From: ANDOVER@delphi.com
Date: Sat 16 Nov 1996 - 06:38:35 EET
The forces of Chaos seem to have interfered with my original transmission on
this matter -- here is the full version!
I've been busy in the "real world" (if you consider American elections
real) for the past few weeks, so I haven't had time to keep up with
all the twists & turns of the Time debate, or its natural slopping over
into the "nature of the Gods" question.
In my campaigns, the definition of Time is that given by Gollum in the
Hobbit: "This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, treese, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down."
Time is the child born after Arachne Solara consumes the God of Entropy,
Kajabor. "Before time" means "before entropy." It does not mean that
there was not cause-and-effect, nor chronology. The Compromise froze
the Gods in the patterns that existed "before Time" which left them immune
to the "great Fear" of total annihilation but also prevented them from
acting any more. Freedom from the destruction of entropy could only
be achieved by giving up freedom altogether -- they chose preservation
over change.
There's a price for this -- paid not only by the Gods but also by all
Gloranthans -- the "snap-back" against every attempt to change Glorantha,
whether by Nysalor, the God Learners, the EWF or the Lunars is a re-enactment
of the choice of Law (or Stasis) over Chaos (or change).
So Gods are like Brithini or Dwarves -- they certainly can act but the price of
acting outside their roles is eventual extinction. They CAN be changed by their
worshippers, however -- for the worshippers retain freedom. But the path to
Godhood and immortality is always one that removes choice as an option.
By the way, if a God is destroyed, sooner or later his/her "place" is filled by
a heroquesting mortal who becomes the new God of xxx. This has happened several
times before, as Gods have died singly or in great numbers. (this explains I
think the various "Suns" of mythology) I assume the loss of writing remained
until a new heroquester succeeded in replacing or becoming Issaries and Lankhor
Mhy.
The Gods themselves don't quite understand this process, and their own actions
and motivations are almost as much a mystery to themselves as they are to "mere"
mortals.
Anyway, that's how it is in "my" Glorantha.
Jim Chapin
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #289
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