From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 16 Jun 1994 - 18:46:47 EEST
Scott writes:
>Granted, the compromise really
>cramped the gods' style, but that doesn't mean that the gods don't
>know who their friends/worshippers/patsies are.
The gods know if you're a "good worshipper". They don't know what ulterior motives you might have behind that worship. If you worship correctly, performing the requisite ( >=bare minimum) cult duties they are "happy".
>I think that even if
>a non-priest of Babeester Gor knew the appropriate rituals he still
>wouldn't get Axe Trance.
IMO one who knows the appropriate rituals (and how to perform them) to get Axe Trance (reusably) effectively *becomes* a priestess of Babeester Gor regardless of how they reached that status or how they intend to use it. Perhaps I unintentionally trivialised the process by saying you just have to "know the rituals". I didn't mean to imply that this was easy or quick to achieve. What I did mean was that it is quite possible for someone to get magic from a god through worship when, deep down in their heart, they only want it for purely selfish and personal reasons.
Gods supply magic when they're worshipped correctly; not because they like you.
Initiates know some of the secrets of worship; Priests know more of these
secrets. The easy way to learn how to worship a god is to join a cult (but
I think it is at least feasible that you could reach this status by other
means). The priests have control over who gets into the cult; it's largely
a cultural thing. Since the gods are central to the prosperity of most
cultures, most priests are likely to have their gods' best interests at heart.
Hence they (should) only recruit folks who will make fine, upstanding
initiates who are true to the cause.
However, despite the best intentions, a few rotten apples might slip through.
The Gods have very little (if any) control over this, as far as I see it.
>Admittedly, Babs may not be able to
>personally track the desecrator down herself
Well, if you've desecrated then you've obviously done the ritual
wrong. There are certain hoops you have to jump through; if you miss one,
well... the result may go awry.
Cynical worship is different from desecration IMHO.
> but I
>don't believe that everything she does is merely a knee-jerk reaction
>to a ritual.
Obviously this is where our opinions differ. :-) The gods sacrificed their free will to save the world. On the Mundane Plane the cults now manipulate the gods more than the gods manipulate the cults. That is the magnitude of the Compromise.
>I think the gods are fully capable of withholding
>spells from naughty or apostate worshippers if they wish to.
How do they judge this?
Gods get their primary knowledge of you through your worship and prayers.
My impression is that the God will be "displeased" if you are lax in your
worship or if you (stupidly) blaspheme whilst praying or such. This amounts
to "botching-up the ritual". In such cases you will have trouble getting
a response out of your God and may even suffer some sort of retribution.
Gods get secondary knowledge about you from what other worshippers
tell of you in their prayers.
This mass of information is available to the priests of the cult should
they wish to cast a Divination about you. Even if you've been rigorous
in your worship, any suspect behaviour at other times might be reported
to your god by witnesses (through prayer). I don't think the god would
necessarily act directly upon such reports; however if the priests find out
about it (through Divination) they might well respond eg. by Excommunicating
you.
Thirdly, the Gods know about it when you somehow interact directly with them or their domain. Doing something significant in this area might require an act of Heroic Magnitude. If you've HQed against Yelm then you're unlikely to get any favours out of him. (Maybe something as simple as invoking a Cloudcall would be enough to annoy him, I dunno).
But if you can keep your nose clean on these three counts (do the worship right; don't be impious in front of witnesses; and for goodness sake don't attack the God directly) then you can get all the magic you can afford.
There. I never said it would be easy, but it's feasible. No?
___
It's probably too late for a disclaimer now, but it's not my intention to encourage folks to play cynical characters all the time. I simply want to present a framework upon which GMs can make decisions about how gods, cults, priests and initiates are likely to interact.
Enough ranting.
___
CW.
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