Glorantha’s Founding Myth and the Nature of Religion

[Ali the Helering]

Everything we work with is a particular interpretation of Glorantha.  Greg alone was infallible.  Until we got Gregged.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Ali the Helering
Sorry for multiple post

[Ali the Helering]

Everything we deal with is a particular interpretation of Glorantha.  Only Greg was infallible.  

At least, until the next time we got Gregged.

Since the East didn't truly suffer the Darkness, even the Monomyth is a particular interpretation.  Or at least it once was.

[Eff]

4 minutes ago, Ali the Helering said:

Everything we work with is a particular interpretation of Glorantha.  Greg alone was infallible.  Until we got Gregged.

I would suggest that it is possible to interpret the texts that exist in such a way that we can talk to each other about Glorantha(s) on some level other than simply holding up a specific interpretation and broadcasting it. 

I would also say that our specific Gloranthas are generally redactions, with material edited out and added in by the redactor(s), but that's actually too pedantic even for me in this context. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Eff
Mild clarification.

[Ali the Helering]

Halleluia brother!  I completely agree with you, which is why I do not agree with you.😇

[Eff]

2 minutes ago, Ali the Helering said:

Halleluia brother!  I completely agree with you, which is why I do not agree with you.😇

Sister, actually. But yes.

[Ali the Helering]

8 hours ago, Eff said:

Sister, actually. But yes.

So sorry, hadn't logged your icon

[JRE]

I confess being one of those that consider that the known Gloranthan history, after Dawn, is a decreasing amount of magic that forces people to be heroic with less. But I have always accepted it is my own interpretation of the slowly decaying Godtime, less immune to Time than the gods believed, and spread thin as the number of worshippers increase.

As time progresses there are many more humans (and less of the other sentient races) but the number of meaningful heroes seems to decrease. Heroes as the ones able to redefine reality. The Lunar Empire, despite its own propaganda, is a shadow of what the EWF achieved, which is almost nothing compared to the potential of the Sunstop and the Bright Empire. 

I also think that getting rid of the Godtime is the only way for humankind to get out of the cyclical trap that is the Godtime, as repeating the actions of your god is virtuous, so repeating their mistakes is presented as a virtue, rather than a recurring error. Rather than killing the evil emperor, seduce him, go drinking together, move somewhere else... But do it differently, at least.

Greg was fond of presenting the current world as the end state of Glorantha, but as others have mentioned he saw magic in this world, and the way from one to the other is unknown.

However we often ignore the high capacity for rebuilding allowed by fertility magics. Some catastrophes depopulate large areas, but they always recover fast. The fall of the EWF almost depopulated of humans Dragon Pass. The Dragonkill depopulated it again and then killed most of their neighbours. 

 

[Ali the Helering]

5 hours ago, Ali the Helering said:

So sorry, hadn't logged your icon

Mind you, I'm not an axolotl😁

[mfbrandi]

6 hours ago, JRE said:

Greg was fond of presenting the current world as the end state of Glorantha, but as others have mentioned he saw magic in this world

Magic, perhaps, but not fireblade, tapping, and bat–gods flapping down Oxford Street chomping on innocent shoppers.

To the extent that Glorantha makes elements of myth and religion concrete and literal and drops them as trip hazards around the landscape, it deviates from much real-world religion, no? The world as perceived by the IRL shaman is not that of Rachel Pollack’s Unquenchable Fire — they are not all batshit crazy. The Bishop of Durham’s god wouldn’t indulge in anything as crass as conjuring tricks with bones or torching unbelievers — though if we take Herr Jenkins at his word, YHWH could if they chose to — and Don Cupitt’s couldn’t (because not “real”).

IMHO, it is a shame that Liz Williams’ Miracles of Our Own Making: a History of Paganism didn’t get into it about the “existence” of the gods of the new religious movements — whether they do, what it might mean — as she surely has the tools to say something interesting from an insider’s point of view.

Edited October 20, 2022 by mfbrandi
added review link