Jonas Schiött:
> If Spirit Cults occur in all or most animistic
> cultures, the definition of "animism" needs overhaul. :-)
Funny you should say that...
Greg uses 'animist' (and pretty much interchangeably, 'shamanic') in a manner that's rather too broad for my tastes. I think that at the least, there are 'primitive animists', such as the hsunchen, and a large chunk of the Doraddi tradition, which is closest to what HW presents as 'pure' animism: their core magic is integration, of one sort or another; then there are the 'totemic shamanists', which is how I would understand the trolls, and the Praxians. Spirit cults a-go-go. This latter sort seems, according to the HW take, more like part-animist, part-theist, which is indeed rather confusing, given that this is so common. One might also suggest that there's a somewhat 'animist sorcery' thread, for those shamanic types who're a lot more interested in (as it were) dominating spirits than integrating or worshipping them, but that's perhaps a less clear aspect. (Greg was certainly underwhelmed by this latter theory. <g>)
The particular objection I have is that the current rules make it sound as if integration is a correct thing to be doing for a Praxian, and worship of Great Spirits an incorrect one, which is just simply backwards, IMO. If the GL take in the rules ends up being so sacrosanct that Prax will have to be 'trimmed to fit' the rules, rather than vice versa, then people will have good cause to band together to take out an easy-payment Giftcarrierogram to Murmansk Street.
> To bring a specific culture into the discussion: if a Praxian shaman
> sacrifices to Thunder Bird, why doesn't he sacrifice to Waha? Or does he?
> Assuming there is a difference in worship, how does he justify it? What,
> in the shaman's mind, is the difference between the two spirits (apart
> from their relative power)?
I think he does, there's no real perceived different to justify, and that is the basic difference. One marginal difference may be that sacrifice is seen as more necessary to less friendly entities, for purely pragmatic reasons. ("Peck this instead of me, O Mighty Big Bird.")
However, to look on the bright side, there's no reason at all HW can't be an excellent vessel for this sort of thing, once the Misapplication Zealotry is dispensed with. Most things use the same basic mechanics, magic included, so what sort of magic such and such and effect _actually_ is can be something of a theoretical rather than a practical one.
Cheers,
Alex.
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