Hello everybody. Here's a few things I've been wondering about.
Chaos
We have a lot of examples of chaos monsters and chaos cults. The taint of chaos is usually permanent and even gods have been permanently lost to this horror.
But what is it like on a more practical level. I have a feeling that chaos is something you (usually) have to choose or accept. A spiritual and magical phenomenan, rather than pollution or a disease.
The practical thing I was thinking about was that is it safe to eat chaotic things, if they are othervice edible? I would assume that once the life of a broo for instance has been extinquished, an animal that eats the flesh of the broo is only in danger of disease, not of becoming tainted with chaos itself. A heortling propably would not eat a deer* that had three eyes and a tentacle, but I assume if he did, he wouldn't actually be in danger of growing a tentacle him/herself.
*The chaotic deer itself is an interesting dilemma. What has made the deer into a chaotic horror? I assume this has to mean that a deer god/spirit/essence has been corrupted in the great darkness, and as a result, some deer are born with the taint. Again, not a physical pollution, or a disease to be passed on, but a condition of the soul, if you will.
[I understand that at earlier times chaos was stronger and Glorantha weaker. The heortling mythology claims that merely speaking or even thinking of the name of Krjalk was enough to turn you into a monster.]
So how does a human being (or other mortal) become chaotic? What level of worship of chaos turns you chaotic? Propitiating Malia with sacrifice propably won't do it. What about initiation to a more subtle cult like that of Thanatar or Krarst. If you turn away from the cult and try to redeem yourself, is it too late? Is your soul irrevocably "broken"?
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Does the Three Worlds structure of the magic realms mean anything to chaotic entities? I've been thinking of Thanatari in the Janube valley. If somebody forms a "saintly order" analogue around thanatari knowledge ripping magic, is there any sense of misapplied worship? Are the chaotic entities spirits, gods and essences, or are they more like powerful entities of the Hero Planes?
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What "level of entity" is Ralzakark supposed to be? We've only seen super-RQ style statistics for him in RQ-3 Dorastor book, and I don't find those all that helpful. Is he supposed to be heroic, like Argrath and Kallyr at her prime (w3 range) or even superheroic like Jar-Eel and Harrek (w4 range). If he has truly vast personal power, why is he still holed up in Dorastor. My guess is that he's either just a regional strongman, or that his conciderable power is irrevocably linked to Dorastor, and that he is actually unable to leave it. Parhaps he somehow is (or has made himself into) a personification of Dorastor and it's troubled history. Parhaps he's a shard of Nysalor.
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Thank you for your interest. I look forward to seeing what replies this gets.
-Adept
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