From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 17 Jun 1994 - 20:11:32 EEST
Colin Watson here:
Devin states:
>I refuse to believe that a group of
>Cacodemon worshippers could take over a shrine of, say, Humakt, torture the
>Priest until he showed them the rituals (or simply secretly observed the
>rituals before sacking the temple), and then begin to sacrifice for Truesword
>at will for the rest of their lives.
Yes, in practice there are many, many reasons why this sort of thing wouldn't
work. Not the least of which are:
- Unless the Cacodaemon worshippers were also experienced Godlearners they
wouldn't even consider the possibility that this might work. Hence they
wouldn't bother trying it.
- The Humakti would, of course, happily face death rather than tell.
(Visual observation the rituals would not be sufficient because there is so
much in working magic which is non-observable.)
- Even assuming super-enlightened Cacodaemon worshippers and a spineless
cooperating priest: I doubt that the priest would be able to succinctly
explain the whole process to the extent that the invaders could re-enact it.
It's not the sort of thing which one can scribble down on the back of
a cigarette packet.
- Even if they understood; it would still be a (years) long process requiring
extreme dedication and much sacrificed POW to succeed.
- Even in the event of success; if *any* other Humakti priests found out about
it, these "new worshippers" would be excommunicated so fast it would make
their heads spin clean orf. And they would be right back at square one.
Subtle infiltration would have greater hopes of success. Still a lengthy process though.
>Yes, the Compromise exists and restrains the gods, but IMO it doesn't turn
>them into mindless idiots who will give their powers to anyone who waves his
>hand and dances in the right fashion.
This is trivialising a rather complex situation.
Ok, lets assume the Gods instinctively know when someone is right-thinking. Assume they can tell good-guys from bad-guys; and using their Divine Judgement they decide who gets magic and who doesn't. A couple of questions spring to mind:
#1 Why is Excommunication left in the hands of Priests? Surely the God would
know best who should be allowed in the cult; who should get spells etc. Why is a priest-driven ritual required to cast someone out?
#2 Why have initiates? Why not give *all* the right-thinking worshippers the
same powers as priests and screw the rest? The cult would be lots more effective at fulfilling the wishes of God.
Well?
It strikes me that access to a god's power is governed by the cult and not by the god himself. (At least that's how it seems within Time.) The cult has a hierarchy so that Joe Cynic can't rise in power too quickly and the elders get a chance to assess his worth. If he performs well he is gradually entrusted with more knowledge of the cult's inner secrets. If he steps out of line he gets cut off.
___
CW.
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