From: David Weihe (weihe@eagle.danet.com)
Date: Thu 09 Apr 1998 - 18:55:22 EEST
> From: JeffJErwin <JeffJErwin@aol.com>
> Subject: Re: The Glorantha Digest V5 #525
>
> Sandy wrote (to my earliert post):
> << 1) Because magic is not exclusively a force for good. There is
> healing magic, but also disease spirits. There is fertilizing magic,
> and there is a Goddess of Drought. There is the handy Kill Rats spell
>
> Who's the bastard supporting these gods? Keep in mind humans spend time
> worshipping helpful deities. Of course, this worship thing could be unrelated
> to the power of a god or spirit... I realize malign forces can drain POW from
> others, but...
Four responses occur to me right away:
1) Humans spend time worshipping gods helpful to their *current*, not
long term, interests. Thus, it makes sense (tactically) to worship
a Goddess of Drought, and then send her against your enemies. Then,
it makes sense for them to worship her and send her back against you.
Just like with the use of Poison Gas during WWI, the drawbacks aren't
always realized until too late.
2) Fumbling when doing the Orlanth gets Heler ritual can either strengthen
Drought directly, or result in Heler producing rains so heavy that
the only way to stop them is to call upon Drought to reduce Heler's
power, thus strengthening Drought again. Other rituals have similar
effects.
3) What the Orlanthi call a drought is what Pelorian irrigationists
call good weather. What the Pelorians call a drought is what the
Praxians and Pentans call a bit wet. Everybody wants *their*
favorite weather, not some globally perfect weather. Thus, the
Orlanthi goddess of Drought could *be* the DH goddess of fine weather,
worshipped by all right-thinking DH farmers, even though cursed by
those crazy hill barbarians.
4) Drought doesn't need much HUMAN worship, as it can pick up POW from
> In effect, you are saying that the magic of Glorantha is an extension of the
its Natural phenomena, unlike gods of abstract principles like Trade
or Knowledge.
> emotional, intuitive preception we have. OK. So 90% in a skill -is- magic.
Which is the way that the Kralori and East Islanders do much of their
magic, IIRC.
> would a spell be required?
What is a spell? What the rules call a spell may actually be something
else that can nonetheless be treated as a spell for playing purposes.
Berserker and fanaticism both work in the real world (though not as fast
to cast, here), although RW science says that spells don't work.
> Doesn't this undercut the capacity of even idiots to persevere?
Of course. Idiots (like any other people with weaknesses) SHOULD have a
hard time; that's why humans have societies.
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