From: Loren Miller (Loren.Miller@marketing.wharton.upenn.edu)
Date: Thu 04 Jan 1996 - 05:27:18 EET
[warning, possible ranting ahead.]
Wizards are malkioni religious functionaries
Priests are religious functionaries
Shamans are religious functionaries, either for the gods or the
ancestors or for all of nature.
Sorcerors are irreligious. They owe nothing to any higher power.
Why do you need more atheistic magic-workers than sorcerors? IMO, in
Their abilities are from the application of natural law, not from
belief.
the real world magic is inextricably bound up with religion. I know
that Gloranthan isn't earth, but I am having considerable difficulty
believing it in this case, given that Greg makes so much of his
shamanic experiences.
In fact one of the reasons I like Glorantha so much is that magic in
Glorantha is not a morally neutral force. It is connected to cult
and culture. People don't just choose spells based on their tactical
power. They choose spells based on who they are and where they came
from. I like this. I think that a large group of irreligious
magicians in Glorantha would disrupt this. You'd be buying
long-duration bladesharps, resurrections, curses on the neighbors'
cattle, and market blessings all from the same person. It's like
Issarian spell-trading gone berserk. And maybe that's the answer
you're really looking for. If you want a magical mercenary, go to the
mercenary god: Issaries.
- --
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Loren Miller <http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren>
Life at the water's edge is the real life for men and women, and penguins
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