>I'm trying to work out how to create illuminated Lunar bad guys under
>H Wars, but am unclear as to how this works under the new system
>
>I want (as usual) to hide them beneath a veneer of 'respectability' in
>a more regular cult, so how do they become Illuminated since this is a
>mystical phenomenon??
Becoming illuminated is pretty much like the old way - through the study of Paradoxes formulated as cryptic riddles. Hence I would suggest that illuminates have a skill called Nysaloran Riddles that denotes their knowledge of various Nysaloran Paradoxes.
To delve further into this, I'll suppose I will have to explain my understanding of various concepts of the HW mysticism rules.
What the rules call a Counter is actually equivalent to the realized Buddha nature or Awakened Draconic Self. What is described as being the secret of the Taraltara cult is actually the equivalent of Nirvana and the mystic achieves this through repeated refutation of the world.
Orthodox mystics can get into Nirvana/Vithalash/Summerland Heaven/etc alone by their Counter since it is thorough, while the manifest mystics are forced to acknowledge the world because their counter is at some level incomplete. To achieve their version of Nirvana, Manifest Mystics have to acknowledge the mystical reality of the world in some way as a crutch to help them into Nirvana.
This appears in the HW rules as a Strike. What this actually is (IMO) is a Cosmic Truth that affirms the World's (and other people's) existence. An example of the Truth behind a strike might be "Everybody has Cosmic Dragon Nature". While a Strike is meant to be used as a constructive engagement with the world, it can be used to manifest mystical reality upon the unprepared and so appear to the vulgar as a magical tool for kicking the shit out of people.
Illumination is described as the rules as an unintentional replacement of one's belief system with the mystical. What I think the situation is that illumination is a profound Cosmic Truth/Strike that has become divorced from any stabilizing Mystical Philosophy/Counter.
Becoming Illuminated is probably a contest between one's riddle knowledge and the cosmos (the barrier might be 2W or something) resolved at appropriate times. As a result of being illuminated, you achieve the realization that everybody is wrong. Real mystics view illuminates as cursed because they don't know how to refute these lies to find Nirvana. Instead the illuminates have a desire to find something... anything! that will stabilize their insight or else become insane.
I assume that illuminates still have the capacity to join multiple cults and the like to learn their powers (but do not have to devote their attention for theistic cults etc) but they are prevented from learning the secrets (and vice versa, people who learn secrets cannot become illuminated because they are already connected to the mystic realm - I'm basing this on the fourth paragraph of HW:RiG p166). There was a comment in a draft about how they could do HQ challenges in the mundane world but it wasn't much developed and I don't know the reasoning behind it - it might even be completely wrong.
The thing about becoming dark masters/bad guys is something else AFAIK. This stems from the destruction of one's great self for worldly power and is something that an illuminate could stumble on into doing.
--Peter Metcalfe
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