Wow! That's one of the best analogies I've heard in long while!
-:)
Dougie.
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> --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, Jim Groves <cainesinmyhead@> wrote:
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> > I know just enough about Glorantha to get stuff wrong. :)
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> Note that this is the case for all of us....well except for Mr. Stafford--he doesn't get things wrong, he just achieves greater understanding, moving past his earlier, more limited, understanding (said in great fondness for the one who brought us this great mental playground, btw)
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> > The question implies that Gbjai brought Chaos back. Was there a time after the world was saved when there was no Chaos, and the creation of Gbjai reversed that and allowed it back into the world again?
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> > I always had the impression that Chaos was defeated, but still creeped around in the corners and under the rocks of reality.(Pardon the poetic metaphor)
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> > If that is the case, that really underscores the horror of what the Unity Council did in the course of its failed effort. But I don't know if I am reading too much into the questionnaire or not.
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> Not really an explanation, but something of a metaphor. Think of Glorantha as a great ship, afloat in a sea of chaos. Only a few, enlightened, beings can look outside the ship, most only see a few compartments in it.
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> In the great darkness, the ship started breaking apart. Some parts were still mostly whole, other parts were totally destroyed. Somehow, the great powers that be managed to take the various pieces and put them back together into a new ship (definately not identical to the ship that it was before, and most probably missing some pieces). The survivors of that time had become very good at staying afloat, at pumping out their compartments, and at not doing anything that would endanger the ship....and so despite the patchwork nature of the new ship, it sailed serenly for a while. Not doubt there were a few damp spots that nobody had noticed, a couple of small leaks that nobody could block up, but those were only trivial.
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> But eventually _someone_ had to rock the boat, or more precisely try to alter the boat. They were convinced that the modification was for the better, other disagreed....but whatever the right of the situation, it stressed and warped the ship. Weak seams started leaking more, some chaos spilled in over the gunwales and never got all mopped up, the changes and attempted changes created new weak spots and cracks, and to try and fix those woule only make the whole even worse (ie. Dorasor).
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> And this is the fundamental reason why conservative cultures in Glorantha have so much 'right' behind them. No matter what good intentions underly any changes to the ship, they know that each change adds to the stresses, adds to the weak spots, and brings the whole thing that much closer to breakind down again.
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