> Quoting from KoH Rune magic section on p 68: "The Runes are symbols that
> have power inherentin them; they are the building blocks of Glorantha. They
> are symbols, archetypes, embodiments, and actual matter or energy of the
> mundane world."
>
> From that it follows that people are also made of runes in a fundamental
> way, and not only that people are probably made of all runes to lesser or
> greater extents. So anyone can forge a real connection to any rune. It
> wouldn't surprise me if in Glorantha many characteristics are named for the
> rune they link to.
>
That's a great quote Gavain!
> However, my main point it to link this to the way runes influence magic.
> With theists it seems easy, their magic is internal, their use of the rune
> is mediated through their belief in a god or gods. "If god did this then I
> can too."
>
> With spiritualists it is also easy they don't do magic themselves so the
> only important thing is the rune that their spirits link to. The main
> influence of the runes is that they will predispose the spiritualist to
> certain sorts of spirits and find them easier to deal with.
>
> Magicians use logic and learning to access powers of the runes. The
> intuition that their own internal runes provides will give them some help
> but because they don't access their powers internally they don't make that
> direct connection to the power. Perhaps only with the individual spells they
> learn do they have a chance.
>
I've thought of similar things myself, but I have been struggling to think exactly how this works. Presumably there is nothing preventing Gloranthans from finding and exploiting basically any rune (possibly not runes that conflict with each other...) within themselves?
>
> In writing this, it occurs to me that one of the things illumination offers
> is that gods, spirits and grimoirs become irrelevant, because the illuminant
> realises that the only power is the runes themselves. Illuminants can
> therefore access their internal runes directly without intervention or
> limitation from other sources. Thus giving them the freedom to use
> unexpected powers.
>
I drew a diagram of this kind of arrangement literally last night!
I now have to think about how to model this reasonably within HQ2. I really want the runes to be the "top level" magical ability rating... I am just not sure if this can be done especially elegantly...
--
John Machin
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
- Athanasius Kircher, 'The Great Art of Knowledge'.
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