RE: even more stuff...

From: CULLEN O'NEILL (cullen.oneill@thuemmel.com)
Date: Sun 03 Jul 1994 - 10:47:39 EEST



Barron Chugg in X-RQ-ID: 4952
B> the slant of each culture put on them. No single version is "true", B> but each has aspects of truth.

This is how I view the 'Gods Exist' vs 'Just Us Pathes Here'.

                                                    ^ opps!

B> I feel that rituals that expect results require some level of B> devotion, doing the dance a saying the words is not sufficient.

This could be represented by having rituals wherein the candidate is expected to 'do the Orlanth-like thing' without being told what that is, and without being warned. He would then be judged by his actions, and might get promoted, not kicked out or killed depending on his response.

B> "yes".  This allows a GM to throw in sadistic CAs ("It's for your own
B> good.") and gentle Uroxi ("The Bull wants us to fight chaos, not each
B> other.").  Now, these would be rare, but one of the best ways to
B> shake up a group of PCs is to throw in a person completely the

Well, anything to shake up the PCs is good in my book. They wouldn't be popular with the hierarchy, but as 'not-quite heretics' they'd be tolerated until the god's displeasure manifested itself.

B> every action of the devoted follower is a tribute to their deity.  Or
B> a reflection of their devotion.  IMHO everytime an Uroxi fights chaos
B> he is walking one of his god's Runepaths.  Same for a trickster
B> pulling a practical joke.  Or a CA treating a wound.  To reenact the
B> deeds of your god is a form of worship.  But, to do it "properly" the
B> proper frame of mind (parallel to that which the deity had) must be
B> present.

Well, if the initiate (or whatever) reflexively does what the god would do (or what he thinks the god would do) then he's being devout. The frame of mind will come about as the initiate progresses. Do the actions long enough, and the proper mindset will follow. This is a common form of indoctrination.

B> This is definitely a reasonable way to look at it.  I'd probably add
B> that things the god does over and over could also make it into the
B> runemagic lexicon.  In fact, I'd bet the lower cost spells are more
B> the "everyday" aspects of the god, while the biggies are tied to
B> specific events (defining moments, if you will).  As for associates,
B> I imagine the quest involved is based on the time your god aided
B> their god.

I agree completely. One heroquest ought to be: going into a gods myths and using that 3 point non-reusable spell enough times in the role of your god to make it a 3 point re-usable.



David Cake in X-RQ-ID: 4935
D> Basically, I think that there must be some separation between god and
D> cult, and the god must not be omnipotent. Otherwise we have no
D> heresy, no corrupt priests. Or rather we just claim that they are all
D> illuminated, which is almost as limiting. I like religions to be a
D> bit less reliable than CoP implies.

I quite agree. Also, how else do we explain the West's claims that the gods are just big spirits, if there isn't any limit on a gods contact with his cult.



Joerg Baumgartner in X-RQ-ID: 4949
J> I find the myths the more consistent the more I look at different
J> accounts of the same or similar events. Sometimes the myths as they
J> are presented now have different names or flavors, but the basic
J> facts seem to remain. Even if we find a whole dozen sun gods beaten
J> at the Hill of Gold, the fact remains that some sun god(s) were
J> beaten there. If we don't take everything in a myth literal, there
J> can be found a certain sequence of events.

The Monomyth can be regarded as the paths that were known to the same gods under different names changing to all the paths being known and the god having one name. The changes are due to heroes altering the paths for everyone, but only those who worship their version of the god knowing about the change and/or particular paths being forgotten in a given area.

J> teachings which throws them off-balance.) By letting Chaos devour the
J> causes of the weaknesses in the fabric of the world, Argrath does the
J> illuminated thing and turns chaos upon itself. The deities which
J> remain are the solidified, reunited gods essential for the continued
J> existence of the lozenge.

Sort of an unraveling of paths woven together by the Godlearners being reversed by removing loose threads?



Graeme Lindsell in X-RQ-ID: 4951
>Alex Ferguson writes
>A> but I don't see why people would believe it to be "not time",
>A> unless they have some reason to.
G>
G> Why? people can believe some really strange things. As for as
G> I can see, they don't believe it to be "not time" (ie they think
G> it's causal), but not Time ie the Gods were unbound. Why they
G> believe Time should bind gods is another matter.
                        _    _

As a matter of fact Sarvastivada (the teaching that says everything is) Buddhism is distinct from the school (Sthavira) it split off from for, in the main, positing that everything -past, present and future- exists simultaneously. And this is from the real world...

Cullen



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