Gods, IMHO

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From: Colin Watson (watson@csd.abdn.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 03 Nov 1994 - 17:45:21 EET


Michael asks Hard questions:
> [...] why
> can not a Yelmalio Priest use divination to find out if the Elmal worshippers
> are worshipping the same god? Remember that the important part of divination
> is that the god *only knows what its worshippers know*. So such a divination
> should work, either by a "yes", because they worship me (Yelmalio) or a "no",
> because I (Yelmalio) know nothing about them so they can not worship me.

I think the essential point here is that the mapping of names to gods is purely subjective (IMHO). One man's Yelmalio is never exactly the same as another man's Yelmalio.

Imagine the godplane consists of a complex interwoven network of myths. Consider a god to be defined by a subset of the mythic paths which make up the godplane; everyone has a has a slightly different conception of who their god is and what it did; everyone attributes slightly different myths to "their god".

Now, if the subset of myths which you attribute to your god is sufficiently close to those of another person (close enough for jazz), then you're both considered to "worship the same god". Since these decisions are usually made along cultural lines, each culture has a fairly static view of its gods (barring schisms and such). Lots of people worshipping the same god gives that god power which in turn gives the cult power.

In the case of Elmal and Yelmalio there is some overlap in the godplane; and in fact, for some worshippers, their Elmal might be close enough to someone else's Yelmalio to be considered "the same".

Anyway, the point is, the answer to your divination will be subjective; when you fire-off your query to Yelmalio you get back the answer which fits your (subjective) god, not necessarily anyone else's. The consensus of "what Yelmalio knows" will be based on the views of those worshippers who worship a god close ( enough for jazz) to your own.

> If two Dara Happan
> Rune Priests of Yelm, one who believes Yelmalio is not the son of Yelm and
> one who does, both cast Divination asking Yelm "Is Yelmalio your son?" will
> they get the same answer (yes?) or will they be answered according to their
> own beliefs?

Each will be answered according to their own god. "Belief" isn't a simple business; and it's not something you can change like changing your socks. If you suddenly choose to believe something about your god which nobody else believes then your new god will have very little power - the strength of a god comes from the magnitude of its worship.

In real terms you must have great power of your own before you can strike out and forge new myths (or change old ones) because your old god can't support you.

> If the latter, just what are the gods exactly? Nonexistent?

The gods exist through their cult(s). It's the cults which identify the gods. A god doesn't exist in the same way that a person exists: an objective model of gods which are "like people only more powerful" seems absurd to me (although I bet many Gloranthans view them in this way). They're more amorphous and communally defined IMO.
___
CW.

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