YGWV Peter did a great job of answering most of the questions. Thank you! I will reply, repeating many answers but doing so simply to cement them into place.
Quoting Paolo Guccione <p.guccione_at_W7snWqNOM_WMavRuhnhYwwchBGGcOyu1vjCGq3oAKR97Zs9UAnYxP35RKDmAL31_Cc3ctloIt_9_S-_nUgK8.yahoo.invalid>:
> Greg Stafford wrote:
>
>> One point here is that no one had really tried to change the myths or
>> the mythic landscape before the GL.
>
> What did Arkat do then? We know that he learned how to adapt theist
> heroquests to his personal goals, but here you are stating that he
> did not try to "change the myths". What is the difference in your
> opinion?
He did not make changes to the Otherworlds or to the Hero Plane/Godswar. He invented the way that people interacted with them/moved through them. But he did not substitute deities, alter results or create new events.
> And did not the First Council try to change the myths when it
> created Osentalka?
They weren?t changing the existing myths. They were creating a new event in the temporal world, yes. But they created the entire ritual, etc. to do so.
> We know that the sun stopped in the sky the moment he was born,
> i.e. the Great Compromise was temporarily suspended to allow the
> Bright One to enter Gloranthan reality. Isn't this to be considered
> a change in the myth?
No, it was a historical event. A violation of the Cosmic Compromise, yes. But a change in existing myths? No.
Quoting Peter Metcalf:
>> Arkat wandered around the landscape, looking for trouble. The
>> God Learners made permanent changes to the mythic landscape.
>
Quoting Paolo Guccione <p.guccione_at_W7snWqNOM_WMavRuhnhYwwchBGGcOyu1vjCGq3oAKR97Zs9UAnYxP35RKDmAL31_Cc3ctloIt_9_S-_nUgK8.yahoo.invalid>:
> This is certainly true, and there is no doubt that GL operations on
> the God Plane were definitel more organized than Arkat's. However, I
> have always believed that Arkat did make some permanent changes, too.
>
> First of all, he changed himself and his companions.
But neither he nor his companions existed on the God Plane or the Godswar previously.
> I see the Uz Ritual of Rebirth as as form of Heroquest. What
> happens to the quester's soul while his body is in the cocoon?
> Doesn't it wander in the Land of the God in search for Kyger Litor?
I don?t think so. Even if it does, it doesn?t change the mythic landscape or events. It participates in them, at best.
> And the Troll family that is adopting him isn't in fact giving him
> support in the Quest?
No.
> By the way, was the ritual known before Arkat or is it one of his
> many inventions?
It was known beforehand. The Uz had previously initiated members into their race.
> Second, the old Glorantha book from the boxed set G:GCotHW stated
> that Arkat left guardians at Hero Plane "crossroads" where standard
> quests might interfere with one another (maybe at the crossing
> points between differen Otherworlds).
Absolutely no. Not crossings between Otherworlds, because there are none. All crossings are in the Hero Plane.
> This implies that he did know the paths for potentially dangerous
> HQ variations, i.e. the ones that can change myth, and that he
> wanted to block others' attempts to walk through them.
The guardians were set there to keep people form doing what he did, not because they were dangerously close to changing the myths themselves.
> Of course the GLs bypassed a lot of these blocks. One thing I
> wonder is: how many of these paths did Arkat walk himself before
> deciding to stop experimentation?
I actually can?t answer that until after I finish the Arkat story.
> Or, more precisely, did he simply want to prevent all changes or he
> had already changed something and just tried to stop others from
> making further modifications?
His intent was to keep others from doing what he did WITHOUT HIS INSTRUCTIONS.
Quoting Peter:
>> Arkat doesn't actually strike me as being the sort of person concerned about
>> the bad things that can go wrong with heroquesting
Quoting Paolo Guccione <p.guccione_at_W7snWqNOM_WMavRuhnhYwwchBGGcOyu1vjCGq3oAKR97Zs9UAnYxP35RKDmAL31_Cc3ctloIt_9_S-_nUgK8.yahoo.invalid>:
> My speculation was that he wanted to avoid other people undoing what
> he had done.
But he didn?t ?do? anything.
Imagine that the Godswar is a number of plays that go on forever, each
on their own stage. Every so often actors from different plays lave
their own and go to another one for a while, and return. Sometimes two
of the plays merge for a while, and then separate again.
Arkat ?changed masks? and entered into various performances of the
plays. But he didn?t change the scripts, or remove people form the
performances. (Which the GL did do.)
> I think he must have been rather afraid of someone performing the
> Lightbringer to bring back Nysalor, for he knew it could be done.
His concern was that people would do as he did. His subsequent command was ?No heroquesting without respect and restraint.? He could see that people would be able to exploit the heroplanes like he had, but without his respect and restraint (ha ha. But such was his opinion of what he?d done.)
Issaries, Inc.
c/o Greg Stafford
1942 Channing Ave, #204
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
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