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UristMcTurtle

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Posts posted by UristMcTurtle

  1. This is not about the eternal debate of Elmal against Yelmalio, nor the state of those cults in current Sartar. 

    Straightforwad: In modern Glorantha canon, who is the sun god of the sartarites? Who recieves the blessings and prayers when your average farmer needs a sunny day? The focus of the usual discussion seems to be around the identity of Lightforge, but considering that Elmal was born so the orlanthi could have a sun god, I think this question is rather important.

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  2. 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.

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  3. I must confess, the first thing that made me swim in the ocean that is Glorantha lore was not Runequest at all. It was in fact due the extensive world building of Greg and the gang, and also, the obvious influence of antiquity both in religion and cultures. For that reason, i am not actually impressed when i found in suplements and books (specially in old books, because the writting in Chaosium seems to be a little bit more tame in the current Runequest) with rather dark of directly amoral (in a modern perspective) elements. In fact i like that kind of lore, like the absolutely patriarcal state in between the solar cultures, the reliance of massive soul sacrifices in the Lunar Empire and the slave civilization of Fonrit.

    Now, the subject of the post: What is your favorite dark, amoral or simply horrible piece of lore in the setting? I am talking about those cultural elements that make you remember that people in Glorantha have a kind different worldview.

    In my case, well, i made a post about it some time ago. While not the most terrible thing in the setting, the reliance of some orlanthi cultures on human sacrifice is something both unusual and really cool in the context of a cultural family based mostly on bronze age indo-europeans.

    While Fonrit is (in a modern perspective) an absolutely horrible society, the guide and other suplements made that clear in the first paragraphs so you quickly make this idea in your head about them beign some kind of evil empire. But Orlanthi...The books and pieces of lore are usually heavily biased in their favor. They are a kind of meta-protagonist in this point, and while they indeed have some ideas that may clash with our current morality, most of that is more or less tame compared with other cultures in Glorantha (their reliance of violence, for example). But human sacrifice...Yeah, that is pretty unusual, specially talking about the usual """good guys""", and the mentions about it are so puntual and superficial in the books that they create the idea of that beign something completely normal for them. I absolutely love that reminder about the so distant nature of the cultures in this world.

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  4. Well, reading throught the last Runequest core rulebook I came across an interesting fact about the cult of Maran Gor: Every male child born to the God Talker must be sacrificed. That small line reminded me that (and correct me if I am wrong) human sacrifice is still present in Orlanthi society to a certain extent, even if it seems rather reduced.

    My questions are: How are Orlanthi human sacrifices carried out? Which Orlanthi gods accept human sacrifices? Is it something universal or only present in some clans?
     
    As a side note, i really, really like the presence of this kind of stuff, and hope that Gods of Glorantha can give us more detail about it. Maybe is a bit unconventional or dark, but honestly, this really reafirm the bronze age feel arround the Orlanthi.

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  5. Well...I'm a native spanish speaker so, sorry if this post contains some mistakes.

    I've fallen in love with Glorantha since few months, and, honestly, is the most complex setting wich i've seen until now. The cultures, the epic, epic mythology and the history...Man, the autors did a pretty great job.

    If i'm saying this, is because my intention is not attack or make a critic, but rather share a ..."odd" sensation wich i have while reading the guide. I love Glorantha, and maybe this is caused by ignorance, but...Well...

    While reading, i have the sensation that the information presented in the guide is very, very Theyalan-centric, or, at least, very Theyalan-Pelorian centric. 

    Notice please that i'm not saying "Glorantha is Orlanthi-centric" because i know the lot of information, mythos and perspectives guiven in other suplements, but rather signaling a idea that don't leave my head: I don't know much of the God-Learnes besides his monomythic perspective of the world, but, if the history and mythology present in the guide is based in they studies, it seems that the great empire was in love with the Orlanthi mythology, or at least with the esqueleton of that narrative. 

    I understand that a semi-unified baseline is necesary in the guide, because you can't simply throw contradictory myths to the reader without context, or without traying to consolidate his diferences, but...I don't know...It seems to me that, rather than a monomyth, is the Orlanthi mythology fused with some critical sections of other narratives. Even in the in-time history, sometimes, rather than a cold description of events, when talking about Orlanthi-related things it becomes a epic narrative, wich is good...But odd at the same time.

    That, fused with the fact that the center of the Hero-Wars if Dragon Pass, and the events of King of Sartar, almost elevate the Orlanthi to a kind of collective main character, not of an era (wich is normal, even in the real world: countries and empires becomes the center of civilization during they golden ages) but the entire story. 

    I'm not saying that is necessary give more protagonism to other countries, but if would be cool if in the myths we can see more perspectives of the god-time, wich other cultures have in plenty quantities. With all the information and perspectives until now, is easily grew bored about the Orlanthi, even when they are really, really epic and complex.

    Again, sorry if i'm talking with ignorance. 

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