Yes.
>Mind you, it doesn't sound like the animist experience is all that
>different from what you are describing.
The difference is one of viewpoint. The theist is taking the place of a greater being. The animist is being themselves and dealing with greater and lesser beings.
>The Monotheist experience seems a bit more abstract.
That may be more a distinction between the wizard and the sorcerer. The wizard is emulating the saint who took that path before. This may explain why people like the Aeolians end up worshipping gods as saints.
> >A related issue is that the rule book is written as if there's a
> >definite barrier between the material world and the Hero Planes.
> >While appropriate for a rule book which deals with PCs and how
> >they get there when they want to that doesn't reflect my Glorantha.
>
>*nod*
>Since this is all for me to find a version that will inform my Glorantha
>and I've already decided I'm throwing the old rule book out as a hard
>and fast rule (and will likely be chopping the HQ2 version of Gloranthan
>magic to shreds as well) I am happy to hear other versions.
>
> >IMG the heroplanes overlap the material world, people can find
> >themselves moving between one and the other and acting in both at
> >the same time. Usually that's the result of someone's actions but
> >it can just happen.
>
>That being the case, it sounds an entire culture could assume they
>*don't* heroquest for magic - say an animist-cult that runs into
>spirits and negotiates with them, not realizing that they are actually
>straddling the plane whenever they meet one.
Certainly. You could also have a theistic culture which believes the gods walk the earth. I suspect that such cultures would be small and primitive because most shamans and godi can differentiate between the material world and the heroplane. Heros (e.g. PCs) will learn to do so but the average Gloranthan is often unsure.
> >>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.
> >
> >And subsequently reinforced by wizards following that saint's path.
>
>Which is similar, I suppose to the whole "a cult re-enacts the myths
>over and over".
Yes. A sorcerer will tell you that the saint's path is just mystical mumbo-jumbo imposed by the church and that you go where the energy comes from. A church wizard will tell you that following a saint protects you from being led astray into evil practices.
> >I expect the GLers just found shamans too incomprehensible to
> >make sense of. Theists usually follow a routine to get a specific
> >result. Animists go somewhere they know a certain type of spirit
> >is likely to be found and the spirit they befriend or bind may
> >be significantly different from the one they got last time.
>
>Although it seems Practitioners are not subject to too much variance.
Because they have to be more careful than shamans about which spirits they approach. Best to stick with those they are familiar with.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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