Runes, Gods, Gates, etc

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From: Loren Miller (LOREN@marketing.wharton.upenn.edu)
Date: Thu 28 Apr 1994 - 19:11:36 EEST


This is extracted from a discussion that Andy Skinner and I have been having about gloranthan magic. He wants to work up a ars magica style magic system for runequest/glorantha, just as an exercise, and we started talking. I'd be interested in what y'all have to say about his and my theories.

Andy wrote:
> What is the rationalization for specific spells on Glorantha? I
> would assume that gods can do whatever they want, and aren't stuck
> with specific spells themselves.

Actually, the gods have to obey the "Compromise," which basically says they can't just do anything they want in the ordinary world anymore. They have to abide by the strictures resulting from their actions in Godtime (the Mythic beginning time). So if Orlanth was associated with Storm/Air/Wind before time began he can't suddenly become a god of the oceans. That's why they offer specific divine spells. Spirit spells, on the other hand, are powered and directed by individual mortals, not by the gods (though heroes associated with various cults might claim to have invented the spell). Same with sorcery. So that's why the gods' magic obeys the strictures. As to why magic powered by mortals does so, I don't know.

> <How about replacing rune spells with noun/verb power?>

The noun/verb style of magic would work within cults, but one of the features of RQ is that people in cults may get certain powers from associated cults. Frinstance a barbarian Orlanthi might get the ability to go Berserk from his brother Storm Bull, but wouldn't get the full range of death/animal/storm powers that Storm Bullies get. How would you handle gift powers for associated cults under your system?

Note that the way it works mythologically is that entity A asks for a boon from entity B who gives some token of that boon that is invested with B's own Power to entity A. A then uses the token to benefit from the boon. A can reuse the token since it contains a piece of B's power.

Now what's the best way to simulate that?

> I looked at the intro Glorantha book from the boxed set last
> night. The runes are all nouns, I see. What does it mean for a
> god to be a rune's owner?

Many gods/heroes/etc can use a rune, anyone can who is associated with it through mythic actions, but the owner of a rune has superior abilities with it. Orlanth is the owner of the Air rune. He would have better or more air-based powers than would another Air-rune god/hero. Humakt owns the Death rune. His cult is the only one that gets a reusable "sever spirit" (equivalent of D&D "finger of death". Brolnic killed a 16-meter-tall giant with it once, and used it on vampires several times). Others may get the spell but it's a single-use 3-Point spell for them.

> If there are two gods relating to the air
> do both get power from that rune?

Yes. But... don't fall to the temptation to read too much into the runes. They're a classificatory system on Glorantha, not the building blocks of the universe. Actually, the gods don't draw power from the rune. The rune is a symbol of all Air, and they draw power from Air. You could have a rune/symbol for anything you wanted, and would use it to focus the power from everything that fit the symbolism.

> I think I saw that a god could get power from more than one rune,
> too.

Yep.

> So what is the relationship between "owning" a rune and being
> a god with power over certain things which are similar to one or
> more of the runes?

I think that the Runes are incorporated into the very essence of their owners, and by using the Runes other gods/heroes/etc actually offer some form of worship to the Rune's owner. Certainly the owner benefits from it in Magic Points, Power, and whatever the godly currency might be. It's like the Rune serves as a link to everything it symbolizes, and by accessing the Rune (either directly for the Rune's owner, or through the Rune's owner for others) one can draw on the power behind it. It's like there's a dimensional rift with AIR-POWER on the other side and Orlanth is the gate. If you want to access the rift you need a key and you have to pay a fee to Orlanth.

> To look at how entities share parts of their power, I'd have to
> decide about verbs (runes look like nouns, and I don't there has
> to be a limited number of them--book said there are minor runes and
> such): are they owned by everyone, or do different gods have
> strengths with different verbs?

I think you'd be better off if instead of thinking of Runes as nouns you thought of them as sets and simultaneously as Powers that may be exercised within those sets. They are magical and follow the laws of similarity and analogy rather than deductive laws.

-- 

+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Into the flood again, same old trip it was back when
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