In my HeroQuest campaign, my intrepid group of Lunar Missionaries have found themselves wandering through the East Isles. They've already run into the friendly Cannibals of Homago, who were all too eager to accept their "We Are All Us" message. They were lucky enough to escape their stew pots, and now find themselves caught between two warring Isles - one full of upstanding humans, and their sister isle, full of strange frog-like antigods. They are of course hoping to Heal the rift between these two enemies by showing them both the Light of the Goddess and the inclusive nature of the Seventh Soul. (We likely be playing this scene out this weekend..)
However, before I narrate this scene, I have a few questions I thought I might ask fellow Glorantha-philes, in hopes of getting some feedback. I'm curious to how the followers of the Parloth, the dominant Vithelan pantheon, would view the Red Moon. Is she a God or an Antigod? I would presume the latter, as she is new creation within Time, and her changeable nature seems to mark her as one of Gebkeran's brood.
The Vithelans with more of a pure mystic bent would perhaps consider her to be a prime example of failed mysticism. Nendurenite practice involves meditating and realizing one's individual nature is identical with the greater beings of the cosmos. This seems a bit like Lunar Inclusion, though they are much more expansive. I'm sure the Red Goddesses connection to Chaos is considered a mark of a fallen, or antigod, mystic.
For the Vithelans who follow the Dreaming Cycle, the Red Moon is likely interpreted as related to Thella White Moon and Avanapdur Black Moon. Is Sedenya another pawn of Avanapdur, like Adlanari Black Mirror and Herespur the Liar, or is she a new face of Thella? In my campaign I've already made some connections between the dreamers of the East and Merasedenya and some radical White Moonies...
I could see some Antigods following the Red Moon in the East, though they are likely to have come to it through their own means rather than any missionary action. (Similar to how the Yranians emerged in Pamaltela.) The Red Goddess could be their new Antigod Ruler that will lead them into the Cosmic War at the end of the Human Cycle..
Of course all this Parloth/Adpara business is irrelevant to the Lunars, who are likely to claim that the Red Goddess is both God and Antigod, just as she is both Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Cosmos and Chaos. The Vithelans acknowledge the cyclism of time, and so trying to show them how Sedenya is the Power of Cycles is perhaps good way for them to go.
Lastly, my campaign is currently in 1624, and I've been having the Vithelan Hero Wars commence with the rise of the Demon Navy in the Arandinni Isles. I've been looking over the notes on the "Double Phoenix Saga" in Revealed Mythologies, which while very evocative, leave much unexplored.
I'm quite familiar with real world legends of the phoenix, but as far as I know, this magical bird does not exist outside of the East Isles. (It would make a great deal of sense for the Rinliddi to have similar stories.. perhaps it expired in the Great Darkness?) What significance does it have to the Vithelans? One supposes it would be considered the embodiment of the Cosmic War Cycles, with its personal cycle of flaming death and fiery rebirth. Is it connected to any of the gods of the Vithelan Pantheon? I do recall a bit about how Osdero of the Gods Cycle is sometimes called the 'Eagle Phoenix Emperor'.
As the Demon Navy spreads, it begins to set up altars to the Bloody Sun. This seems quite similar to Zerel Fan, the fallen sun god of the Kingdom of Ignorance. They are searching for the fabled 'Lens of Manduren" but are unable to find it. Nothing is said of who this Manduren is - I hypothesize that it may be a mystic of some kind. YGWV, but I think it was an Antigod student of the Unorthodox mystic Nenduren that surpassed his master and done in by jealous humans ...
Thanks in advance for reading my musings and for whatever ideas and
commentary you may have.
--
-Santo
"Aum Shanti Shanti Shantih."
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