[Glorantha] Reincarnation in Carmania

Kevin McDonald kpmcdona at mindspring.com
Tue May 23 23:13:02 BST 2006


Antonio asks:
> What cultures of Glorantha believe in reincarnation? I'm specially concerned about lunars (I think it's very clear that they believe in reincarnation), tarshites (humm... I think I have read something about reincarnation in orlanthi background), voralans (I think voralans, elves and trolls believe in that) and carmanians.
>   
I am not actually sure that most Carmanians believe in reincarnation, 
though I am a bit rusty on the subject right now. For your general 
amusement, here is how it works in my game:

Carmanians fall in to one of three general categories: 1) Wizardry types 
who cross the Sword Bridge to paradise after death, 2) Theist types who 
serve their patron deity after death, and 3) Lunar Carmanians who 
believe that you reincarnate until you achieve perfection and then cross 
the Sword Bridge to paradise. Those who fall under the sway of the Lie 
follow the same pattern, except that their pitiable state of spiritual 
pollution causes them to go to bad places after death instead of nice 
places.

In any case, all of the dead will eventually re-incarnate at the End of 
Time to fight the final battle for the future of the world. Right 
thinking Carmanians know that Ganesatarus will be defeated and the 
wicked will have their polluted souls purified by fire, there-after 
joining their fellow beings in eternal paradise. Its a nice story, see? 
Everybody wins in the end.

IMG, Carmanian world-view describes three basic Ages: the Age of 
Idovanus where everything was wonderful and perfect, the Age of 
Ganesatarus where everything sucked and the world almost ended, and the 
Mixed Age (Time) where mortals are left to choose good or evil through 
their own actions. The way things shake out at the end of the Mixed Age 
will determine the fate of the world once and for all. Idovanus is 
expected to win because He is perfect and Ganesatarus, being all that 
Idovanus is not, is flawed. Others believe that it is up to the mortals 
to decide through their individual actions. (Carmanians don't give a fig 
for intentions - only actions count.)

~Kevin McD



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