Your Dumbest Theory

[mfbrandi]

13 hours ago, Joerg said:

If you want to see a dig at Islam there, it might be your preconceptions that get challenged.

Call it a dig or not, but the Malkioni Ompalam heresy is clearly associated with Islam in the Guide to Glorantha (p. 47).

Spoiler

A variety of strange, even perverse, Malkioni heresies flourish in Fonrit. The school of the Wool Cloaks seeks the understanding of esoteric knowledge through complete submission to Ompalam and the annihilation of the self while remaining physically alive. The adepts of these techniques claim, paradoxically, that they are the only truly liberated mortals in all of Glorantha. [Emphases mine]

13 hours ago, Joerg said:

the dig may have been at Roman Catholicism

Well, it is not as if I wasn’t offering a Christian mystical alternative.

Edited August 20, 2023 by mfbrandi
fonts

[Eff]

This is Humakt:

[soltakss]

5 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

[The sword broos may disagree with much of this, but they are always fun to debate.]

For me, the sword broos explicitly agree with pretty much all of that.

[Groovetronic]

Dumbest Theory - Argrath and Jar-Eel are both the Red Emperor in disguise, because shenanigans and illumination 😛

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Groovetronic said:

Dumbest Theory - Argrath and Jar-Eel are both the Red Emperor in disguise, because shenanigans and illumination 😛

The White Moon is the daughter of Argrath and Jar-eel!

[jajagappa]

32 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

The White Moon is the daughter of Argrath and Jar-eel!

We've been reading King of Sartar wrong - the following is the draconic mating ritual: "Those which would do such a thing then lurched into the sky. Those which would do such a thing brushed aside the burning light of the Red Moon which could destroy even them. The Storm Dragon then clutched the great bulk of the crimson orb with all four of its taloned feet, and wrapped itself around the Moon with its tail, wings, and long neck."

[Tindalos]

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

We've been reading King of Sartar wrong - the following is the draconic mating ritual: "Those which would do such a thing then lurched into the sky. Those which would do such a thing brushed aside the burning light of the Red Moon which could destroy even them. The Storm Dragon then clutched the great bulk of the crimson orb with all four of its taloned feet, and wrapped itself around the Moon with its tail, wings, and long neck."

A similar ritual seems to happen between Murharzarm and Nestendos to boot!

"The great cold monster lashed itself forward and sought to bite Murharzarm. The god broke its teeth with his scepter. The monster then wrapped itself around Murharzarm from his left foot to his chin, encoiling his body seven times, and lifted its great head to stare at Murharzarm in the face. But the god was not paralyzed like prey."

[scott-martin]

21 minutes ago, Tindalos said:

"The great cold monster lashed itself forward and sought to bite Murharzarm. The god broke its teeth with his scepter. The monster then wrapped itself around Murharzarm from his left foot to his chin, encoiling his body seven times, and lifted its great head to stare at Murharzarm in the face. But the god was not paralyzed like prey."

These theories are too good. Dumber version: every time one of these stories gets told a new root race of triolini gets its fins. All hail the Eighth Kindred To Come!

[Joerg]

5 hours ago, jajagappa said:

The White Moon is the daughter of Argrath and Jar-eel!

Must have been a chance meeting on converging heroquests with a short piece of shared path.

When did the White Moon business start? Around the same time as the White Bull society?

[Eff]

Revealed Mythologies notes that dragons in accounts of draconic mysticism are to be equated with Kundalini. 

Following from this, it is fairly easy to imagine that the Path of Immanent Mastery is disdained as a "parody of dragonhood", "trying to recruit our children", etc., that practicing draconists practice seclusion simply because of the many "chasers" who wish to see a demonstration of their draconic powers, and that the differentiation between orthodox and immanent schools is less relevant than whether they require you to practice the austerities for three years on your own before joining, require a letter lr two from a recognized spiritual practitioner, or allow you to begin on the principle of informed consent. 

[John Biles]

On 8/21/2023 at 12:55 PM, Joerg said:

Must have been a chance meeting on converging heroquests with a short piece of shared path.

When did the White Moon business start? Around the same time as the White Bull society?

The White Moon goes back centuries as a theological speculation of the Seven Mothers Cult.  But it escaped containment and now it's the favored idea of the poor, lashing out at the Empire's oppression.

The White Bull cult is basically a Ghost Dance style response to being conquered by the Lunars to my knowledge.  I assume it's a spin-off from Storm Bull's cult.

[mfbrandi]

17 hours ago, John Biles said:

The White Bull cult is basically a Ghost Dance style response …  I assume it's a spin-off from Storm Bull's cult.

