[Glorantha] Re: Praxian Names

Learned Pig Enthusiast Simon Phipp says:
> Personally, and I am not talking for anyone else at all here, I like to
> think that Gloranthans, in general, are a bit more sophisticated than
> people make them out to be. There may be some praxians in the back of
> beyond who have had no contact with other people and haven't made any
> associations with other cultures/pantheons, but they would be very rare
> indeed.

I don't think the issue is just pure insularity, just cultural dissonance really, if that's the right term. There are a lot of examples of the scholars of RW cultures getting the wrong end of the stick regarding the traditions, names and religions of another culture that they earnestly desire to understand. I'd have thought Praxians would be more prone to this sort of confusion than most, as a) they have no written history, b) are pretty isolated and conservative as a society (or set of societies), and c) usually have more important things to think about than the name or names that Dark Folk use when they worship Dark Eater.

Obviously, I *could* just ignore the whole idea, and call them Trolls and Trollkin, assuming that we are just using the Praxian words for them as the Players and I converse. What this is about is giving the personal interaction and storytelling in my games a particular flavour. It's also partly to sow obstacles when they communicate with other cultures. Not necessarily *big* obstacles, but just to enhance the sense that Glorantha is not an homogenised mishmash, but comprised of any number of separate cultures with traditions very different from their own. "Little Brother" is a good example. How many Orlanthi would recognise Orlanth from the name "Little Brother" or themselves as the "Little Brother Folk"? Even if they knew the reasoning, it would seem very odd to them to hear Orlanth referred to that way.    

> Hmmm, Tada! buried Eiritha to escape Death, who had come to Prax. Death is
> Basmol. But Tada! famously killed Basmol. Does that mean he then forgot to
> dig Eiritha up again? Or was that Waha's job, much later on?

The way I was looking at it, Tada! then got killed before it was safe for Eiritha to be released.    

> I think that Death is many gods, not just one. There were waves of attacks
> on Prax, starting with the Storm Tribe, then other raiders, then the
> Trolls, then Chaos. Each took a bit away with them and left the rest
> standing alone. I'd have thought that the one that came for Eiritha was
> Zorak Zoran, because he had a taste for eating Earth Goddesses and the
> myth parallels that of Zorak Zoran and Ernalda. In this case, he couldn't
> find Eiritha and then left to find Ernalda.

Fair points all. In fact, I have incorporated the ZZ coming for Ernalda (and consequent birth of Babeester Gor) myth into my version of Prax, which I was going to summarise below, but it's too hot, and I can't be bothered! Maybe later!

Cheers -

Malk. Received on Mon 17 Jul 2006 - 17:44:01 EEST