Question from Bob Stancliff, Answer by Greg Stafford. Published 1st Jun 1999.
Q: Why is Uleria’s primary rune Fertility and Chalana Arroy’s Harmony, when Harmony seems to have much more with Love and Fertility with Healing? The Greeks had words for several distinct aspects of love such as Phila, Eros, Agape and at least one other. None of these forms or the English uses of the word are directly related to Fertility in any way, instead, they relate to the ways that people are joined together, relate to each other, and share their lives. Clearly, Love is the primary aspect of Harmony. Fertility, on the other hand, is the essence of growth, fecundity, regrowth, and therefore, healing. As the runic opposite of Death, Fertility opposes and defies Death, it heals and reincarnates.
A: Although the Gloranthan runes are Absolutes, or perhaps because of it, any attempt to assign a single word to one of these runes as a name is doomed to failure. “Fertility” and “Love” alone cannot sum up the energy and powers that Uleria embodies. Don’t let labels confuse you.
Uleria does indeed possess and embody the Fertility or Life rune. This rune is about coming together, joining, even as the Death rune is about separation and tearing apart. Love draws things together — when a leaf falls from the tree to the earth, it is the love of the Earth Mother that causes this. Love, lust, appreciation of beauty, good conversation, all are ways of bringing people together.
In Glorantha, the natural result of any joining of two things is their melding into or creating of a new thing. Thus, the natural conclusion of the joining of a man and woman in love is the birth of a child. The magics that worshipers of Uleria gain serve to facilitate either the process of coming together or the natural result of such a joining. This is why Uleria embodies the Life rune — she is the embodiment and empowerment of Love, of joining together.
Life/Fertility is not concerned with Healing, however. Healing falls in the realm of Harmony, of returning something to the state it was in before it was disrupted. A wound or illness is not a normal feature of an entity, it is something caused by the forces of Disorder — violence, anger, fear, etc. Healing such an affliction is a matter of restoring the entity to its natural state, not giving it more “life.”
Even Resurrection is not concerned so much with restoring “Life” as it is with repairing the Separation between body and spirit, putting them back into their natural state of Harmony with each other. If a plant or animal dies, Nature does not try to bring it back to life — it simply causes a new plant or animal to grow or be born. This is why Chalana Arroy has no power to enhance the fertility of a man or woman, nor should she. She partakes of Life, but she is the source of Harmony.
Greg
Related Pages
- Belintar’s Book: Aldrya’s Own Story (1998)
- Greg Sez Guest: Does the Emperor party or not? (Jan 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: Dragon Slayers and Dragons of Saird (Feb 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: EAST ISLES: United or not? (Jan 1999)
- Greg Sez Guest: The Mighty Janube (Nov 1998)
- Greg Sez Guests: Five Troll Questions (Sep 1999)
- Greg Sez: Barbarians – Heortlings, Vingkotlings, and Orlanthi (Jan 1998)
- Greg Sez: Between the Devil and the Dawn Age (Aug 1998)
- Greg Sez: Chaos Taints Q&A (2007)
- Greg Sez: Divinity and Gender (2009)
- Greg Sez: Ducks and Eggs (Dec 1997)
- Greg Sez: How Big Is My God? (Oct 1998)
- Greg Sez: How Does the Red Emperor Rule? (Feb 1999)
- Greg Sez: Humakt Illuminated? (Apr 1998)
- Greg Sez: Information about Elves (Jan 2000)
- Greg Sez: Malkioni Literacy (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Metals In Prax (Feb 1998)
- Greg Sez: Mistress Race Trolls
- Greg Sez: Second Age Peloria and Carmania (2007)
- Greg Sez: Sheng Seleris in Hell (May 1998)
- Greg Sez: Tada’s High Tumulus (Feb 2000)
- Greg Sez: The Kingdom of War (Jul 1998)
- Greg Sez: The Mother of Monsters (Aug 2009)
- Greg Sez: The Red Emperor (Sep 1998)
- Greg Sez: The Sky World (Aug 2009)
- Greg Sez: The Southpath Gods (Jul 1999)
- Greg Sez: What is it with the Underworld? (Apr 2007)
- Greg Sez: Who Are the Blue Peoples? (Mar 1998)
- Greg Sez: Who are the Dog Fathers? (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Who was Baroshi? (Jun 1998)
- Greg Sez: Why do the Giants use the River of Cradles (May 1999)
- Greg Sez: Yelmalio (Mar 2000)
- Library of Londarios: Ancestors of the Lenshi Kings (1998)
- Library of Londarios: Clarifying the Primal Worlds (Feb 2003)
- Library of Londarios: Danmalastan (1999)
- Library of Londarios: Deneskerva the Great Sister
- Library of Londarios: Postcards From Glorantha (Mar 2004)
- Library of Londarios: Stellar FAQ (Dec 1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Abiding Book (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Birth of Elmal (1993)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part One (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Three (1999)
- Library of Londarios: The Kings of Seshnela, Part Two (1999)
- Library of Londarios: What the Mystic Taught Me (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Aedin’s Wall (2000)
- Myth of the Month: Chariots and Chariot Gods (2003)
- Myth of the Month: How Orlanth Met Ernalda (1998)
- Myth of the Month: How the Islands Came Apart (1998)
- Myth of the Month: How Vith Pacified the Anti-Gods
- Myth of the Month: Malkioni Otherworld (2001)
- Myth of the Month: Morden Defends the Camp (1999)
- Myth of the Month: Orlanth makes a Ring (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Shang-Hsa (1998)
- Myth of the Month: Shargash the Destroyer (1998)
- Myth of the Month: The Blue Dragon Sshorga (Dec 1999)
- Myth of the Month: The Orogeria Moon (1998)
- Myth of the Month: The Vithelan Creation of the World (1998)