Landscape Animism on Akhelas
Let’s take a break from RuneQuest and Glorantha this week, and return to Akhelas. Akhelas is this site’s namesake, a fantasy setting which has its roots in scribbles from before I actually started, well, writing-writing.
My most recent articles about Akhelas outlined magic’s function in the setting based on the world’s metaphysics. Building on that theme, this week I’m going to blather a bit about the animistic theme which permeates the setting.
What is Animism?
For those unfamiliar with the term, animism is the religious perspective that the world is alive. Animist religions and cultures believe that objects, plants, mountains, and so on, each have their own spirit. This description as “animist” is generally used on Earth from an outside perspective, rather than an internal perspective. Much as I view the material world built from atoms as largely “soulless” matter (apart from most humans, animals, etc.), the animist perspective is that the world is “soulful.”
On a personal level, Akhelas is “soulful” because I wish our world existed in that way.
If you’re interested in more than a quick definition, the Wikipedia article for animism is actually fairly robust. My understanding of the worldview comes from a mix of readings over the years. The most substantial title in my memory is Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism.
It’s also worth acknowledging Glorantha’s influence on animism in Akhelas. While Glorantha’s animism/theism/humanism divisions reduce the extent to which “soulfulness” permeates the setting, RuneQuest‘s animism rules inspired me to continue exploring the topic.
A Living World
The reality of animism on Akhelas is a natural consequence of the setting’s creation story. The constant generation of creative energies is necessary for the Vessel to continue existing. Consequently, the world is animate, alive, seeking to generate said energies.
As an aside, yes, Akhelas isn’t restricted by the laws of thermodynamics. A creative act can produce more net energy than was used in the creation. Humans, probably, don’t have a way to harness the excess.
The ongoing need to produce magical energy through creative acts animates the universe. This essential hunger is the basic source of change and dynamism in the world. Constant change and perception during the early periods of creation culminated in the various minds of the world. Some of these minds were intentionally brought into being by the Nine, while others awoke through motion leading to the discovery of self-knowledge. Analogous to a dog seeing its own reflection, these parts of the universe because aware of their own existence—a recursive psychic act which produced consciousness.
How Consciousness Emerges
Such a mind is called a “spirit” by the humans who live on Akhelas. This mind is intrinsically linked with its body, which is commonly a part of the landscape. Akhelas’s substantive monism necessitates this connection. Mind, body, and soul are one entity, not separate and distinct aspects of a person, animal, spirit, mountain, etc. Soul permeates the entire Vessel, such that all particular “things” have a mind and soul, and are capable of consciousness.
Consciousness, however, is a contingent attribute. The default state of mind is basically like my cat’s mind. He experiences emotions, needs, and will think about how to fulfill those desires. But he’s not reflective in the way needed for consciousness. He seems to think without being aware of his own thought.
This recursive property is most commonly found in old, large, or powerful minds (and, of course, in the human species). It might emerge in any entity, although there then follows the challenge of communication with other conscious entities. For example, a cow which attains consciousness remains a four-hoofed animal which goes moo and probably hasn’t learned a language.
Humans engage with both the world’s conscious and unconscious minds. Indeed, they’re often forced to do so. The world is not malicious, but it nonetheless is a persistent antagonist toward humans. This antagonism forces humanity to constantly grow and change, thereby generating the creative energies needed to sustain existence. Over time, the Vessel has itself changed, becoming more anthropocentric. Due to humanity’s nature as the “Half-Made,” humans generate greater energies, and do so more consistently. The socializing instinct results in the recursive awakening of consciousness at an early age. Like cows, humans aren’t “intrinsically” conscious—the existence of language, families, societies, and cultures instead is a system which consistently provokes consciousness in human entities. This takes place typically around the end of infancy and beginning of childhood.
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Humans and Spirits
The boundary between some entities is fluid. For example, a single peak and a whole mountain range. Which aspect of the world, then, is a single body, a single mind?
This depends on the human perspective. In general, the stronger a human’s soul, the greater an entity which they can perceive and interact with. Many of the spirits on Akhelas humans engage with are, in truth, but the fragment of a larger entity. These fragments may well be in contention with one another! (If you think that doesn’t make sense, I ask: have you ever argued with yourself about a decision?)
Both the peak and the mountain range have a mind, and are in turn one portion of the continent’s spirit. Single humans typically interact on small scales. The mind of a single wind, the spirit of a garden plot. Communities generate sufficient soul to engage with larger entities, such as the spirit of a range of hills or a floodplain. One role of an engath—a lord—is to maintain the community’s magical agreements with such spirits. Typically, both the Jairi and the Nothi cultures strive to keep the magical ecology stable, while the universe seeks increased dynamism.
This interaction between souls, minds, and spirits demonstrates why human iconoclasts are shunned and feared. They can perceive larger and more coherent portions of the landscape’s mind, and engage with it directly. Even without intention to do harm, an iconoclast’s speech and actions can damage magical ecology through interacting with a great spirit.
The most infamous iconoclast in my histories is called Aketh. He binds the spirit of a volcano to his will, and usurps the monarchy of Jiharel. This shatters the system of engathi for a generation and culminates in the first major war between the Jairi and the Nothi cultures since the prehistorical Lightswar.
I don’t know much more than that about him—even as the author, Aketh is a bit enigmatic. If I can find a way to pull aside that veil, I think that’ll be a fun topic for my next article about Akhelas.
For now, though, I’ll have to see you next week.
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