Re: So now that you have your copies of Sartar

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_58WahZt5ebP49Tfskiesdi-rPaeCcklvXlq4TV8XczGCFSv7hyTRhXrJPKE-uQlechj>
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:50:00 +1300

John Machin wrote:
> 2009/12/8 Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_68rU0aXMu0VH4M6NzXmCjR42pQ_94GRIoJLRTd86mX_aim2UVL9Cgv3qfXsQiJXsWUkNfoPSBkT5Pf5UHUxi5a67lTdb.yahoo.invalid>

>> Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes actually changed the Red Goddess's runes from >> Moon, Fertility and Chaos to Moon, Illusion and Chaos.

> Shouldn't there be several rune configurations?

No. They are talking about the people who worship the Red Moon and not any particular subcult.

> Rufelza might have Fertility and Disorder, Natha might have Mastery or
> something, etc, etc.

Rufelza is a mob deity while Natha would be worshipped as a subcult of the Red Goddess (One rune: disorder) and more rarely as a deity in her own right.

> Why can't Lunars perform feats? There are some pretty impressive examples of
> potential feats!

The two main reasons are:

1. If the Lunars can do HQ2 style feats then what distinguishes their magic from theists in general? If they can do that, they can do everything a theist can do _and_ do spells and charms as well. Suggesting they can't do feats brings out a qualitative difference between their deities and the Orlanthi gods (Orlanthi gods exist, Lunar gods pretend to exist). For similar reasons, I feel that lunars can't become shamans or have grimoires (certain lunar cults may mimic something of the sort but these should be atypical pretty much like Lhankor Mhy's access to spells).
2. Doing impressive magic can easily be done using spells and charms (and chaos but we won't explore that for now). Since HQ2 feats are about unleashing the full power of your deity (an unlunar concept I feel), it makes some sense to me that this is something lunars can't do.

>> They could innovate but that requires heroquesting. Most often they
>> will rely on the stored knowledge of temple to craft their glamours,
>> whether it be dusty old scrolls, yodaesque teachers or spiritual exercises.

> Isn't this more or less turning Lunar magic into wizardry with a
> methodological foundation on untruths or unspecific truth (Illusion) instead
> of comprehension of cosmic phenomena (Law)?

No. Lunar magic takes three forms - the general glamours which work indirectly as affinities do, the spell-like glamours which is their main outlet for active magic and the charm-like glamours which is the main source of embedded magic.

> Not that there is anything wrong with that... I just thought it'd been done
> before with Dualism in (proto-?) Carmania?

I'm not sure what you are getting at. The Carmanians worship Gods (as opposed to Saints) while their dualism divides the world into good and bad rather than dabble in illusions.

--Peter Metcalfe