[Glorantha] Re: Hsunchen definitions

Peter Metcalfe
> On the question of whether the Praxians have any connection with the
> Pamaltelans or the Hsunchen, I wrote:

>>> IMO the Hsunchen - being native to the Shanshan -

>>While that is the entirely correct definition for the term Hsunchen, I
>>meant to include also the Fiwan of Pamaltela and the Beast Folk of
>>western Genertela (Ralios, Fronela and Seshnela).

> You can really only use that definition for the Imperial Age and later
> as a result of God Learner meddling (and even then I don't think
> the beast people of Tarint or Kothar are Hsunchen). Before that time,
> the three beast peoples - the Fiwan, the Hykimi of the west and the
> Hsunchen - that look outwardly similar but have as much as common
> with each other as sharks, dolphins or ichthyosaurs do (convergent
> evolution in other words).

In that case, Praxians and Desero's horde come in as coelocanths (not quite the same shape, but still similar function)?

I do think that they had the same origin - Earthmaker, or whichever that entity is called, calling up the beast allies.

The Praxians don't regard themselves as 'made' humans (neither do Orlanthi or e.g. Artmali, so that argument is weaker than it ought to be), but as two-legged descendants of the beast mothers (neither Orlanthi or Artmali do, but to some extent the Hykimi). Their ancestor (Storm Bull) does so, too.

And probably their major point of contention with the Pentan horse people is that those don't regard themselves as descendants of horses.

Anyway - the three groups that the God Learners sought to identify apparently started as the same in different regions, adopting a human shape that - according to doraddic or possibly also Thinobutan myth had not even been used yet - dominated that area (i.e. Wareran in Hykimi lands, Kralori in the Shanshan, and Agimori in Pamaltela). Or possibly defined that shape for the later creation (or mixed descent) of the "real" humans of those regions.

I note that in the Four Worlds model, we are lacking a world here (the theist north does not seem to have their own beastfolk if the Hykimi get accounted for the Malkioni West, or the West if they are counted for the North). I do realize that the theist and spirit world collision was the first one, but creation of the Fiwan (and the other beast folk) coincides with creation of the animist world, right? Received on Mon 30 Oct 2006 - 20:25:42 EET