[Glorantha] Re: Glorantha Digest, Vol 12, Issue 332

Tony Davis:

> You keep saying that, and I just still don't get it.
> The rest of what we hear about Glorantha seems to say
> that rituals and mythologies shape the reality of
> Glorantha and if you can get into the myth and change
> it, you change reality. It's what experimental
> heroquesters do.

Not quite. What experimental heroquesters do is discover new ways to effectively and beneficialy engage with the world at a mythic level.

Myths, rituals and magic work because they are based on accurate and true insights into Gloranthan reality. This is what we mean when we say that a heroquest 'proves' something. if the heroquest works, then it means the insight that made it possible is a true insight (e.g. "Solar power is the dominant (in some ways) power in the Universe" - Proved true by the Dara Happans. "Violence is always an option" - Proved true by the Heortlings. "The relationship between herds and men benefits both" - Proved true by the Praxians. etc...). Because these insights are true, they enable those who believe them to benefit by living their lives in such a way as to benefit from it, and eprform magical rituals that derive their power from the world, similarly to the way that our true scientific insights into the nature of our world allow us to take advantage of natural processes, to our benefit.

Novel heroquests discover new ways to beneficialy engage with the world. Monrogh did not change the nature of reality when he heroquested and discovered the worship of Yelmalio. The power of Yelmalio - the Sun Dome - always existed, and Monrogh discovered how to engage with it mythicaly, magicaly and practicaly. Similarly Arkat did not create synergies between the myths of different religions, he discovered and exploited them. He couldn't create entirely new myths, or change the nature of the world even though he was arguably the greatest heroquester Glorantha has ever seen.

The God Learners started off by applying the insights from their religion to understand other religions. Their initial experiments were designed to test their theories and find the best ways to engage with other culture's myths positively, within their own philosophical framework and view of the world. later they carried out intrusive experiments that tried to change the mythic landscape to suit their political purposes. They were able to get away with a fair bit because their knowledge and power was very great, but in the end they were utterly destroyed because they went too far.

Best regards,

Simon Hibbs Received on Fri 28 Jul 2006 - 12:35:03 EEST