I *want* clearly muddled ways these things are stated, so that I can cause all kinds of fun conflicts.
I *want* it to be unclear who actually falls into "magician" in a world with so much magic. Sorcerers? Wizards? Priests? Monastic Orders? Anyone who uses magic? Scholars? Advisors?
I *want* some people to think that caste privileges and limitations apply to you based on birth, but what you do can be totally different. i.e. - All the rulers are from Common caste, which means they have ritual obligations and privileges that are important, but don't line up with their actual role in society. (I was born soldier, I studied to become a bishop. I am allowed certain activities that other priests from different castes cannot perform.)
I *want* other places to think the above is ridiculous.
Etc. etc. The role of women alone should be a source of endless argument. If the role is completely delineated, then that's boring. But if they are simply not mentioned as having caste, or it is never addressed, then you get to fight endlessly over what that means. 1) They really do have caste, it just isn't mentioned. 1a) They have their father's caste. 1b) They have their husband's caste. 1c) They have their caste assigned the same way men do. 2) They have no caste. 2a) You just shorthand them to having a caste like 1 above, but really you know better. 2b) All women are the same non-caste, regardless of anything else, and this means they have no role outside of "helpmeet and wife" however that gets defined. 2c) All women are the same non-caste, regardless of anything else which means women have NO restrictions on the roles they perform. 2d) All women are outside the caste system, which means all women are knights by default.
I have the feeling my West is going to differ a lot from the "canonical" one, just because I like this sort of thing. I think Caste needs enough religious weight to justify it having lasted as long as it has, and having enough magical clout to survive in Glorantha's magical environment, but that's it. That Caste has magical clout and power, but is in fact totally unrelated to the concept of God is a possibility. It does seem to be a very "logic and classification are necessary" thing, though, so I do like that it has some significant power in the Wizardry magic system, and that is why it seems to have survived in all the West.
That reminds me, do the Aeolians believe in Caste in any way?
LC
Peter Larsen wrote:
>Considering that modern Christian* sects argue about this very sort of
thing
>*all the time,* I see no reason why similar sorts of doctrinal disputes
>can't be used to flavor the West. Within any of the Western cultures, I
>imagine there are minor local differences in interpretation of various
laws
>and strictures, viewed with various degrees of disinterest and alarm
by the
>centralized churches... (The priest of XYZ wear white vestments even on St
>Gerlant's Day! They must be heretics! Or worse....)
>
>
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