Chuggian paths

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From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Sat 25 Jun 1994 - 20:38:02 EEST


Barron Chugg:
>>Once the god-track is established then the magic becomes easier; but the
>>downside is that it becomes vulnerable to other gods (cults).
>
>I really like the comment about "becoming vulnerable".
>There is a very important bit on knowledge there, but I can't
>for the life of me extreact it (HELP!).

Ok, this is the idea: Established worship through cults has great strength but also certain weaknesses.

The strength is that the magic becomes easier. The tracks are so well-worn and easy to follow (when you know where to start) that a worshipper is almost certain to get the desired outcome. (Hence Divine Magic has a damn good chance of success.) If you like: the God helps you cast the spell. In Game Terms:
 Sacrificing POW allows you to find the start of a spell-path. Initiates  can walk this path once (one-use magic); to find the start again they must  sacrifice again. Priests are sufficiently "at one" with their god that  they can always find the start of a path which they have walked; hence their  magic is reusable (except for those tricky one-use spells:-).

However, the rigid, formulaic structure of the god-track renders it vulnerable to interference. If the god is fully established (the myths surrounding him are declared as doctrine by the cult; the god-track is locked in place; cult rituals are performed the same way by many people) then this makes the god open to attack by other gods. That is, Heroes from other cults can start messing around with the paths established for your god and thereby indirectly harm your cult. They work their godess into your myths and make her "win" against your god; they hijack part of your god-track; they steal magic from your cult.
Pretty soon you have to start fighting back with Heroes of your own.

Pre-Compromise the Gods were being established. Post-Compromise they are all pretty-much mapped out.
This isn't to say that one can look at a street-plan of the godplane and circle a section saying "this is Chalana Arroy; next to her here is Ernalda; Orlanth is up here... etc". There is some overlap; the gods share certain paths; their cults share certain magic. Also the boundaries around the gods are somewhat fuzzy - different groups worship them in slightly different ways. The GodLearners tried to sharpen-up these edges with their Monomyth.

It seems that Gods are less vulnerable while they are being established. This is because their god-track is in a state of flux; the myths surrounding them vary enormously; hence they are less vulnerable to assault by HeroQuesters. It's hard to take a shot when the goalposts are moving.

This is why it was so important to the Orlanthi when Zistor, the Red Goddess et al "became a god". It meant the Orlanthi Heroes could make their move on the godplane with some hope of success. ie. It meant Orlanth could attack.

Oops, I'm out of time.

___
CW.
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