Re: Sun Domers, Aggar and Tarsh

From: mdoolitt_at_...
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:57:14 -0000

Mark,

Good post. I think we're basically in sync, though I'm not as anti-  as you. I do have one caveat:

>
> But the use of the spear and phalanx is not just a 'this works for
us
> here and now' situational decision, it is a central part of their
> mythic rationale and religious tradition. I think that this is easy
> to forget - in the Real World, if the US Army decided it made sense
> to equip all its troops with Kalashnikovs, that might cause
> grumbling, practical problems, etc, but it is essentially a
> functional choice. The odds that US soldiers would start drinking
> vodka, reading Pushkin or voting Communist as a result would be
> pretty slim. In Glorantha, though, there is a direct link between a
> society's mode of organisation, its language, its artefacts, and
its
> religious faith.

But the NB does make the point that you can HQ to change myth, with the ultimate goal of making changes in the here-and-now. To use your example, if Gen. Scwarzkopf hero-quested to give everyone Kalashnikovs, they _really would_ start drinking vodka and reading Pushkin. Isn't Alakoring Dragonbreaker (sp?) a perfect Gloranthan example of this process?

Good gaming
Mike D

>
> OK, I'll get off my soapbox now ;-)
>
> A final point, there will be powerful and effective Yelmalians, the
> sort who can and do go to the Hill of Gold alone. But if we are
> talking about modes of social organisation and war-fighting
> techniques of the society *as a whole*, Yelmalians are much more
> geared to large-unit, organised and hiererchical methods than, say,
> Elmal who is a recogniseably Orlanthi deity (ie individualist).
>
> But all this is, of course, just IMO.
>
> All the best
>
> Mark