Ah, Ghost Dance! Anyone else remember Robbie Coltrane drumming on the roof to the shipping forecast? Clearly, he was listening for clues to the return of the Storm. But where was Jacques Derrida when the Praxians needed him?

[Yes, yes, I know. But it has a great soundtrack.]

[John Biles]

17 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

Ah, Ghost Dance! Anyone else remember Robbie Coltrane drumming on the roof to the shipping forecast? Clearly, he was listening for clues to the return of the Storm. But where was Jacques Derrida when the Praxians needed him?

[Yes, yes, I know. But it has a great soundtrack.]

Derrida clearly was part of the force of Praxians that sacked Pavis.  And definitely an ally of Argath.

 

[mfbrandi]

On 8/21/2023 at 4:51 PM, scott-martin said:

every time one of these stories gets told a new root race of triolini gets its fins. All hail the Eighth Kindred To Come!

The White Moon = The Moon Under Water. (Tiamat told me this, not Eric.)

[scott-martin]

In my dream it was revealed that "the" Dwarf of Dwarf Run considers himself an almost narcissistically unique individual, the only true representative of his species . . . a nonpareil entity. And then the vision opened and every mostalite of note behaves the same way, florid in their particularities and diamond in their distinction. This means that councils like NIDA are always incredibly fragile collaborations that spend most of their effort trying to find and maintain a sense of common ground between widely scattered fragments of the original machine. But it also makes dwarf history a lot more interesting.

Edited August 25, 2023 by scott-martin
machine

[radmonger]

Orlanthi have 6 gender roles. Add in the child being born, and  that's enough for  a clan ring, or a lightbringer's quest

Parents with ambitions of having a heroic child strive to make sure that all roles are present at the birthing ceremony.

 

[Eff]

Lunar documentation uses euphemisms to refer to Sheng Seleris, of course, but one of the most arcane seems to translate as "poor little aum aum"...

[ZedAlpha]

There are Caladralander stories that involve Vestkarthan attempting to seduce every god, goddess, or otherwise nonbinary deity he can see. Most of them don't end well. They're quite popular, and his priesthood have essentially grimly accepted the fact that the big strong volcano god is also known as a horny idiot. Strangely, these stories haven't made people in Caladraland respect Vestkarthan any less overall.

[mfbrandi]

3 hours ago, ZedAlpha said:

There are Caladralander stories that involve Vestkarthan attempting to seduce every god, goddess, or otherwise nonbinary deity he can see. Most of them don’t end well.

Because they don’t end well, his sexual frustration increases and eruptions ensue. This is why volcanic soil is so fertile. If he were better at the chirpsing, his people would starve.

Edited August 31, 2023 by mfbrandi
eliminated one repetition

[ZedAlpha]

oh that's PERFECT. And it also serves as an example of the very real-world Bronze Age understanding that gods are both exemplars of proper behavior and cautionary tales at the same time.

"Be like Vestkarthan! Be brave, provide for your family, be loving, be open with your emotions! Also, don't be like Him in this very specific way, it only causes trouble!"

[ZedAlpha]

Another dumb theory: intentionally making an alloy out of copper (the magical Gloranthan metal) and tin (the other magical Gloranthan metal) makes anti-bronze. What does anti-bronze do? Nobody knows, 'cause the dwarves will sort that mess out real quick if they find out you've been making it.

[Richard S.]

59 minutes ago, ZedAlpha said:

Another dumb theory: intentionally making an alloy out of copper (the magical Gloranthan metal) and tin (the other magical Gloranthan metal) makes anti-bronze. What does anti-bronze do? Nobody knows, 'cause the dwarves will sort that mess out real quick if they find out you've been making it.

I'm pretty sure alloying copper and tin already just makes regular bronze. God-bone bronze is pretty rare, not the primary source.

[ZedAlpha]

see, I had been given to believe that godbone bronze was the only source of bronze.

[Joerg]

Alloying the two metals might give you Gloranthan Brass, which has nothing to do with the real world metal zinc, but with a copper-tin-whatever-else alloy that was melted and cooled down again, like the bones of the various children or incarnations of Lodril no longer aflame. The Brass Mountains in Carmania certainly are volcanic in their origin, and they provide much of the metal needs of the Pelorian basin.

[Malin]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Alloying the two metals might give you Gloranthan Brass, which has nothing to do with the real world metal zinc, but with a copper-tin-whatever-else alloy that was melted and cooled down again

The something else might be gold, which would make the Sun County insult brasshat makes a lot of sense since it would imply something shiny, with a touch of gold, but essentially impure.