Peter:
> Well, they did survive in the form of Slontos, which gets destroyed at
> the end of the Imperial Age.
But the Ivinist Church of Slontos actively dislikes the Asharan Church, IIRC. Or are you suggesting that has more to due with 3rd Age political realities than mythical associations? Goodness knows the Slonton Church has probably changed a lot since its founding during the Dawn Age: first the Arkat/Nysalor war, then it accepted the Abiding Book, then Slontos sank.
Jeff:
> Castelean was not even close to being in Harmast's league in that sort of power
> or ambition. According to the stories Greg has written, Harmast didn't
> knowingly set out to tie things togther - certainly not at first.
>
> I think Arkat was really the pioneer of that sort of exploratory mythic research
> but I suspect even he drew heavily on Harmast's experience.
>
> Caselain had the advantage of great works already done by these two but was
> dealing with an area that had been systematically abused by the God Learners.
I suspect that the Asharan Church, being what it is, would have a near phobic view of Heroquesting.
The longer this discussion goes, the more clear the image of what an Asharan Hero (capital 'H' very intentional) would need to overcome in his own culture and church to gain enough power to make a difference. It'd really be rough going, and he or she would probably be assassinated by someone before he got too far. At the same time, I can't help but sympathize with the poor soul.
Bryan:
> Somewhere there is the story/rite about the one good stranger, for example, who
> helped and went on his way (told now as contrast to all the other stories of bad
> strangers). Or people still came to this rock to make silent exchange with the
> elves, and they always brought one white pebble and one black pebble and piled
> them there when they did so, even if they didn't remember why or who taught them
> to do so. Etc.
I am now envisioning a set of 4 legends/heroquests present among some Wenelians where Dokal Hairyman meets a stranger. The outcome of these would be a question of how much a new or different mythological entity could be incorporated into the Oak & Storm Tradition:
The only problem I'm having is trying to figure out how such a set of Heroquests would be appropriately low power, low ambition in a way that highlights survival and getting along as opposed to say Lunar-like assimilation.
> > The little Godlearner in my head wants to try a full on project detailing more
> > of the history (post- and pre-dawn) of the region with an eye to identify the
> > distinct groups and how they were blended together. But there's been enough
> > Godlearner meddling in the area ;-)
>
> Yes there has! Plus, I think half the fun is that you never know exactly what
> lies in the next valley for sure :)
I'm having trouble keeping Godlearner thinking out of my arguments as there's just so little stable ground. Wenelia doesn't have the well establish and well differentiated traditions one finds in say Dragon Pass to rely on. In DP & other places, one can ground arguments in those traditions, rather than a non-Godlearner approach seeking a single objective truth. We can't rely on such a communitarian approach (I know I'm butchering the term, but its the closest concept I can think of) for Wenelia considering how pureed the mythological landscape is and how lightly defined the post-Dawn history is. It's a fun sort of frustrating :)
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