Greg’s initial writings of Gbaji and Chaos predated RuneQuest (or White Bear and Red Moon for that matter), and although Greg drew on many sources (including likely Moorcock’s 1965 Stormbringer novel), it stemmed from something very different from Moorcock’s conception of Law and Chaos.
Chaos is ultimately what the cosmos came from – nothingness but also infinite potential. However, its presence in the cosmos cannot help but unravel the natural world.
Law is everything that upholds the cosmos. That includes obvious things like Darkness, Light, Earth, Sky, Life, Harmony, but also things like Death, Change, Disorder, etc. All of these things are part of the natural world. Chaos is the “other” – you can take whatever adjective or metaphor you want.
Gbaji is that form of Chaos that we convince ourselves that we can use or control or otherwise make use of for our benefit. “Just a little Chaos, just this time.” But Gbaji always bites us and makes us suffer. Gbaji is the Deceiver, more than just a mere liar like the Trickster.
See also
In the Greater Darkness, people associated with Chaos primarily through the following means:
- They realised Chaos would triumph and they wanted to avoid annihilation for as long as possible – e.g. Vivamort.
- They hated the world and wanted to burn it down and were happy to use Chaos to do so – e.g. Thed.
- They were once normal entities but became warped and twisted by too much contact with Chaos – e.g., Bagog.
- They were once normal entities that sought power through Chaos – e.g., Mallia.
- They were fragments of Primal Chaos that formed into their own entity- e.g., Cacodemon, Krarsht.
I think many of us who have lived enough of life have fallen for Gbaji’s lies at least once. Or perhaps started on the path and then realised where it heads and turned away. Others go down the path and find themselves in hells of their own making, every bit as terrible as what Wakboth inflicted on his victims.