[Glorantha] The Gods

In message <007301c62123$d86dbc00$0100000a@malkhome02> "Malk Williams" writes:

>Quoth Simon Hibbs:

>> He can physically act, after all he is in every storm.=20
>
>Aha yes. Touch=E9. I should rephrase that. What I *meant* to say
>was that he cannot physically act in ways other than are dictated
>by his nature. I was under the impression that *specific* and
>especially supernatural action without mortal involvement was beyond
>him - and all other gods. After all, why wait for one of his hero
>bands to summon a storm to strike down his enemies, if he could just
>do it himself?

He's bound by the Compromise not to act in the material world. He has the power to do so but if he does he risks allowing chaos take over Glorantha. He has promised not to do that and I think Archane Solara's magic actually inhibits the gods from doing so. Having said that it is possible that one or more of the gods does break the Compromise during the Hero Wars but the Windstop isn't enough to cause Orlanth to do so.

>But the thrust of my question was elsewhere, it was his capacity
>to be emotionally affected by events occurring within time that I
>really wanted to know about, especially events that would either
>frighten or enrage a mortal in comparable circumstances.

I think you have to consider what a god (e.g. Orlanth) knows about and understands what's happening in the material world. It probably takes an event like the Windstop for him to notice at all - and what he notices is that a whole lot of worshippers and priests are no longer in contact. Eventally someone gets through and he becomes aware that he's been cut off from his followers by the actions of followers of the Red Goddess. As a storm god he'll rant and rave but he can't allow that to cross to the material world without breaking the Compromise. So he tells the priest who has got through to him "Go back and tell everyone I'm still here - and here's a breath which will prove it to them. Then get them to blow the Lunars out of Kerofinla".

So yes, he is emotionally affected but only in a way that is consistant with his nature - there are plenty of times when Orlanth ranted and raved against one enemy or another during godtime. And as Greg said, it's not a big deal to him - he's not really hurt, just offended.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/