You ask, we answer. Q&A is a Question and Answer opportunity for Glorantha fans to ask questions directly to Greg Stafford, the creator of Glorantha, and others. He will arbitrarily choose one or more submitted question each month and answer it.
Caveat: We're going to use many inappropriate terms herein, like "species" or maybe even "gravity," both of which are concepts essentially outside of Gloranthan consciousness. These inappropriate vocabulary usages here should not imply that use of these concepts occurs within Glorantha.
Greg Sez is an ongoing column of material made available by Greg Stafford, creator of Glorantha. Other columns of Greg Sez include:
Feel free to e-mail a question for consideration in a future column.
Question from NICK BROOKE. Answer copyright ©1999 by Issaries, Inc. This page may be freely linked to, and one copy may be printed for personal use, but any other reproduction by photographic, electronic, or other methods of retrieval, is prohibited.
Q: The Myth of the Month (Danmalastan) says one of the tasks of the Malkioni Commoners (Dronar caste) was that they "recorded information". This sounds to me more like a Zzaburi function, based on previously published material. What's happening?
A: The entry refers to the original Dronar of the six ancient tribes. These six tribes were characterized by different functions which were unique in each tribe. The Dronar described as the ones who "recorded information" were basically the worker class for the Tadeniti. At that ancient time before Death the people didn't have the need to even eat, so that the Tadeniti were (at first) all engaged in the art and skill of writing. Also, literacy is not the exclusive domain of the Zzaburites, whose specialized social function is to manipulate sorcery. The Talars have been described as the diplomats, merchants, and leaders of the Brithini, all being functions which are best performed with copious record keeping. The military rank and file, however, have traditionally been illiterate, as have the farmers and other commoners, for as long as I have known about Glorantha.