From: Alex Ferguson (abf@cs.ucc.ie)
Date: Tue 13 Jun 2000 - 20:24:07 EEST
John Hughes:
> One of the challenges / disturbing trends in Hero Wars is that we seem to
> have *once again* lost the feel for subjectivity / pov and for the glorious
> subtleties and uncertainties of tribal and regional variation.
Indeed yes. Well, Stephen Martin _did_ get at least three separate
credits per book that's been published so far. which explains a lot. ;-)
Let's hope the player's books will be a good deal less so.
While I can see the need for a certain amount of 'crispness' for
purposes of gaming managability, what we get in the rulebook seems
neither fish nor fowl. Vague about things that one could, as a
Gloranthan, see with one's own eyes (such as the sorts of thing
a particular Feat can accomplish); specific about the True Nature
(allegedly) of the Other Side. All most odd.
> (Carmanian humakti: another planet).
And another adjective, let's hope.
> (mind you: we know what some Ernaldan priestesses
> believe about the *real* Lightbringers quest, even as they actively
> facilitate the Orlanthi quests based on the Orlanth LB myth)
We do?
> On the less
> essential, there will be variation; perhaps seven or eight different
> versions of a particular myth across Sartar, with different gods and
> incidents involved, different descriptions and paths, different secrets and
> slightly different outcomes. Most of these myths will be closely tied to
> particular rituals (a key component of the anthropological understanding of
> myth that differentiates it from the classicist/historian's conception) and
> of course the rituals *work*.
Right. That's a key point much discussion of this topic seems to miss:
Orlanthi ceremonies are not (simply) ritual-as-sacrifice, they're
significantly, if not primarily, ritual-as-emulation, with specific
reference to the myths. Thus the myths themselves are not simply
'stories', but also magical formulae, and moral and practical
exemplars.
> Therefore each version of the myth is *true*. (A barbarian QED).
Nonono -- therefore _our_ version of the myth is correct: _your_ clan
is in league with wakboth, and storm knows whom else, from whence
you gain your faux-magic, heretic. ;-)
> Another aspect of this is, given the limited utility of written *literature*
> in the tribes and the essentially oral nature of Heortling culture, is that
> most cultic learning will be passed on from a particular teacher to his or
> her pupils; an intense and ongoing relationship like that of guru and
> sanwasan. If a clan has say five sword godar of Humakt, each will have
> particular secrets and ceremonies learned from his or her teacher, each will
> have a particular emphasis and particular myths / ceremonies / secrets / /
> feats / skills / weapons styles not shared with all of the other godar.
That I find rather less likely, I just admit. (Or rather, a less
significant aspect.) If a clan has so many Humakti kicking around, it's
almost certainly due to a clan tradition, rather than a happenstance
agglomeration. That clan treadition implies a large degree of collective
ritual, which in turns means sharing of the initiatory secrets, at
least with those whose perception of same is 'correct'. A degree
of different private gloss on the same common ritual is possible,
perhaps, but certainly not predominant.
Having said that, I do think some lineages/sub-clans maintain their
own traditions, to a greater or lesser extent. How significant
this is, is clearly going to vary a great deal: the organisational
level 'clan' covers a multitude of different forms of family
arguments.
I think you might have a little Arkati Trickster Shaman in you
yourself. (But not in a gay way, as our Pendragon game catchphrase
would have it. <g>)
Cheers,
Alex.
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