[Glorantha] Re: Ancestor worship (was some meaningless number or other)

Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_yahoo.co.uk> writes:

>Entirely. So, the ancestors as portrayed there do not
>retain individuality as such, but do retain ties to
>their clan. Which implies that the most important part
>of an Orlanthi's self-identification remains to them.

I don't think it's self-identification; more a case of basic categories. The soul loses its individuality - its name, its memories, and so on. However, presumably it's still recognisable as the soul of a human being, and a member of the Storm Tribe, and a member of the X clan. These aren't matters of individual identity to Heortlings, they're the fundamental building blocks of reality.

Similarly, I'd hazard a guess that the soul of a Dara Happan is still identifiable as a citizen of Raibanth or Yuthuppa even when the actual family it belonged to in life is forgotten, because for that culture your city is more fundamental than your family. (The Yelmic nobility being an exception, probably) It's not that the soul remembers where it used to live - it's just that the souls of Raibanthi are clearly different in nature than the souls of Alkothi or Yuthuppans - anybody can see that!
(Anybody Dara Happan, anyway).

Stephen Received on Fri 16 Feb 2007 - 12:50:49 EET