From: Alex Ferguson (abf@interzone.ucc.ie)
Date: Tue 01 Jul 1997 - 23:43:46 EEST
Jane Williams says approvingly of my lastest bit of classification mania:
> I like this a lot. But I'd add one more to the list, right at the start.
> 0. Physical verisimilitude. To what extent does your mundane ritual
> mirror the myth?
This is certainly a very important aspect of the "depth" equation, and
in fact at least initially, likely the _most_ important. If I were to
take my own classification entirely seriously, I'd still lump this one
in with Depth (I never said it wasn't a large, fuzzy topic ;-), and I
was skating over it for that very reason). As Jane says, the two are
very closely linked, and it'd be very hard to "define" them in a way
that keeps the two clearly distinct.
I suspect that main factors that go towards "depth" of a HQ are something
like:
The nature of the ritual embodiment of it, as per Jane's comments;
How the mundane circumstances (those outside of the ritual itself),
relate to the myth -- the better they "fit", the deeper you'll be
able to go (or get drawn, come to that);
How large-scale a Quester you are; there's a sort of ratchet effect,
I think, that means the deeper you've gone before, the deeper you
have to go from then on, whether you like it or not;
The degree of support/expectation you have from your family/cult/clan;
Mythic co-incidence or interception: being "dragged" deeper, either
by accident, or by someone else's design;
And to some extent, of course, your own willful (Will-ful?) intent.
> Also, the mundane time taken is determined by the ritual. Nothing else.
Not in all cases, surely; some HQs take years'n'years.
[LBQ as story, game, ritual, and: ]
> Finally one could go for a walk: start at the Orlanth Victorious temple,
> head west until you find the sea... this takes time. Lots of time.
This where things start to go fuzzy again; which is the "deeper" ritual
(and therefore the deeper quest), walking the whole way mundanely, or
performing the Westfaring ritual to get you there? I suppose the
difference is that in a "practice" quest, you start trudging towards the
setting sun (though without going all the way to Dusk in the literal
sense); in the SLBP, you do the Westfaring magic ritual, but don't
_bodily_ go anywhere (you trevel in myth-space, but an outsider observer
can still see you in the temple grounds); whereas in a "real" HQ, you do
the Mastakos's Trail West ritual, and *poof*, you're _gone_, the mythic
and mundane facts having become identical.
Good examples, though, especially at the "low" end, which as Jeff has
some justification in admonishing us, we may tend to overlook somewhat
in these discussions.
> the plane-shift (go on, give me a better term some-one) easier.
Hrm. Transsubstantiation of the Lightbringer? ;-) Bodily assumption
> (A really, really good [HQer] might [shift to Hell] accidentally...)
Talk about too much of a good thing. Yes, I think this is what
in myth? Hero-plane entering ritual?
increasingly happens when your "free will" is getting used up, or if
you prefer, more of your "self" is on the HP than not. Bummer.
Richard Melvin talked about some related Stuff, too:
> In fact, that must be true - going down a Big Hole is _not_ a magical
> technique, its just a small matter of climbing.
If you're performing a quest in which Stage 1 is Go To Hell, then I'd
say climbing down sufficiently far into Hell Crack is (at least) just
as valid a way of accomplishing it than (say) the Go Straight To Hell,
do not Pass Go heroplane-entering ritual.
Obviously, though, they may vary in the details, and doing either
of the above would not be equivalent to the "proper" way to descend
into hell in the LBQ, say, which is an ungodly number of stations
unto itself, and very particular as to the route.
But an appropriate or sane thing to do or not, I'm sure it can't be
without magical significance. Especially actually climbing down _all
the way_, which sounds a positively Gerran thing to do.
FGS (PBOH) has suggested almost the reverse, in fact: that the "special
case" sort of HeroQuest are the "Magic Road" ones (like the above
Westfaring), though I don't think I agree, really: they seem like Just
Yet Another Sort of HQ, to me, among numerous others. I suppose that
depending on how they're used, they might be seen as "cheating", though
-- say I use part of Westfaring simply to pop into Halikiv because I
just happen to feel like it, rather than because I want to Harrow Hell.
But what's a little mythploxation between friends?
Slainte,
Alex.
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