunder Brother or otherwise) that you think frees itself from all the 'problems' you see in Vinga and other writeups. 'Paglia the LightningTongued', anyone? I for one would be very interested to see it. I don't believe the Issaries cult writeups are intended to limit our creativity. They're there to free it.

John



nysalor_at_... John Hughes

Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology there. As it was, they took inventory.

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