Many of the human tribes or nations that have been lost are because they met a larger opposing force or because foes had military superiority, not because the winner was "more fit" for survival. And, to the extent that non-human cultures are still cultures, rather than separate species, it is still a matter of historical conflict when it comes to the loss of these cultures.
The destruction of races or species at the turning of ages is a signifier of how close the entire world comes to extinction in each cycle, not a crucible for purifying worthy races or a demonstration of natural selection. Further, the mythological significance of "there were once these great people, and now they are gone" is a powerful trope and bound to crop up regularly, sometimes as an explanation of the current state of the world, sometimes as a warning against certain behavior, sometimes as a promise of again achieving great things.
--Todd
On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 5:56 AM, Richard Hayes <richard_hayes29_at_O-bkWw7PDE_ELIhakLvOye-qbYV5HcSsRcBfDDfMY23OKSaXjRIcJoRsxUWW52BaNGhCjUN5G25N6icbWFdhZUh4MoA.yahoo.invalid>wrote:
>
>
>
> Chaps,
>
> I can certainly see the case for people believing in a decline from a
> Golden Age of Perfection. However I would venture to sugest that it was
> also part of Glorantha back in RQ II (in the late 1970s) that there is a
> strand of thinking in many human cultures when they look at non-human races
> that is a bit more Darwinian.This is the idea that the other Elder Races
> (Uz, Aldryami, Mostali, Dragonewts and even Broo (though I doubt if
> they Broo are afforded the dignity of being an Elder Race)) are not as
> well-adapted to the here and now as humans are.
>
> Has this idea dropped out of canonical thinking? (The decline of the Trolls
> and the Dragonewts has not dropped out of canon, though in contrast to the
> passage from old RQ II cited above, Hero Wars suggested that the Aldryami
> were readying themselves for reforestation by the end of the Third Age)
>
> Glorantha certainly has had extinctions since Time began -- e.g.
>
> The Lost Tribes of Prax
>
> The Lascerdans
>
> The Bearded Trolls (and other Troll species)
>
> The White Elves (although I think they may have died out in the Godtime)
>
> Are there still Dinosaurs in the Third Age-- if so, what are their numbers
> like compared to the Second age? (FWIW in my Glorantha there are, but there
> are less of them)
>
> The MRQ book about Duck suggested that there were Geese too (bigger,
> more primitive and aggressive Durulz). If these creatures ever existed in
> canon, have they survived into the Third Age?
>
> Are the Centaurs of Beast Valley still an extinct race recreated by EWF
> magic (as in King of Sartar), or is it now canon that they never went away?
> (Maybe the Centaurs in the Castle Coast never went away, but Beast Valley is
> different?)
>
> Finally where did the Gold Wheel Dancers go?
>
>
> I expect some Hsunchen tribes have become extinct too-- how many of the
> smaller tribes referred to in the MRQ II guide to Fronela (Mammoth Hsunchen,
> Wolverine Hsunchen, etc.) are still alive by 1600 ST? However some Hsunchen
> may have been assimilated into other human cultures rather than annihilated.
> Didn't this happen to the Galanini in Ralios? Also aren't at least some of
> the inhabitants of Wenelia people that once were Hsunchen but who adopted
> other ways?
> Does no Gloranthan see anything analogous to natural selection in these
> extinctions? If they do, I would expect it to be a very Gloranthan form of
> natural selection-- races and species which fail and become extinct are
> poorly adapted to the world of Myth as well as to the Material Plane.
>
> Richard Hayes
>
> On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Keith <keith.nellist_at_O-Px7jImDNTZIMtaLNHSOoZclA2V-afomxamRwQgK2Ngc-oBPjpA6m26Vqi8aRs5NN28dl_foWZkFO9EthVleto.yahoo.invalid<keith.nellist%40bigpond.com>>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > One might argue that the great power was not really gained so much as
> > revealed, and Gloranthan evolution could therefore be considered more
> > Darwinian. I think that a couple of philosophical Lunars might take this
> > view, although of course most Gloranthans would consider things to be
> > getting worse, devolving from Golden Age perfection, rather than any sort
> of
> > survival of the fittest adaptions for change.
> >
> > Keith
> >
> > --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com<WorldofGlorantha%40yahoogroups.com>
> <WorldofGlorantha%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > "differentcomputers" <mdawson_at_...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Please don't take me as a source, but I *THINK* I recall sitting
> talking
> > to Greg/listening to him at some panel where he mentioned that Lamarckian
> > evolution worked in Glorantha.
> > >
> > > Surely, it is documentably true even if Greg didn't say it. Heroes can
> > gain great powers during their lives, and pass some portion of that power
> on
> > to their progeny.
> > >
> > > Mike Dawson
> > >
>
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>
>
>
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