> I'm sure most here have read, heard or watched stories where the mystic is a
> protagonist. One obvious example is Kung Fu (http://tinyurl.com/yu6zo9 -
> Wikipedia link).
He's not really a mystic. His magic is best handled by using the harmony rune for combat which can be done with any one of the three magic systems. Since he doesn't invoke a god or spirit, his fighting style can be treated as a grimoire with many of the fancy moves being individual spells.
The trouble with a true mystic as a PC hero is that the main course of spiritual advancement is not attempting to remove yourself from societies but spending all your life in a monastery or being alone in the wilderness beating your chest with a rock, reciting the Jerusalem Prayer or meditating on the Diamond Lotus Sutra. And when any of your companions come along and say "Hi, we're going adventuring. Wanna come?", the correct mystical answer is no.
Now there are cases in literature and history of monks and the like coming out of seclusion to do involve themselves in politics, kick butt for truth, nirvana and the eightfold path, or even to engage in highway robbery. Treat them as mystics and what do we have? They have some mystical bonus which they can't ever improve short of extended stays in seclusion and if they swot up on some other mystical juju, their original bonus goes kaput. In short, true mystics are anti-heroic. If we treat the monks as being theists, animists etc, then most of the gameplay problems disappear.
So are there no mystics whatsoever in a monastery? IMO mystics are still found there there from time to time but they are the true hardcore monks taking on vows of extreme austerity while the PC type monks that live there are the average type of monk, worldly enough to be sent to do odd jobs for the abbot.
Looking at glorantha specifically:
Draconists (and 'newts) aren't IMO mystics. They have a mystical goal but the road is filled with temptations that will spiritually harm them if they fall. Ingolf's problem IMO wasn't that he used his draconic powers but that he used his powers in extreme and spiritually damaging circumstances for good purposes. Rather than simply manifesting them, he burnt off what he had in order to create some immensely powerful effect. Few other draconists have been as desperate (or foolish) as he was which is why he is remembered.
Fallen mystics do exist, Sheng Seleris being the most obvious example. Most fallen mystics achieve their status by performing austerities in evil monasteries and breaking their vows at a spiritually potent moment. These should be distinguished from the far more common fallen monks who are merely monks that have commited some foul sin or another.
--Peter Metcalfe
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