I am still trying to understand the Otherside myself (I believe that other names for it include the Godtime and the Hero Plane) so I will try to provide another perspective. I am a newbie myself in many ways so bear with me--others will have to correct me perhaps.
The Otherside is very much a place that is part dream and part myth. It is where the Gods and your ancestors reside. It is not the Spirit World (shamanistic cultures) and it is not the Essence Plane (sorcerers aka Malkioni). It is the source of magic for those who believe in Gods. However, the Otherplace is very tricky and very dangerous for most people. I think it is made of Godstuff--your dreams, your nightmares, your hopes, are reflected in its substance and not in ways that are evident to you.
Most of the time, your people can use ritual, belief, and the power inherent in certain place/times/things to minimize the dangers of the Godtime and maximize the benefits. This happens when your people re-enact myths to initiate youth, ensure fertility, protect against Chaos, and so on.
Sometimes, heroes find new ways and new powers in the Godtime by learning secrets about the Gods and their ways. They devise/"find" new rituals from those secrets and, as a result, discover new and useful powers inherent in them. This is what I call "heroquesting." (Comment: The idea of heroquesting sounds simple in practice but putting it into play can be difficult. Research and reading about myth will come in handy here).
However, some of the most powerful, knowledgable, and determined heroes can learn ways to connect rituals and knowledge from many different traditions and gods together, and they can manipulate the Godtime in ways that are unimaginable to most mortals. This is called "experimental heroquesting." Naturally, the rewards are unimaginable as well but the risks are beyond belief as well.
A people called the God Learners became masters of experimental heroquesting and did things to the Godtime that beggared belief. Until Glorantha herself rose up against them and annihilated the God Learners utterly. In the most recent Age of Glorantha (the Third), "God Learner" is a terrible epithet meant for those who would tamper with the Gods themselves.
On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 12:56 PM, Phil Hibbs <snarks_at_TQOPSucTYZZH7dBCnu5XxkgQOyGgd3Xn3_0yFBlbOG5CASCH3kHSX0ywLIRpfjZvLN9wDOOA.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> **
>
>
> All answers are my personal speculation, perhaps Jeff will correct me if my
> thoughts are "My Glorantha Varying"...
>
> Michael:
>
> >I assume there is ritual to get there.
>
> Usually, but you can stumble in there by accident sometimes.
>
>
> >What happens to your body? Do you disappear or does your body stay
> > here in the real world and your soul go to the otherworld?
>
> Mostly it goes with you, I think. It depends.
>
>
> >What happens if you are killed there?
>
> I think that depends on how "deep" you are. Also from a game mechanics
> point of view different sets of rules and different quest writeups say
> different things about death. Quite often, death is just a minor setback.
> At other times, it may result in total destruction of the soul. Tricky
> question.
>
>
> >Is the god world and the spirit world the same? Are there spirits
> floating around everywhere?
>
> Not the same - not usually anyway.
>
>
> >What about all of your dead ancestors? If there are there, that would be
> a lot of fricken people!
>
> If you go to the Hall of Orlanth, then yes, all your ancestors are there,
> all good Orlanthi who ever lived. Orlanth's hall stretches as far as you
> can see, eagles soar over the storm clouds that gather half way to the
> rafters, and getting from one side to the other can take an eternity. But
> you're in the God Time, and an eternity is not very long at all if you set
> your mind to it. If you get distracted, though, you can end up never
> returning home. Which might not be so bad, if the distraction is a pleasant
> one, but your mortal relatives will miss you.
>
> Phil Hibbs.
>
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