[Glorantha] Re: Moved from: HeroQuest-RPG Re: The Missionaries

[Jane Williams]

> > What they're unable to do is (checking exact words) "But 
> the important
> > point is that they were INCAPABLE of knowing or understanding this--
> > and many other things"
> 
> > Not incapable of doing it *after* understanding it, incapable of
> > understanding it in the first place.
> 
> Would it be easier for you to accept that they were cursed to 
> ignorance by exposure to the Darkness?

I'm perfectly happy to accept that they were rendered incapable of
understanding certain types of knowledge. 

> Sounds very much like "Sanity Loss", for exactly the same causes. I
> suppose walking up to the edges of the world shard you happen 
> to occupy can cause some severe flaws in your reasoning.

I'm sure it can, though in fact that isn't what's described here. The world
is described as "shattered", isn't it? With big chunks of Nothing in between
the bits of Reality. Nasty.


> > Like, if an imbalance of elements can damage souls over a long
> > period of time, will the far shorter Windstop have any similar
> > but lesser effects on a few people? How does one then cure this?
> 
> Rather than an imbalance of elements, the Windstop caused a 
> separation of
> soul. From a certain POV, all the Orlanthi in the area affected became
> walking dead. I wonder if some Humakti shared this POV...

Now that's a fascinating thought, and one I'll bear in mind as the Swords
game moves towards the Windstop. Whether or not it's true, if I can get one
NPC to express that opinion, and another to disagree, we can play with it
from there.

> Question: Was it possible to reach the ancestors during the 
> Windstop? In a
> certain sense, they are subcults of Orlanth and Ernalda.

I think that's stated explicitly? Let me check? - yes, p43-44. Ancestor Day
- worship proceeds normally, ancestors show up and chat.
 
> Were the wyters functional as conduit to the Otherworld, or were they
> reduced to mere guardian beings?

P43 - "No magic works if it comes from O, E, or their sub-cults. None: no
feats or affinities work, **no wyter speaks**, no umbroli wind blows."

I can see a few ways in which that's ambiguous, but that's what it says.

> What about lesser daimons from the Storm Realm bound into 
> objects? Again,
> are they independent of the Great Gods, or fragmental 
> aspects? What about Hero Cults?

Sorry, can't find any specific mentions. It might be possible to deduce this
by working backwards from some of the NPCs presented, looking at their stats
with and without "Orlanth" magic and seeing whether this includes this sort
of item or not, but I haven't tried. (On a quick look, I can't even find any
of that sort of kit! Odd - these major NPCs seem to have less in the way of
colourful possessions than the average PC).

> > Damage is specified as being to soul, not to spirit or essence.
> 
> To the breath, to use Orlanthi terminology. Which definitely 
> was the case
> during the Windstop, and which required missionaries (aka 
> "New Breathers") to overcome.

Yes, it looks like a potentially useful parallel, doesn't it? I'm not sure
how far it can be taken, since during the Windstop the problem was
breathing, not thinking or learning. And taking a parallel too far is
usually a bad idea.

> > The missionaries are theists, so that's their area of interest
> > and expertise. I wonder if the same sort of damage would also
> > have happened to the bits of brain tuned to the other 
> magical realms?
> 
> Brain? For worshippers of Orlanth, the organ attuned is 
> breath. (i.e. an
> organ that extends beyond the mere skin of an individual.)

Well, these people *weren't* worshippers of Orlanth - that's the change the
missionaries were making! So using their terminology would seem rather
pointless. What was damaged was a part of whatever they used to do their
thinking and learning.