From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Mon, 18 Jul 1994, part 4 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: mcarthur@fit.qut.edu.au (Robert McArthur) Subject: cults + power -> heroes Message-ID: <199407180510.PAA23543@ocean.fit.qut.edu.au> Date: 19 Jul 94 01:10:09 GMT X-RQ-ID: 5199 Devin comments: >... lots deleted... > If the gods were that desparate for MP, why aren't they competing to give > their worshippers tons of powers and goodies, which not only increases the > power of" your worshippers, but gets you a whole bunch of new ones? Why make > it so hard to become an initiate (i.e. those without parents in the cult must > pass 3 of 5 skill tests)? Why not welcome in anyone who wants to join the > cult? I thought the reason was: if the Gods give mortals power, they will be able to challenge the Gods. Thus, power is only given out when the mortal has proved themselves - ie. that they will uphold the "ideals" of that particular God. OK, their may only be room in the universe for one god of lust, but the actual holder of the rune (or whatever) may change. The Gods are fearful of their position. They have the ability to give enormous power but are reluctant, especially to mortals who often are a bit beyond their comprehension IMHO ;-) So, you "prove yourself" by being a downtrodden initiate for x years, wait for (or create) an opening for yourself by displaying the traits of your God, then start to climb to herodom in which the God recognizes that your not a plant from one of the baddies (Aldrya excepted :--), getting near herodom you promise your god that you wont try anything against them ever (or, if you're really powerful, maybe only for the next few centuries) and they give you some more power. I believe the Gods gain a lot by having high powered followers, but they are afraid of them too. Eurmal's blessing on you all... Robert --------------------- From: mcarthur@fit.qut.edu.au (Robert McArthur) Subject: Vrimak Message-ID: <199407180521.PAA23744@ocean.fit.qut.edu.au> Date: 19 Jul 94 01:21:16 GMT X-RQ-ID: 5200 Devin again: > Andre writes: > > " A lucky shaman would sacrifice > 17 of his 18 POW to his fetch and spend the next season Disrupting > birds to get POW rolls (game mechanics... *sigh*)" > > POW and skill checks MUST be stressful. Why do so many people keep forgetting > this? Disrupting birds gets you nothing but a bunch of dead birds and perhaps > the emnity of Vrimak! Hmmm, the emnity of Vrimak may be classified as stressful - magpies divebombing you, lots of sh*t landing on you, hungry vampire bats et al (and al's brother was et too - his name was Brutus...) Robert --------------------- From: mcarthur@fit.qut.edu.au (Robert McArthur) Subject: Re: the Gods Message-ID: <199407180613.QAA25495@ocean.fit.qut.edu.au> Date: 19 Jul 94 02:13:04 GMT X-RQ-ID: 5201 One thing about the Gods that we have often played is that they are able to inform the worshipper if they want to. ie. if they want the person to do something/be somewhere they can a) wait until the person next prays to them and send a vision/command, or b) send an emmisary (spirit in a foolish mortal who hoped to bind one, a dream, a vision, clammy hands etc). The ability to send visions or dreams seems to allow for the ability to actively do things on, at least, the spirit plane. I think that, in this case, it must be an emissary who does it; one who is not bound by the compromise but who perhaps must redeme themselves for past wrongs or something, or who just likes running errands and insinuating themselves in a person's spirit/mind. Of course, this starts the question of what happens to one's spirit when one is asleep? It would be strange if it wasn't still bound into the body, but then how does the emissary get the information "down" to the mind? Too many (in)famous persons have had visions which altered what they did and, usually, made them great. Many pretty normal people, in our campaign, have them too. Now, these may often be the antics of Eurmal for all the good they do but the things happen... So, I ask all the philosophers netting here - and I *know* there are many from the other messages :-), how does it happen? Robert --------------------- From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham) Subject: Battle Magic Message-ID: <199407180713.AA08479@radiomail.net> Date: 18 Jul 94 07:13:49 GMT X-RQ-ID: 5202 Barron Chugg quoted from KoS: "what the great lunar magical schools achieved when they devastated a whole fyrd with their power" Of course, devastating a fyrd could be a simple matter of casting Demoralize on every one of them. Everyone runs and hides, and the fyrd is devastated as a fighting unit. I think there was an article along these lines in Wyrm's Footnotes. ---------------------