Ormi Phengaria

On the other hand, we might think "well, northern Ralios isn't the Andes, either." But the Andes at what point in time? It would be a mistake to think that the agriculture of the late pre-Columbian Andes wasn't in a similarly highly developed and organized condition. I think we can reasonably say that northern Ralios isn't like the Tawantinsuyu and that they aren't making chuño, but having slightly higher access to starchy root vegetables than general is probably fine. I think maybe there are llamas there too, actually...

Yes, this is worth noting for worldbuilders. It wasn't the bare presence of the potato itself which transformed the staple agriculture of the Old World, but the combination of the potato alongside centuries of ongoing socioeconomic transformation and technological development. That includes the economic feasibility of four-crop rotation, the metallurgy leading to new plow designs capable of moving deep ground necessary to protect the plant from light, being able to afford to plow a field more than twice a year, water infrastructure, and enclosure of wastes. And even despite all of that, producing all of that food is only sensible if there is a market for it, which was its own ongoing revolution and transformation. Higher caloric output doesn't just produce more babies on its own before it can establish itself as a pattern of production.

I think this is on the right track, though they are definitely not identical to the Gold Wheel Dancers. The more important connection shared by both is to the idea of the Silver People, to which the Gold Wheel Dancers might somehow be closer given that they sometimes shared the name.

It's hyperbole gesturing at something bigger. It's possible for a troll to be physically full and satiated, though it is a lot more difficult than it is for humans, even with the ability to eat and digest nearly anything. But with a full stomach one becomes aware of other, more subtle hungers, spiritual hungers. For trolls, all of these relate to creating more trolls, normatively, even their love of music. But this does not satiate. It only creates more hunger. It is a growing emptiness in the world in analogy of a stomach which demands more food the more you fill it. Ultimately, more trolls means less food for all trolls. That's a bit paradoxical, and I think very close to the heart of the nature of their curse by Gbaji.

Oh yes, that does bear mentioning-- deeper layers of lignite being hard jet, a mineraloid gemstone. Good thing to put fire spirits in!

Petroleum has a ludicrous number of uses outside of being refined into combustible fuels: construction, waterproofing, boat building, small crafts, medicine, etc. It's gasoline which is just an odd curiosity for several hundreds years after its discovery. Coal doesn't have any uses completely distinct from other fuel sources except that on occasion it is more plentiful and easier to exploit than wood.

Oh yes. Oh. Oh no. This is the part where you cross the line from compassionate understanding which seeks to genuinely combat hate directly over to contrived apologia. Please resist doing so.

Yes, that they appear to be incommensurable is the problem. When he saw that he would have to fight his kin, he begins the discourse by questioning the necessity and value of his warrior duties. Proper action may not produce outcomes which are favourable to Arjuna of the Pandava, or in fact any individual being, yet it continues to be proper action, and continues to preserve the dharma. On its face, that doesn't seem very fair or even just, indeed it seems to subvert itself! And so it's not really about Arjuna's moral dilemma, it's an inquiry into the nature of all moral dilemmas, a kind of theodicy. The path of universal dharma (the warrior-ascetic) appears to differ from the path of self dharma (the householder), but this is illusory, they lead to the same place. The best path is to reconcile these and guard against illusion through personal devotion to Krishna. Perform proper action, but be equanimous about its outcome.

I notice you elided the last sentence in my post, maybe considering it to be irrelevant. But what Krishna is doing in showing to Arjuna the Vishvarupa is not to go "I am God, remember that your concerns don't matter". It is to show Arjuna the entire universe. What he sees is truly terrible to him. He sees that no matter his personal actions or spiritual liberation, death and destruction and pain and fear are things which are just as much a part of his Lord as the sights of peace and preservation within Vishnu which he can bear. That's correct, in all of these traditions as well as in Glorantha. What Arjuna discovered was the non-duality between himself and the universe. Whatever course he took would not separate him from Krishna. He already believed in the moral necessity of his war; what brought him distress is why this should even be the case, why any should be required to make the choice he had been putting off, between duty and kinship. His takeaway from the dialogue was that proper action preserves the dharma and his ultimate existence even as it destroys his own mortal existence, at least as he understood it. Arkat is the same: he continued following his caste duties and his Justice even long after others seemed to observe him giving those things up. He had an insight much like Arjuna, in seeing that death and destruction and oblivion were a part of the universe. But this doesn't make those things good or even neutral on their face, for him or for anyone else. He was a mortal, with mortal concerns, who lived within the Middle World. And so he followed what he knew, what his heart told him, and what he learned.

I think you maybe need to stop thinking of Krishna as a person when trying to understand what meaning his revelations to Arjuna actually possess. If you maintain that reductive framework, it's not surprising you are going to reach an authoritarian conclusion. But you may as well call a boulder authoritarian in its refusal to move.

Arkat was always the Deceiver and Betrayer. He deceived the Brithini into giving him command of their Horali in the Army of Law by his intimate knowledge of the enemy. He probably introduced the word gbaji into the Western languages. Then he moved past the Law. He deceived the Seshnegi by first fighting against the krjalki, and then allying himself to them. He moved past humanity. He deceived the rebel Theyalans by being necessary for the Dawn's return, and then bringing only Darkness. He moved past unity. He deceived uz by proving himself uzuz, then turning inner light to fire and leaving no hope of solace. He moved past all boundaries. He deceived chaos by first knowing it, and then becoming it. He stilled his movement.

Now, you can read from this or surmise from many similar implications that the attitude most people take against chaos is primarily one of fear and incomprehension, avoidance, repulsion, a bigotry. That is true. Their consideration of chaos in this manner is also warranted; by and large chaos is evil and inimical to them and their lives. But then there is a third angle to this truth of ours, that chaos in and of itself is neither evil nor inimical to the cosmos. So, altogether, that's: 1) chaos is real and fear of chaotics is warranted, 2) chaos in and of itself is the condition of what is unknown and apart from you and 3) these things apart from you which you do not understand are nonetheless as much a part of the universe as you are. If you bring these three things together, you might conclude that even the most awful creatures of chaos may be brought into your world and genuinely compromised with in a way which truly benefits everything. But you may also, with equal validity and coherence, conclude that chaos in and of itself is your real enemy. The former is the perspective nominally offered by Nysalor, and the latter is the perspective nominally offered by Arkat. The Bright Empire brought people together, but its Illuminates kept the rifts between them from healing, and exploited them for their own ends. Arkat betrayed every cult he joined, and yet left lasting connections between them.

Nonetheless, if they do use accept the use of chaotic magic, the only consequences for such are purely within the cult, if at all, by the nature of Illumination. Quite the contrary. To deal with known chaos by deception and underhandedness requires a more intimate, maybe even sympathetic, knowledge of what it is. It's at odds with the benefit of the Secret Knowledge as understood by the majority of those who listened to and were Illuminated by Rashoran or Nysalor. But, looked at another way, one can seize upon the Secret Knowledge as a weapon, pointed in either direction. You no longer instinctively fear your enemies— but mere instinct is not the origin of all enmity.

Time to trip up more: "singular they" is still grammatically plural in this usage, in English, and is so throughout the rest of that writeup.

p. 96, Heler, Mythos and History, first paragraph: "They accompanied Sshorg in her invasion of the land and was freed" -> "They accompanied Sshorg in her invasion of the land and were freed".