Law Offices of
Stephen R. Marsh
Attorney and Counselor at Law
_________________________________________________________________________________
1401 Holliday Street
Suite 316 Union Square
Wichita Falls, Texas 76301
(817) 322-8012
February 17, 1992
Steve Martin
Post Office Box 272914
Concord, CA 94527-2914
Philip P. Davis
6802 Garden Court
Gilroy, CA 95020
(408) 848-1163
Greg Stafford
950A 56th Street
Oakland, CA 94608
(510) 547-7681
David Dunham
532 North 71st Street
Seattle, Washington 98103-5127
(206) 783-7701
Dear Steve:
Thank you for your letter. I really appreciated it. I am taking the liberty of forwarding
copies of your letter & essays, along with this letter, to the above.
Responding to your letter:
a. It has always been my contention that heroquesting and runes are general design
principles of which Glorantha and the Norse are special cases or examples of execution. Odin
was a rune master and a heroquester. Glorantha's seminal concepts owe somewhat to the
Norse.
b. One of the best updates, at least in the time of Anders Swenson, was to beg and
bribe Greg into letting you read his heroquest notes & correspondence file. Many of us long
for a copy of what Anders was able to read.
c. my skill system can be used transparently with RQIII. A GM need only use the
system (using the same character sheets and dice) when the GM needs or wants additional
levels of detail.
d. I like your comments about treating Rune possession as a skill rather than as an
attribute or characteristic. I'll be thinking about it seriously.
e. EWF in working out the contrary/dragonnewt mythlines got itself mixed into the
counsel's mythlines.
d. In a way, Arkat was the penultimate god-learner.
e. 1. Glory need not be separated by runes, but, should slaying lots of enemies
give you any added benefit with the life or harmony runes? Should fleeing from your enemies
or lying to them aid you with death or truth?
f. The pay-off/disads, etc. in getting a rune based transmundane power should be
an integral part of the power and the originating quest. I was talking balance and design there.
g. As I understand it, and I could be wrong, Arachne Solara is the Celestial
Court's goddess reborn as the spinner of time. She is, in a way, the father of the true (white)
moon that is to come to bring peace.
Note that the red and blue moons are sisters, both trapped in their mother(s) by the
creation of time. Your speculation looks pretty good to me. Ask yourself about the sources of
the land masses where the red and blue moons are found, why lunar and air exclude each
other, and who was passing through hell when.
I would not discard the Celestial Court so easily. Its members all transformed or
endured, more or less successfully, and all of them escaped primal chaos.
h. In many ways, Orlanth is an extremely capable and admirable character. Kind
of an oath-keeping and faithful version of Odin. In each of his four avatars he was successful,
innovative and direct. Best of all he was able to fight himself (in the Gbaji wars) and win. He
may be the only one to escape illumination and the god learners.
i. Enclosed with the letter find some more notes. (Copies not sent to the others
receiving your notes and this letter). Hope you enjoy them.
Responding to your essay:
a. yes, yes, YES, the pairs, etc. are simplistic. However, they do reflect (I think)
the underlying structure of Glorantha's runes prior to the alteration due to actions on the god
level in unique myths and history (I could well be wrong) -- including obscuring lies spread
after the destruction of the god learners.
b. luck and fate form an important group along with mastery. Fate is the Lunar
way, Mastery fits Prax, Luck the Holy Country. Mastery fits men who rely on skills (includ-
ing runemasters), Fate those who rely upon gods (including runepriests), Luck those who step
outside skills and deities.
c. Your essays add a level of complexity by pointing out additional levels of
complications in rune interactions. Well done.
d. One interesting thing about Chaos is that it can be used to alter which sets of
runes oppose each other. Thus with chaos intervention, Air might oppose Form Runes rather
than the other elemental runes.
However, generally, chaos (unilluminated at least) does not alter the chaos / opposition
sets.
e. Lunar/Chaos regulates several inclusive sets as does chaos itself. Martin misses
the impact this has in setting up oppositions. (For comparison, Light does not oppose Cold or
Heat oppose Dark -- Zorak Zoran's great secret).
f. Earth includes stone, soil, and dust. The relationship is more complex than the
perceived relationship of earth and malign earth. Treating it as an exclusive set is tempting,
but a mistake (encouraged by Earth, naturally). The exclusive parts are the runes the various
aspects are linked to, not the actual Earth part of those aspects.
A good example is that Magma and Steam are exclusive. Not because of the heat they
share, but because of the stone/water they do not share.
g. nice discussion on severed runes.
h. broken rune sets are re-aligned by the intervention of chaos. Krarsht has Mo-
bility/Chaos/Stasis, with her Mobility and Stasis opposing other things because of the Chaos
intervention.
Delecti has Life/Chaos/Death. His life is opposed by the elements (including air, not
including lunar -- important for lunar vampire legions). Note the trouble he has with all
elements. His life is also dependent on his death (though his death is opposed by a rune other
than life). Note that with chaos separation also comes some warping. An unwarped split
would be harder to accomplish -- and even less natural.
Breaking part of a larger set is easier than breaking it all.
In addition, breaking a set only as to some aspects is easier than breaking as to the full
runes. E.g. Zorak Zoran who has Shade (his part of darkness) and Heat (from Yelmalio) and
has neither in opposition. Caladra and Aurelion are another good example of partial breaks.
Breaking Runes // keeping balance or not.
> by godtime actions combined with a trade-off.
the godtime makes it possible, the trade-off keeps balance.
e.g. Zorak Zoran who took Heat from Yelmalio.
> by chaos intrusions interposing chaos to sever or break
a rune set. generally the new opposition is a group for
each rune rather than a single rune. Balance kept
e.g. Delecti.
> God-learner interaction.
? with proper off-set and reductions, keeping eventual
balance. e.g. Caladra and Aurelion. Note the great natural
violence and problems associated with such sets.
? without off-sets, placing oneself in the severance. This
is the traditional god learner method. The act of severing or
breaking places the quester and his group(s) into the dynamics.
In the short run it allows greater power. In the long run,
tensions fueled by the nature and depth of reality build.
One can appreciate how the practice of inopportune breaking (without accepting a cost
or keeping balance) lead to later problems for the god-learners. While endemic to their society
and methods, it eventually created great reserves of force (like a building earthquake or a light-
ing charge waiting to be discharged). The force eventually evened out, erasing all those tied to
it or near those tied to it (or tied to them).
The defining point of a "true" god-learner (i.e. those destroyed no matter how or where
they fled) is inappropriate rune breaking without balance or off-sets.
i. Dragonnewt consumes chaos... I would not hazard the attempt to break that
pair. Either the utility of Dragonnewt's ability to consume chaos (of which trait fueled magic
are a lesser aspect) or the power of chaos would be lost.
j. Issaries "rune" is a use or facet of his rune(s) rather than a unique rune un-
shown. He is a good example of how killing a god can cut of the area where the god is dead
from the god's runes. (Yelm is, of course, the great example of this).
I'm glad you enjoyed the essays (and, I hope, Reaching Moon #7).
I'd advise dropping over to Gilroy and catching Phil Davis. Pick up the intermediate
drafts I sent David Hall. Beg, borrow or steal a copy of the Heroquest correspondence and
notes file. Talk to Greg Stafford. Write me back with the inside scoop. (The last most of all.
I'd love to hear the latest).
Regards,
Steve Marsh