[Glorantha] Ompalam

Simon Hibbs:

>I'd say the Aeolians who have elevated Orlanth, the
>stormy god of the hill tribes, to be a manifestation
>of the Invisible God.

While the Aeolians do worship Orlanth, they consider him to be a saint freed by Aeol rather than a manifestation of the Invisible God, according to Heroquest Voices

Mikko:

>I was wondering if the "creator" of the monotheistic west
>has an origin story like that in the early times? Was the
>West always like it is now, with one supreme deity?

The west has always recognized one god. Polytheism and the like is recognized as being a sign of the Great Error rather than the original state of affairs.

Malk:

>Is a people elevating their local tribal deity to omnipotent
>proportions, or are they deciding over time that the concept,
>principle or entity that they actually worship is that of the
>Single, Universal Creator God, but they continue using the
>name with which they are familiar.

In the specific case of Ompalam, I don't think he was elevated from a tribal deity into the world deity. Even if he was worshipped originally in one tribe, his worshippers always believed he was the world deity with a number of lesser deities in tow.

Ompalam's strength was that he provided a metaphysical framework in which his worshippers could incorporate the deities from other nations into their own pantheon without too much trouble.

--Peter Metcalfe Received on Sat 22 Jul 2006 - 09:23:24 EEST