> Divine style divination cannot give information about the future because
> that would violate the Compromise. On the other hand, the prophecies of
> the Hero Wars imply that knowledge of the future is possible.
Or (my own take on this) that it's possible to find out what the Gods are planning: what they hope will happen, and what they intend to do. Some prophecies are warnings or cautions along the lines of "You'll be in trouble when your father gets home" or "don't open the front door unless you're wearing a coat". Some are cause-and-effect chains which may be self-evident to the Gods, but obscure to we mortals. Some are meant to define and shape the future, not to predict it. Some depend on the Gods themselves working to a plan, only part of which has been revealed to us. Some depend on Gloranthan cyclical repetition: the way sequences of mythic actions are repeated throughout history, becoming easier or more potent each time.
Prophecies aren't all correct, but most Gloranthans will place some faith in such prophetic statements: after all, it doesn't matter if there's going to be a war because Orlanth wants one, or there's going to be a war and Orlanth is giving you forewarning that there'll be one: the end effect is much the same on the ground.
> I can't buy the argument that all independent magicians in theistic areas
> are sorcerers.
Who's trying to sell it to you? Have another look at my favourite RQ scenario, "Gaumata's Vision": if there are Wise Women in backwater villages of theocratic, patriarchal, anal-retentive Sun County, that says good things for the world as a whole, no? Also, look at some of the interesting locals in "Apple Lane". Now, I'm not arguing that either Black Rock or Apple Lane are "typical" places, but it augurs well for the world that there are odd magicians and specialists in both.
I think your dismissal of shamans as "religious cult priests" is OTT, BTW. A shaman gets his power from some tradition (Telmor, Kyger Litor, Daka Fal, or whoever); this gives him some taboos and special abilities (scares beast spirits, only deals with darkness spirits, good at dealing with his own ancestors, etc.), but also leaves him pretty much a free agent on the spirit plane. Shamans can be self-serving, and can discover weird/specialist magic and spirits; their assistants can do likewise. Now, if you get an affinity for a particular spirit, or type of spirit, maybe you can be a "semi-shaman" -- untrained, without the full panoply of powers, but you know where to find lost things, or can spy around the area, etc.
Most Orlanthi priests are "godi" -- ordinary folk who act as priests on holy days and for ceremonial purposes. Catch one of these fellows on his day off, and he isn't necessarily going to act as a "cult figure".
And if you're worried about telling your priest what you're worried about, you can go and ask God directly: just sacrifice for a point of Divination and do your own home-brewed ritual, with yarrow stalks or hallucinogens or runestones or whatever method springs to mind. And ask your family and friends, or the cleverest person you know, to help out with the ritual.
I worry that if we carry on down this path, people will be wanting a formal definition of all types of minor magic in Glorantha. I think the existing setup, where scenario writers know they can stick a Wise Woman, or Keeper of Dire Secrets, or Horse Whisperer, or Miracle Man, into any Gloranthan village and nobody will complain, is healthier for the game. But in short, my answer is "Yes. We know there are 'independent minor magical specialists' in Glorantha. There always have been. Do we *really* need *more* rules *now* to cover them?"
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