As I read it, the trend is that spells need to have an active connection "proven" to the node(s) that power and direct them, which is (at least initially) done through a heroquest. Probably done by the initial Saint.
(Although, I would speculate that the magic in the Abiding Book already worked when it was first read, as part of the miracle of its creation.)
And there is a broader range of opinions, but I get the sense that the summary for theist magic could be formed as: feats are discovered by heroquests. These feats are then either directly passed down to the community or individually gained by repeating the heroquest.
This suggests that ALL hero cults are formed from the teachings of an explorer heroquester, not someone that first performed the great deed of magic (or discovered a new skill, or made a new type of object, etc.) in the Material world.
For animist magic, the most likely heroquest is for the initial discovery of the spirit and the forming of the connection that allows people in the Material world to make the negotiations and bindings that create charms and such. If so, imagine how much harder it is to just wander in the Spirit-flavored heroplane, looking to meet new entities and hoping they don't devour you. At least, to me, that explains why the God Learners were (mostly) messing around with the divine plane and their myths, rather than trying to decode the animist traditions.
On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 9:46 PM, L C <lightcastle_at__x1Qwq6kyZgXrgLe2AUDEmjsxWPClxBDBGKCk26cRE8ymfEgF1pSUzelcouCH0ATSfMX3lW50uZX8S3z6g.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> So while there is some disagreement about some details, but the basic
> consensus on the list here is that all magic that isn't common magic is
> gained (at least initially) through a heroquest - the following and
> re-enactment of a myth. So intrinsically, there is no difference in how
> the three worlds magics are gained by the people who set them up, it is
> only in how someone has to follow them that the split occurs. (You learn
> formulae from a book, do the proper sacrifice, learn the negotiating
> trick of the spirit.)
>
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