From: Peter Metcalfe (metcalph@voyager.co.nz)
Date: Wed 01 Jul 1998 - 13:37:45 EEST
Alex Ferguson:
Me>> I think all Arkati cultists are 'illuminated' (bear in mind that
>> this is not Nysaloran Illumination). When they seek out Gbaji to
>> destroy him, they mostly encounter other Arkati Cults (who return
>> the favour). This is the major reason why the Cult of Arkat is
>> splintered in Ralios.
>I think much of what you have to say, above, is sound, but I don't think
>the first part is 100% kosher. Firstly, I think Greg has indeed said
>that several Arkat cults have a sort of 'inner core' of "illuminated"
>(caveat strongly agreed with) members, with a more 'normal' membership
>outside. More likely the outer group simply hasn't got 'in' yet, rather
>than being hapless dupes of the cabal, though.
Oops. It's a fair cop. I was wrong. You are right.
>Secondly, some Arkat cults seem to have nothing much to do with
>"illumination" at all -- the Black Arkat of Heortland, for example,
>and I suspect the most obviously theistic manifestations in general.
That's true. I should have restricted it to Arkati cults who
>It's tricky to say what is or isn't "Arkati illumination", since not
partake of the 'illumination' tradition.
>only is it un(der)defined in rules terms, I think Gloranthans can't
>really pin it down with much more success. This may be partly to do
>with the "brokenness" of Arkatism generally -- after the Dark Empire
>falls, each remnant gets left with their own little piece, which doesn't
>necessarily much resemble anyone else's.
My feeling is that the 'illumination' in the context of the Arkati
cults denotes an esoteric tradition. Not all Arkati cults pursue
or even know of this esotericism (such as Black Arkat), but it is
widely prevalent in Safelster IMO.
Given that Arkat's cult was said to have controlled 'all active
excursions onto the heroplane', IMO their esoteric wisdom is related
with this activity. But instead of Arkati being a bunch of
Super-RQ players, what unites Esoteric Arkatism is their knowledge
of the Arkat ritual.
Simply put, the Arkati ritual is a Heroquest in which the Arkati
travels over to the other side and hunt down the Devil and does
combat with him. Depending on their degree of success, they learn
more about their foe and gain esoteric wisdom.
The Deceiver is in the details. Although each Arkati cult knows the
ritual, they disagree on the particulars. Most say they replicate
the epic of Arkat in slaying Gbaji. Some disagree: the Borists
claim to hunt down Arkat, and the Nysaloran Sun Dome temple claims
to be Nysalor hunting down Gbaji. A few chaotic Arkati claim to
be Gbaji hunting down Arkat so they can destroy the world.
It gets worse. Many cults disagree on what is experienced on the
Other Side, and what one Arkati may consider to be Gbaji may be
considered by another to be a worthy role-model. In some cases,
the acquired esoteric wisdom is so mind-bending that Arkati have
been known to adopt practices they formerly considered Gbajite
(much to the disgust of their former cult).
At some point or another, the Arkati has accumulated enough
esoteric wisdom to the extent that he can perceive Gbaji in the
Waking World. At this level, he is what a lunar would call
illuminated*. He can use his esoteric wisdom to attempt to
destroy a person whom he has detected as Gbaji. This usually
results in a magical battleas the alleged Gbaji is attempting
to do the same. The reverse side of this is that he becomes
vunerable to being sense as Gbaji.
Who detects whom as Gbaji undoubtedly depends on certain
metaphysical 'flags' (ie by knowing X, you are detected as Gbajite
by the followers of Y) but I've only a vague idea what these
flags entail. My best guess is that they denote what you believe
is Gbajite but I can see some problems.
Hmm. a couple of points are in order.
By 'detecting', I don't necessarily mean that the Arkati casts
a simple detect spell and Gbaji glows day and night for him. Many
cults teach elaborate countermeasures to avoid recognition by
enemy cultists. Detection still can be done but it usually involves
an intense magical analysis of the target from afar. Success
allows him to do magical battle with Gbaji, or reveals the person
is not Gbaji.
By 'magical battle', I do not mean that the dueling duo duke it out
with dynamite and death spells in the streets. An attack usually
manifests itself as a strange sinster occurence. In subtlety, it may
range from 'being felled by a tile thrown by an old woman from the
rooftop' to 'being torn apart by an invisible demon in the presence of
horrified witnesses' (cf the Abberant Prophet common event in
Safelster).
The Arkati cannot use his esoteric wisdom to attack a person is not
an Arkati or has no esoteric wisdom. Frex, if an Arkati is set upon
by a non-Arkati Rokari Bishop who is protected by swords of Knights
and the prayers of Wizards, then all his esoteric wisdom is useless
for a magical attack. However the Arkati _knows_ that his tormentors
are inspired by Gbaji so what can he do?
The Arkati usually sidestep the obstacle by assuming that Gbaji has
successfully deceived himself to avoid destruction. The appropiate
response then is to expend considerable effort to destroy Gbaji's lies
and make him aware of his evil nature. This usually entails filling
the victim's dreams with cryptic hints and sensous enigmas as to his
nature (the Arkati ritual in reverse so to speak). When the victim
resolves these riddles, he gains esoteric wisdom and is on the path to
'illumination' with consequent perdition. If he does not receives help
to defend himself against Arkati magical attacks, his life is in danger.
However because the Arkati has filled his victim's mind with what the
Arkati considers to be gbajite thoughts, the victim is usually led by
occult portents to contact one of the enemy cults that are opposed to
the attacking Arkati. Therefore the difficulty of destroying the
victim has dropped from 'flat-out impossible' to 'difficult'. Since
what goes around, comes around, the Arkati's own cult receives new
members through this method.
*it seems intuitive that the Arkati and the Lunars should be
able to sense each other's enlightened status at least some of
the time as Arkat was able to sense Nysalorans. But I've yet
to come up with a satisfactory rule of the thumb to determine
if the lunars register as Gbajite by all Arkati or if they are
susceptible to magical attacks.
Comments & criticisms are welcome...
>If you look at it like that, perhaps even the Arkat Kingtroll/Black
>Arkat mob have a piece of "Arkati illumination", but the only "power"
>they manifest is the one that enables them to perceive and manipulate
>sorcery is if it were divine magic.
I'm doubtful whether the Troll Arkati (or Arkati heavily influenced
by trolls, like Naskorion) have the hypothesized esoteric wisdom as
IMO they already have potent darkness magics that make the Arkati
magical attacks superfluous.
There is also a Pelorian Arkati movement that attempted to resurrect
Gbaji and was ruthlessly crushed by Emperor Celestinus. But I think
that was a product of the Pelorian religion as Dorastor was not yet
open to lunar traders.
- --Peter Metcalfe
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