From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Fri 01 Jul 1994 - 20:31:57 EEST
Unquestionably beliefs do have power, but whether they have anything to do
with getting Divine Magic is another matter entirely. My view is that
the power of belief is in preserving cultural integrity. Ultimately this
serves a great purpose; but in the short term, as far as "getting magic"
is concerned, it doesn't really matter.
Alex recently summed-up the argument in favour of this with usual eloquence:
"If one has to be a complete Goody Two Shoes in order to get effective magic,
how do we account for all the arseholes in Glorantha, past and present, who
patently _have_ had it?"
Either you dream up endless "special cases" to explain the arsehole factor;
or you generalise and say anyone can be an arsehole if they try hard. The
latter seems emminently more plausible to me.
>The fact that the
>worshipers of a god believe that their deity is a person makes it so
What if some worshippers don't believe that the deity is a person? Do they get to veto this communal belief? Is it based on a majority? (:-))
I can understand that many Gloranthans will believe their gods are "like people"; it makes them easier to relate to. I'm even prepared to believe that the gods *were* once people; that they were individuals performing acts of extraordinary magnitude. But I don't think they are individuals now, nor do I believe that they think and act like people.
I'm sure many Gloranthans picture Humakt as some be-helmeted chap with steely-thews and a big sword striding grimly through a misty landscape killing the same things over and over again. This is what they think Godtime is like. This may even be how HeroQuests feel. But I don't think that be-helmeted chap is Humakt. That chappie is a Hero following the path of Humakt. Humakt is the path now. Many people can follow that path at the same time; hence the cult of Humakt.
>I find it especially hard to believe that a living hero
>is going to meekly turn into an abstract construct of rituals as
>the price of apotheosis.
(It does help if the hero is dead. :-)
Maybe I didn't explain things too well. The point is that the Hero doesn't get a choice in the matter. Heros don't get to choose to be Gods. They are made into gods by their worshippers; by all the folks who follow their path after them. Any Hero who thinks that being a god is going to be "like being a Hero, only cooler" has got another thing coming IMHO. The Hero is only an individual (regardless of how powerful that individual might be); a God is much more than that.
The Hero performs the act; the God *is* the act. Any Hero can inflict death; Humakt actually *is* Death.
Cheers. :-)
> The idea of etching paths in the hero plane is a good one. As the path
>gets worn, it is easier to walk (big cults have it easier). Also, a hero
>would need to repeat a similar path a heck of a lot of times to come even
>close to a gods abilities, even for the everyday stuff.
It struck me that maybe (RQ3) sorcerers each forge their own path for every spell. This is why they have such a hard time starting new spells. They effectively derive the path from first principles. Sure, they can get some tutoring to help, but for the most part they learn magic from research and hard experience. Each sorcerer who learns Damage Boosting is effectively "re-inventing the wheel"; they forge their own individual path to achieve the desired result. This conrasts with Divine magic where the path is already layed down and is simple to follow. It goes to explain why sorcery is harder to master, but more flexible and individual than other magics.
>>By repeating what has gone before you get the same results as the First Time.
>
>Another common theme in Gloratha is that the first time a path is tread
>is the hardest.
Yup, ain't that the truth!
>As a side note, I think we have Arkat to
>thank for our even being able to imagine HQing.
Arkat teaches sorcery, yes? Forging your own path rather than treading another's.
___
CW.
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