My personal response to Gareth Martin's posts about signs, symbols,
stereotypes and sexism:
- The very short answer: Glorantha is bigger than that.
- 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.
- 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.
- The long answer: we need a pub and three hours.
- 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.
- Frederick Turner, on the exploration of the New World.