Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Myth in Glorantha

Posted on October 6, 2024

Let’s talk a moment about myth in Glorantha. Now we have an entire book on it, but let’s start with Greg’s own words:

“Myths are sacred tales that directly address our contact with the Divine Mystery. They explain why the world is the way that it is, granting an intuitive grasp of our mortal situation, and provide us with experiences of the deepest sort.

Their characters are the deities who inhabit the fabric of our cosmos, their settings are the universe at large, and their results were the creation of the greater universe, the one which we humans cannot ever hope to change.

Ceremonies for the gods are religious re-enactments, revelations, and other rites whose purpose is to immerse (or at least expose) the individual to direct contact with the ancient powers. They may be public, familial, or personal.

Myths of this type do not generally require rationalization or explanation to its worshippers. The apparent illogic of its parts is irrelevant in the face of personal experience. But whenever these tales are told to an outsider (which is the source of most of the tales in these volumes), some of the meaning is lost. Furthermore, the inexperienced receiver of the tale almost inevitably interprets the information without understanding the esoteric meaning.

The results of this may be correct or incorrect (i.e., in line with the original nature of the meaning) or good or bad (i.e., for continuing the original meaning).”

Gloranthan myths are far less susceptible to sophist manipulation than are our modern scientism or dogmas, as they are rooted in personal experience with the divine. They are true if they enable direct contact with the ancient powers of the cosmos. An initiate’s experience of the mysteries is deeper truth – even if it contracts itself and other deeper truths. That does not mean it is fictional (at least within the context of the assumptions of a fictional fantasy setting), very much the opposite!

See also:

Understanding Mythology
Four Ways to Experience these Stories (re-post)
Myth is not disguised history
Gloranthan Mythology

“Gloranthan myths are far less susceptible to sophist manipulation than are our modern scientism or dogmas” Greg then proceeded to write a history which is almost entirely sophist manipulation of myth. Who do I believe, Greg or Greg? This is most definitely not Greg’s take on Glorantha’s history. Glorantha’s history of mythic exploration has many seeming dead-ends (e.g., the EWF) but pretty much all were initiated in good faith. Even the God Learners, EWF, and the Seven Mothers. None were what I would call “sophist manipulations.” Although the cults change in history, thecults generally change in response to new revelatory experiences (of course these revelations were often sought by heroquesters seeking power, weapons, etc., but they were always real divine experiences regardless of motivation) and not to serve immediate political agendas.

Illuminates have a genuine mind-shattering mythic illumination, the God Learners genuinely did seek to understand how all the myths fit together to form a whole, and the EWF really did undertake the Grand Ritual in conjunction with the True Dragons. The power gained from these experiences and knowledge were often abused and misused, but the underlying experience and knowledge were always something key to understanding the cosmos, and not mere word games.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Greg Stafford, Mythology

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • The Grasslands of Prax

    Something to keep in mind about Prax. The grasslands of …
  • Praxian Kinship Groups

    Praxian tribes are divided into smaller kinship groups or clans, …
  • Lunar Resettlement of Tarsh after 1460 ST

    After 1460, large sections of Peloria (especially east of the …
  • The Spread of the Lunar Way

    In the Lunar Provinces, about 26% of the total population …
  • Gods of Fire and Sky and the Lunar Way

    The Gods of Fire and Sky co-exist alongside the Lunar …
  • How Much Land is a Hide?

    So in RQ, a “hide” is a unit of accounting …
  • Agricultural Data for RuneQuest

    Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Greg‘s only …
  • Farming in Dara Happa

    In anticipation of the Fire/Sky Book, here’s a few notes …
  • Farming in the Big Rubble

    There are some 1600 humans in the Big Rubble, with …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • creating a spirit cult of Fralar
  • Thoughts on running an Animal Nomad/Praxian game
  • Fillable excel RQG character sheets?
  • Where is there a list of temples in Dragon Pass?
  • New on the Jonstown Compendium: Many Suns
  • Subcults vs Associated Cults
  • Gorgorma and Dendara's Chess Game
  • Merged deities
  • Elf plant ships and dwarf stone ships
  • Do Dwarves have souls?

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tapatalk post Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Spirit Magic by Cult and Associate Cult

  • ISS1102 Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars (2000)

  • Dragon Pass – A brief outline (2013)

  • Some Fronelan Population And Cultural Details

  • Notes on Fronela III

  • Notes on Fronela II

  • Notes on Fronela I

  • Hon-eel Temples and Shrine

  • Seven Mothers Temples and Shrines

  • Ernalda Temples and Shrines

  • Barntar Temples and Shrines

  • Babeester Gor Temple and Shrines

  • Voria Shrines

  • Ty Kora Tek Temples and Shrines

  • Asrelia Temples and Shrines

  • Maran Gor Temple, Shrines and Site

  • Odayla Shrines

  • Humakt Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Orlanth Rex Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Hippoi Shrines

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme