Ok guys. Here's what I posted on the Gloranthan Digest some days back
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Subject: EWF humans, Utuma and reincarnation
I've been trying to work out how the EWF dragonmystics progressed on their parallel to the draconewt path.
The material I've read on the EWF (like that in KoS) gives the impression that at least some humans lived for hundreads of years, while progressing towards dragonhood. The impression I've got, is of people growing more dragonlike and enigmatic progressing physically, spiritually and mentally towards ultimate draconic enlightenment.
I've been wondering what the analogue is to the dragonewt's utuma ritual, and being reborn in a more advanced stage from the egg. It seems like central aspect of the dragonewts, and it's just too cool to leave out.
My lovely fiancée Suvi is very interested in ancient chinise culture, and told me about jade burial suits. Jade has mystical and magical connections to dragons, life, and afterlife in chinise (and I think tibetan) culture. These remarkable creations were afterlife vessels for the wealthy, and were believed to maintain the body without any decay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_burial_suit
There are even neat levels. The jade pieces were tied with gold for the highest nobility, silver for the next tier and copper for the minor nobles.
I'm reminded of the Kyger Litor cult's ritual where a human (or other) can become a real troll. Obviously transformations inside cocoons are an established thing in Glorantha.
I can easily see an EWF dragonspeaker committing ritual utuma, and being placed, dead, inside a jade suit in a temple. After a period of time, if all goes well, the dragonspeaker emerges from the suit, closer to his ultimate draconic ideal in body and spirit.
Jade, of course, is rare and pricey. These suits aren't for every Hengal and Ingrid who has hunted and walzed. Parhaps the first time you need one is to progress from the scout stage to the warrior stage, and from then on. Parhaps temples and monasteries can have one or a few that suitably advanced members can use.
I would also like to think that with a personal suit, it would be possible for a dragonspeaker to achieve a dragonewts immortality. I doubt the death and rebirth would be as easy natural as it is for a 'newt. It's propably not a good idea to be repeatedly killed, but it is a neat idea that lords and heroes of the EWF could go to war with the same immortality as their dragonewt allies.
I'd love to hear comments on this. Am I way off, or is this something that could be worked on further? Remember to check the link, the pictures say a lot more than mere words can.
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There can be more than one way forward, of course. Parhaps the more common way is to go into a draconic temple. Meditate on the jade carvings on the walls and commit your Utuma. You are then wrapped in a silk cocoon as you sit, dead, in your ritual position, and left to either emerge transformed or are judged to have failed (parhaps after years have passed). Parhaps those cocoons were stored at the back of the temple forever, waiting for the dragonspeaker to emerge.
-Adept
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Subject: EWF humans, Utuma and reincarnation
I've been trying to work out how the EWF dragonmystics progressed on their parallel to the draconewt path.
The material I've read on the EWF (like that in KoS) gives the impression that at least some humans lived for hundreads of years, while progressing towards dragonhood. The impression I've got, is of people growing more dragonlike and enigmatic progressing physically, spiritually and mentally towards ultimate draconic enlightenment.
I've been wondering what the analogue is to the dragonewt's utuma ritual, and being reborn in a more advanced stage from the egg. It seems like central aspect of the dragonewts, and it's just too cool to leave out.
My lovely fiancée Suvi is very interested in ancient chinise culture, and told me about jade burial suits. Jade has mystical and magical connections to dragons, life, and afterlife in chinise (and I think tibetan) culture. These remarkable creations were afterlife vessels for the wealthy, and were believed to maintain the body without any decay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_burial_suit
There are even neat levels. The jade pieces were tied with gold for the highest nobility, silver for the next tier and copper for the minor nobles.
I'm reminded of the Kyger Litor cult's ritual where a human (or other) can become a real troll. Obviously transformations inside cocoons are an established thing in Glorantha.
I can easily see an EWF dragonspeaker committing ritual utuma, and being placed, dead, inside a jade suit in a temple. After a period of time, if all goes well, the dragonspeaker emerges from the suit, closer to his ultimate draconic ideal in body and spirit.
Jade, of course, is rare and pricey. These suits aren't for every Hengal and Ingrid who has hunted and walzed. Parhaps the first time you need one is to progress from the scout stage to the warrior stage, and from then on. Parhaps temples and monasteries can have one or a few that suitably advanced members can use.
I would also like to think that with a personal suit, it would be possible for a dragonspeaker to achieve a dragonewts immortality. I doubt the death and rebirth would be as easy natural as it is for a 'newt. It's propably not a good idea to be repeatedly killed, but it is a neat idea that lords and heroes of the EWF could go to war with the same immortality as their dragonewt allies.
I'd love to hear comments on this. Am I way off, or is this something that could be worked on further? Remember to check the link, the pictures say a lot more than mere words can.
***
There can be more than one way forward, of course. Parhaps the more common way is to go into a draconic temple. Meditate on the jade carvings on the walls and commit your Utuma. You are then wrapped in a silk cocoon as you sit, dead, in your ritual position, and left to either emerge transformed or are judged to have failed (parhaps after years have passed). Parhaps those cocoons were stored at the back of the temple forever, waiting for the dragonspeaker to emerge.
-Adept
