[Glorantha] Re: Chaos Otherworld?

[Julian Lord]

TTRotsky and Greg:


> YGWV
>
> > Greg:
> >>There is no Chaos Otherworld that a person can visit and return from.
> >>There are some parts of the Underworld that have become corrupted with
> >> Chaos,
> >>and have the characteristics of a "chaos otherworld." But these are not
> >> places
> >>where Chaos creatures go to worship and obtain magic.
> >>
> > This is interesting, though. If this is not where they go to worship and
> > so on, where *do* they go?
>
> I don't thnk that the chaos crfeatues worship at all, in the manner than
> humans practice it.
> Chaos magic just exudes from the bodies of the foul creatues, rather like
> Common Magic comes from the inner world.


One possible alternative
way to look at this could be that Wakboth, as an Inner World denizen,
can be an "ultimate" Source of Chaos Magic,  although the magic would have
to be actually obtained from lesser beings that are NOT crushed under the
Block (or whatever). Which is just another way of saying what Greg said,
that the chaos has a material origin, and why it's so important to the Storm
Bull cultists to keep that material origin under control.

However, Chaos is Chaos, and Wakboth cannot be the only source of it.

For instance:

> If Krarsht's home (for example) is not in a
> > 'chaos corrupted part of the underworld', then where is it? Or is this a
> > matter of definition of 'chaos corrupted'?
>
> Krarsht may inhabit there, but the worshipper don't go there to get magic.
> They are just a part of Krarsht, with its powers


Exactly, and this is a great counter-example.

The peculiarity of Krarsht is that she and her worshippers are a
chaotically identical entity in several copies,
a little like Agent Smith in the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. :-)

Unlike the entities and chaos magic tied to Wakboth, Krarsht and all
krarshti is the "ultimate" source of her own magic.

My own take on this confusing issue is that the magic either comes from
Wakboth or from those entities associatied with Wakboth ; or it comes from
each particular exception in the Cosmic Laws that is manifest in that
particular Chaos.

But because of this last point, to my mind, the exceptional nature of Chaos
means that it cannot be integrated as such into any systematic description
of the Cosmos, being as it is inherently from Outside any such system ---
therefore, no Chaotic Otherworld, or it would have to be called something
other than Chaos, as it would actually be a part of the Cosmic
System, instead of being bound to destroy it ... :-)

Julian Lord