Re: Avarnia Myth

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_...>
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 12:52:21 -0500


Jeff Kyer says:

>Okay. I usually figure tht the weathering and all that are a part of
>mythological processes - the seas trying to wear the earth down and
>the sun warming the earth. All mythologically correct, of course! I
>bet you can get a good myth out of rain-shadows or micro-climates.
>
>I like a diverse and interconnected mytho-system. =)

        Maybe it's better to say that the "natural laws" have a fundamentally "magical" origin, but still operate "naturally" in that they don't require divine intervention every hour of every day to keep going.

> > stuff). It's kind of like the political and economic aspects of
>Glorantha
>> -- just because magic works, the gods are alive, and myth is
>everywhere
>> doesn't mean that economic and political forces aren't also at work
>- they
>> are just overridden or complicated from time to time.
>
>Or form the _basis_ for the economic and political forces. The gods,
>essences and spirits _ARE_ what they do, I think. Remember, when the
>God of Silver Feet was slain, communication between cultures stopped
>in the Loksalm. If one were to somehow destroy Orlanth, the natural
>processes which he IS ceased to function. When the Lunars suppressed
>him in the DP area, the winds _stopped_ - all of them.

        That's another way to look at it, surely. On the other hand. weather systems are global (lozengeal?), so, since they are the product of dozens of dozens of gods, spirits, essences, we can assume that there are some underlying natural rules that operate when some local force (or non-local force acting locally) is not acting on them. Accepting that Orlanth is the wind, there must be some sense of "passive Orlanth" (ie. what the winds do pretty much on schedule) and "active Orlanth" (ie when the winds are acting "out of character" whether under the influence of a magician of some sort or some wind force with a wild hair). Similarly, the "universal spirit of trade" which is Issaries and the localized versions (Etyries, Lokarnos, Argan Argar) must follow fairly standardized "rules of business and economics" when magic is not being used, or two non-trade initiates couldn't manage to bargain with each other. Or Joe Heortling Chief can make decisions and exercise leadership without resorting to Dar magics, even if, by doing so, he is worshipping Dar.

>"Greeps?" said the man at the bar, "You've never heard of Greeps?

        Um, OK....

Peter Larsen

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