From: Nils Weinander (niwe@ppvku.ericsson.se)
Date: Wed 20 Apr 1994 - 21:33:39 EEST
Nils Weinander writing
Joerg wrote in response to my rantings:
>No chance of advancement? Every good Malkioni can aspire to become a
>Saint of his church, if she wants to walk the hero path. A Rokari
>farmer could become the patron of plowman or the protector of saplings.
>A crafter could become the acknowledged Saint of his particular craft, or
>technique. Both without leaving the confinements of his caste.
I would say that the chance of becoming a Malkioni saint is far smaller than the chance of becoming a theistic priest or rune lord. I would also think that sainthood is a posthumous virtue (this might be a stupid geocentrism on my part though).
>Most Loskalmi knights seem to be Byzantine heavy lancers rather than
I like the byzantine analogy. Since I don't feel comfortable with a medieval-type region in Glorantha I have toyed with the thought of the west as sort of 5th century byzantine, with feudalism instead of the dominate.
>Prax is original in its conception of beast-riders, or at least I know
>of no real earth society which worked like this.
The beast riders are original, yes, but IMO the main reason for Glorantha's originality is the tight coupling with the mythology, through the cults and the spirit world, and the magical geography. As the humanistic west has renounced the gods and have very little shamanism, it is more distant from the living myth of Glorantha. That is what gives me a generic fantasy feeling about the west. As for the magical geography I mean things like the Block, Hellcrack, mountains which are dragons or giants etc. There might be such stuff in the west too, which I am ignorant of.
>If you play Pendragon, you play pure (late medieval) fantasy.
A Pendragon campign set in the interregnum is very different from one set in the age of romance which is very different from one set in the downfall of the arthurian period.
All in all, what this comes up to is the usual: Glorantha can be many things to different people. As there are many cultures and interpretations each one can go with what feels right, right? :-) I don't want to be the cause of an endless discussion, so unless some really interesting points come up I consider my point made and go on to other issues.
/Nils W
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