[Glorantha] Re: [HeroQuest-RPG] Theyalan Missionaries

[Jane Williams]

> >Not the same - one is part of the other, and now we know 
> it's "soul", 
> >we can use the more specific term. Simple analogy: "brain" = 
> whole PC. 
> >"Soul" = important bit of software running on that PC. 
> "Brain damage" 
> >= "my PC doesn't work". "Soul damage"  = "Microsoft Word has been 
> >corrupted". And the nice missionaries supply a patch to install to 
> >fix it. That analogy won't stretch any further without breaking, I 
> >don't think, but it covers that far.

Donald:

> I don't think the soul is part of the brain at all. The idea that
> it is comes from 19th Century scientific theory ....

That's the RW, where souls may or may not exist and may or may not be the
same as Gloranthan souls in any case - but one thing we can be sure of is
that however the RW works in this regard, Glorantha works differently.

"Soul" is still part of "the system with which we do our thinking,
perception analysis and communication" though. Long phrase. Good job there's
a nice short word that has that meaning.


>...to an Orlanthi his
> soul is his breath. Which means that to a solar the soul is the 
> light and heat of the sun on his face, to an Ernaldan it is the 
> feel of earth under her feet, an Uz the encompassing darkness
> around her.

And so using these cultural-specific ideas, especially for a culture known
not to be any of them, won't help.

> >From this we get to the mental and emotional aspects of the 
> Windstop. Not only can't the Orlanthi breathe properly but it 
> takes away a mental stabiliser - their belief in the rightness
> of the world is shaken. Just as happens in the RW that's going
> to push some over the edge into madness 

Yes, all nasty stuff. And AFAIR OiD covered this quite well, the sense of
despair comes across throughout.


> I suppose
> a RW equivlent would be that electricity stopped working - not
> just that we'd no longer have heat, light and power as we need
> but that a key scientific fact on which our society is based
> is no longer true.

Maybe - though the analogy may be even closer than that. If you plug
something in and it doesn't work, you question the device. Then you think
there's a (temporary) power cut. You may possibly end up with the answer
that someone's taken out the National Grid. But you *don't* need to deduce
that the basic principle of physics is no longer true to explains the
evidence - and in both cases, it isn't true. Someone *has* taken out the
National Grid. If you're not too busy trying to survive, better go and fix
it.