From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Sat 04 Jun 1994 - 11:17:12 EEST
Devin Cutler:
> As regards the wording, a geas is a geas, and they were certainly under a
> compulsion, so my use of the term is justified.
Unfortunately for this argument, a "geas" doesn't mean a compulsion (outside of D&D), and certainly not a non-magical one. Then again, I'm not sure what the justification for the use of the term in Glorantha and Shadowrun to mean "magical restriction" is, either, since the word simply means "enchantment", according to my Gaelic dictionary.
Me, unattributedly:
> "What part of Glorantha is (almost any of) modern-day earth a fruitful
> comparison for?"
> OK, scratch my use of "modern-day" and replace with "1st century AD".
Much more helpful. I don't see the cynical, syncretic worship of the Roman empire of that period as being much different from that of the Lunar empire we know and loathe. Or the Orlanthi from the pagan tribes of northwest europe. (In the general manner of their worship, not the cultly or theological particulars.)
> "And if they believed they saw such activity, as many of them clearly did,
> ditto."
> Did they? And I mean did the majority of them witness weekly phsyically
> manifest miracles on a continual basis.
They believed they did, in many cases. What constitutes a miracle is a matter of interpretation. I don't think exact frequency is a particularly hot issue. Mass guided teleportations get pretty old when you've seen a few, anyway.
> What's more, did they partake of such
> miraculous power themselves (i.e. cast divine or spirit magics)? Saying there
> were people in pre-Renaissance times who truly believed in miracles is still
> different from the Gloranthan religious experience. A level of universality,
> repeatedness, and self experience is lacking in any Terran equivalent.
Universality of magic is no argument for a level of faith, or uniformity of belief, in Glorantha unknown on earth. After all, Gloranthans know that people worshipping Bad Gods, and even no god at all, get magic, too. Spirit magic certainly isn't "evidence" of divinity of any sort, much less one who believes and promulgates his own GoG writeup chapter and verse. More like a kind of cultic Predecessor Worship.
> "Reliable in what way? Reliable as in "gives an answer which can be
> interpreted as indicating whether to accept the candidate", or reliable as
> in "gives a readout on his relevant skill numbers, moral values, personal
> qualities, and hidden motivations"? Given the number of ogres floating round
> in "legitimate" cults, it's not what _I'd_ call reliable."
> The first instance of course. I was always under the impression that these
> Chaos infiltrators used Divination Block or became Lay Members only.
Well then, that's no reliability at all, since the god could answer on whatever basis he feels like at that non-moment, not necessarily the letter of cult entrance requirements. "Yeah, sure, let him in. Looks okay from here. Gotta run, playing full contact golf with Heler in half a non-hour." Few actually specify "non-chaotic" as such, anyway.
Alex.
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