> Ceremony, both, neither. Hero Wars works the other way around - We
> know that in myth, peacekeepers covered weapons with rugs to
> prevent bloodshed, so now we know why Ernaldans throw rugs over
> fueding Orlanthi's swords to defuse a brawl...
OK I thought a bit more about what the problem that I have with this is, exactly. It is that moral relativism at a personal and a metaphysical level both exist within glorantha. When we discuss the behaviour associated with cults, we are indeed careful to qualify them by indicating that any given individual need not adhere to them rigidly - else, spirits of reprisal would not exist.
Firstly, we know that institutions - perhaps more so in the case of the empire, who knows - can behave in manners we think of as hypocritical. So, knowing the myth of an institution or devotee does not necessarily tell you that much about their behaviour, although it does inform your ballpark.
Secondly, we know that gods change, die, get replaced, co-opted, corrupted, that people rewrite myths through heroquesting etc etc, and thus it comes about that there are so many Arkats and Gbaji's variations of other shared deities. So it is not even the case that there is one moral or precedural truth which necessarily remains consistent or persistent with any given god. There may, or there may not.
If neither the gods nor their worshippers are constant, if both are subject to variation and foible, what reason exactly do we have to assume that because peacemakers throw blankets over swords in myth they do so in reality? Knowing the content of myth does not, apparently, grant the ability to predict actual behaviour. Knowing the myth tells you only what the people who believe the myth thought peacemakers did in myth; that does not necessarily suggest that they also believe that is an appropriate behaviour in the real world with real swords and blankets. That is a separate data point and must stand on its own right as plausible or not; not having seen the text in question I cannot say. But that describes my problem with the process of using myth for deducing actual behaviour.
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