Ian Borchardt:
> Now wizards and shamans (and their lesser ilk of whatever title)
> don't
> use runes at all when working their magic. Correct?
I don't know about animists, but I can see no reason to suppose that this would be correct for wizards, based either on Gloranthan metaphysics or on anything that Jeff et. al. have said so far. Consider the three general approaches of wizards to their magic:
- Followers of the saints. While they don't technically embody the power of the saints, followers do seek to follow their patron's virtues and code of ethics, which has the same ultimate effect. If you follow Xemela, you should be able to use the Harmony rune to augment your magic, because it benefits the Hospitalers to act in that way - that's the purpose of their Order.
- The clergy. Now, you don't emulate or strive to become like God; that's not even terribly meaningful for a mortal. But you do seek to act according to the principles in His book (whichever one that may happen to be). This is almost always going to mean following the Law rune, which is the defining essence of Malkionism. The more Lawful you are, the better you should be able to use those scriptures.
- Members of the wizardry/sorcery schools. True, such people are not (necessarily) trying to emulate their founders directly. But what they are trying to do is forge a closer link with the runes - because their magic is all about manipulating the power of the pure runes and using it in the world. How do you get better at understanding and manipulating the powers of a rune? By acting in accordance with it defining traits! You may not be emulating a god, but you *are* trying to shape your mind to the attributes of the rune itself. Clearly, IMO, the better you are at doing that, the better your magic is going to be.
I would be very surprised if the runes are not as important to wizards as they are to theists; I can see no obvious reason why this should be so. Heck, since many of them use the runes themselves to power their magic, rather than filtering it through the distorted lens provided by some limited and finite god, one might even argue that the runes are actually more important to them than they are to the pagans.
--
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic
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