>Whenever I read up about the different magic systems I always get stuck
>wondering how a theist, say, explains, rightly or wrongly, what is going on
>when some, sorceror, say, performs a magic feat.
The Sorcerer is casting magic given to him by his God, Malkion, Lord of the Atheist Tribe. This magic is evil in that it costs your soul to use as can be readily demonstrated by the apparent lack of Malkioni in the Underworld where every dead human goes.
>Or, for another example, consider an Orlanthi who's riding around on an air
>elemental, being watched by his mostali friend. What the dwarf sees is a
>highly inexpert piece of meddling with the world machine in order to get the
>Orlanthi up in the air. This dwarf might decide to help out by fiddling with
>some little device he's carrying which stabilises the air elemental and
>makes it easier to control. What does the Orlanthi make of the dwarf's
>actions? How does he explain it?
Although Mostali really can't stabilize sylphs, the Orlanthi would explain his magic as deriving from the God of the Rock Tribe.
>Adding dwarf "technology" to the HW list animism, theism, mysticism and
>sorcery I can see a 5x5 list of perceptions some of which are going to be
>easy (presumably dwarves see all non-dwarvish magical action as being
>inexpert meddling with the world machine) and some harder. Can anyone
>suggest some entries?
Dwarf technology is really the HW sorcerous perspective. It differs from the Malkioni PoV in that the Dwarves believe that the world was originally matter which decayed to energy while the Malkioni believe the reverse.
Secondly the matrix is much bigger than five in one direction and smaller than five in another. Most Pantheons have their own perception but very few bother to distinguish between the foreign magic types as the God Learners did.
Hence the matrix would look something like:
Orlanthi: We worship the Storm Tribe which also includes the Earth Tribe. Other tribes of Gods include the Fire Tribe, the Sea Tribe, the Atheist tribe etc.
Pelorian: We worship Yelm, the Red Goddess and the loyal servant gods of the Empire. All other gods are rebels.
Malkioni: There is no God but God and Malkion is his prophet. Pagans and apostates worship the False Gods for magic, and their error will lead them to an evil end.
Kralori: We alone meditate on the sublime truths of the Cosmic Dragon. Others have lost contact with this ineffable being through their shameless wallowing in the Four Vices.
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