From: paul@phyast.pitt.edu
Date: Tue 13 Jul 1993 - 00:45:40 EEST
Despite my own use of the "other self" terminology and system for many years,
I'm not sure it should be made universal. Loren writes:
> Every magical practioner has an other self which must be molded in a
^^^^^
I disagree with the 'Every', and, I am told, Greg does also ( this is
one of the few responses from the top provoked by the P & M system. )
From Earth sources, while the idea is very common, it is not completely
universal.
For Glorantha, I would say that it is more or less the default mode
but that there are important exceptions, probably including:
Standard Issue Mostali: These guys don't have an other self, instead
sorcery is completely natural to them. They don't have to build up an
otherworld self to do magic, they can just detach a bit of their 'regular'
consciousness to run spells. I.e., their power acts like Vested
power automatically.
Brithini: They might not separate the other self, or if they do they might
think that it is evil and separate it utterly. I don't know.
God Forgot: Rather than having a unitary 'other self' I think that they
enchant many little enchantments, each of which can support a specialized
type of spell. I see them as sort of "Gadgeteers" rather than taking the
holistic approach to magic used my most cultures. Maybe the sorcerors
of Fonrit, as well.
More examples could follow but I don't have time...
>One problem I see in this are initiates of multiple cults. Do these
>split their other selves?
No, it's like a Venn diagram, there is some overlap. Initiates of
associate deities may produce a triple-overlap area, initiates of
non-associate dieties two areas of unconnected double overlap. Initiates
of hostile cults have a really strangely shaped state function in spirit-space
which describes them; it looks kind of like some of the gerrymandered
voting districts which have been in the news (in the US) lately.
I would use the meta-rule more as a guide to what might be possible
rather than a rigid rule. I think that there are many variants possible,
and that meta-rules should be able to account for variants.
I myself liked the Second Self idea and we use it a lot in our campaigns
but there may be room in Glorantha for approaches quite different from
these. (Greg seems to think so as well, I hear).
Well, I should send this because my machine is ill, may crash at any moment.
More later
Paul R.
0,,
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