I found this thread time ago, lurking as I usually do. Then I refrained from posting due personal reasons, but seeing that the topic was somewhat necroed, I feel compelled to writte my thoughts on this controversy.
Talking about the myth itself, I indeed see a violent Storm God trying to impose his will on the object of his desire, but what I also see is a witty and manipulative goddess playing with this short-sighted and young warrior. They are as flawed as a god can be, and clearly made for each other.
Now, what it compels me to writte this is certain attitudes across the thread that, while healthy in a empathic sense, may as well kill what (in my opinion) is one of the most important part of the "Glorantha experience". To put it clear, most of what I will say comes from personal feelings that may be shared, or not, by other users, and by no means try to determine what makes Glorantha, well, Glorantha.
It is important to remember that the basis of this setting lies on ancient, bronze age/iron ages cultures, and this inspiration is clear in both the political and the religious. The Orlanthi, despite being represented as good guys in several publications, do not escape this fact, and you can trace most of their components back to indo-european cultures, from celts to mycenean greeks. I wonder if the fact that many of them practice slavery, a topic no less concerning than domestic abuse, deserve also be frowned upon in a creative sense, winnings us the right to censure the presence of those elements in the fiction. A situation shared with, for example, human sacrificie among certain cults, including the murder of children for the glory of certain well known earth goddess. At first glance the ideals of liberty may fool us into believing that they are different or less "evil" than the Lunar rivals, but such ideals are also the reason for why you can freely qualify certain clans and tribes as hypocritic. No need to add deep xenophobic attitudes to the list.
I remember my first contact with Glorantha throught King of Dragon Pass. An aspect that really facilitated inmersion was not the fact that the Orlanthi shared some ideals with my culture, but on the contrary, that they seemed to believe things that I consider inmoral and even wickedly evil. They are not modern humans in our mundane setting: They are a bronze age inspired cultural family shaped by different conditions that also lead to different values. Such thing make, sometimes, hard to roleplay as them, but at the same time turns their fictional existence into something credible. The same goes for the Dara Happans and the wicked Fonritians.
What I fear is not players choosing to erase those elements from their games. I would do so if even one player feel concerned or offended by them. What I fear is the idea that problematic elements, or being specific, those capable of hurting our sensibilities as modern humans under the flag of the western culture in the year 2020, do not deserve to be present on the cultures we play as, much less so when there is tons and tons of other problematic elements that are still there but do not raise the same outrage just because we see it as distant problems. I live in a place in wich cases of wicked people doing dark rituals with human bodies is not a matter of fiction, and I wonder if that gives me the right to scream against a writter for the inclusion of human sacrifice and baby-killing on certain cults.
It is healthy to explore different perspectives, even if those perspectives hurt our sensibilites. It is healthy to face worldviews different to our own, even if we only want to condemn them as evil. It is healthy being able to put on the shoes of people different from you, seeing throught their eyes, even if your values remain the same.
Anyway, like other said, if you dont like something, feel free to erase it from your games. Your players deserve to be comfortable, and you should not impose elements that threathen the enjoyment. This is a game in the end.
Sorry for any mistake. English is not my native tongue.