HeroQuest
Glorantha
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Glorantha Q&A

The SkyWorld

Q:

I have been thinking about this some more and what I realised I still do not understand is the nature of the Sky world. It would appear that it should be mixed but my guess is that it is much less arbitrary than the Underworld or even the Middle World. I am thinking of well defined areas where it is mostly dominated by one culture (or system) and then clear borders between it and an adjacent of a different culture or system. Am I on the right track?

A:

Great question Charles. Yes, you are largely correct in your presumptions. The Sky World IS part of the Everything World, but is almost entirely Theist in its makeup now. Few of the stars or planets are spirits or essences. The sky gods managed to clear out most of the spirits and essences during the Gods War, but could not clear everything, as we know since we see that the Sky River is still there, and the Great Spirit Yu Kargzant; to say nothing of Night herself! This overwhelmingly powerful contact with the gods makes it more Theist, and as a result the Theist Otherworld is very close there, overlapping powerfully, with many entrances. But it still is part of Everything. And I will note that the Great Emperor of Everything, the mighty and mysterious Sun, is 1. a part of, and 2. a mixture of, and 3. transcends, Everything.

Followup questions by Nils Weinander, answer by Greg Stafford.

Q:	You write that the sky world has become predominantly theistic. I take it that means "at the end of the gods war", i.e. if you go to an earlier mythical age in a heroquest, the situation can differ?
A:	Yes. Remember the War in Heaven?
Q:	When you heroquest you go to your gods' otherworld and from there step into the various mythic ages of the gods war. But what about if you travel to the edge of the world (or up into the sky in this case) and enter the heroplane that way. "When" do you enter the gods war then?
A:	In the case of the star or planetary gods, it is the same. They'll have "gateways" to the various times of the Gods War when they were acive. For the edge of the world, you enter it Now. Those places do not have connections to the Hero Plane, they ARE the Hero Plane. Thus heroquesters would not be able to go elsewhere.