Anyway, here are my responses, still given without looking anything up so take them with a grain of salt.
On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Benedict
Adamson<yahoo_at_Kufar2dq9G68LBoUjnTOx4mvzwDeP-00UicvsyTR3oYZc5zktF2I0igXpN2nAiII37X5X0mIRAKldfqY5YNqKQqkFpukNQ.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Akrolar: Harmony
>
> Bisos: Earth, Mastery
> - Akrolar: Bisos sub cult, + Life + Mastery (more)
>
> Akrolar is "The Bull Horn", and seems rather specialised to be a
> standalone cult for the miserable Carmanians ;-)
I agree on making Akrolar a sub-cult. Good idea.
> Our Harmony/Life difference must be down to the difficulty of fitting
> music into the Core Runes schema. IMG (currently), Akrolar provides Life
> rune magic, limited to bringing cheer using unsophisticated music.
I hadn't considered Life/Fertility as providing that sort of thing - it's an interesting idea. IIRC most musical cults in the past have been Harmony based, maybe because the rune (in orlanthi myth anyway) is the First Harp and that harmony in music is the many being greater than the sum of its parts.
>> Bentus: Fertility, Disorder
>
> Bentus: Harmony, Life
>
> Bentus is a very difficult case. I believe all the High Gods must have
> Harmony, otherwise they would not contribute to the Jerontian goal of
> pure Harmony.
Bentus is a bit difficult, I agree.
As for the Jernotian Way, I see it as Harmony achieved through Balance - Male and Female, Order and Virtue (Virtue refines Order as positive?), Success and Power (giving and taking?), Love and Lust (selflessness and selfishness?). OK, much of the above is a stretch and requires more thought. Still, I don't see the need to give Harmony to each individual High God - each god is one of the strings on Jernotia's metaphorical harp.
Then there is the whole illumination thing going on, if you believe the Lunars...
Anyway, I would rather say that worshipers of a High God can access Harmony through Jernotius' connection with the Jernotian Ring - rather like an associated cult. That way Bentus the High God is one thing, but Bentus the free agent - unbalanced by Love - is considerably less wholesome. Similarly, Uleria can cause problems if unbalanced by a strong sense of self.
>> Bisos: Beast (Bull), Movement or Magic? (Man-Divine communication)
>
> Bisos: Earth, Mastery
>
> Bisos should be a major deity, proving 3 runes, not only my 2. Form
> runes are now deprecated, except for cults that provide shape-changing
> magic.
My thinking was that Bisos is the son of KefTavar - the ancient Bull God - so he should have bull powers. His cult probably offers herding magic for cattle, and stuff like Strength of the Bull feats. This might be another situation similar to Durbadath, though.
I described my reason for picking Magic in my reply to David, so I won't do it again here.
Movement is definitely a stretch. I am mostly using it as Conflict - for Bisos' martial prowess much like you are suggesting Death for Bisos the Hazar.
I sort of see your Earth connection through the myth of his defeat of the Blue King and its agricultural benefits.
Humm... how does Bisos' self-resurrection feat fit into his runes?
>> Daak the Stranger: Movement, Disorder
>
> Daak: Disorder
>
> I'd previously considered Illusion too. IMG (currently) The Jerontian
> Way is all about Harmony, so Daak as its evil god is pure Disorder.
I can see that. I chose Movement for Conflict and that Daak came in from the Outside and then departed. I guess I also see Daak as a Storm God (Vadrus?) seen through the Pelandan mythic lens.
>> Daxdarius: Death, Mastery
>
> Daxdarius: Death, Harmony
>
> Daxdarius was an Emperor, hence your Mastery choice. He doesn't warrant
> 3 runes, and I think the Harmony of hoplite formations is more important
> than the mythical past of a Pelandan empire.
That's an interesting point about the Hoplites. My take is that Harmony is described as a source of healing and has personality traits of forgiving, merciful, and peaceful. (OK, so I did crack a book for this post after all.) I think I could make a case for the Mastery rune helping to organize men into formations. Still, if you are trying to depict esprit de corps then... what else could you use other than Harmony? Limitations of the core rune system, I guess.
>> DonKivis: Harmony
>
> Donkivis: Illusion, Magic
>
> IMG (currently), He is the the origin of theatre, "which can transport
> people to the past, future and other lands", hence the Magic rune.
Interesting. I reread the description in ILH1 (you made me crack another book, curse you!) and DonKivis is described as "The god who brought art and culture to man" and has affinities of "Aesthetic joy, Artistic Insight, Beautiful Music." He seems to be the god of art appreciation as much as an artist himself! He does apparently make Beautiful Music, though, which is why I chose Harmony.
>> Durbadath/Karndarsal: Beast (Lion), Light
>
> Durbadath: Hunting, Light
>
> Lion: another (deprecated) Form rune.
Durbadath does grant the lion shape-changing secret according to the old HW description, and has the affinities of:
"Combat (Conceal Self, Great Pounce, Lion’s Bite, Restore Own Vitality) Hunting (Cut Off Escape, Remove Own Scent, Run Down Prey, Sneak) Radiance (Blind with Flash, Radiate Light, See in Dark)"
So, Hunting and Light certainly work. The Beast (Lion) rune may be unneccessary if it is clear that the application of the Hunting rune should have a lion-influenced flavor.
>> Entekos (Dendara): Air, Sky
>
> Entekos: Air, Change, Harmony
>
> I hadn't consider Sky. It could make sense. Worth further investigation.
>
> IMG (currently), Entekos provides Change magic, limited to gentle
> beautification, modelled on Her own rainbow, and including painting,
> dyeing, etc.
>
> Harmony: for "virtue".
Yea, the Sky rune was my attempt at Virtue - that and for the planet Dendara. I didn't think she deserved three runes, though.
>> Idomon the Prophet: Truth, Law
>
> Idomon: Harmony, Truth
>
> I'm coming to believe that very few gods have Law, because it is more
> about Cosmos than written laws.
You are probably right there.
>> Idovanus: (probably beyond runes) Sky, Truth, Law (Cosmos)
>
> Idovanus: Harmony, Light, Truth
>
> All seem good. Restricting to 3 runes is hard.
Yep. Idovanus was the god of Order, which I read as Law. I picked Sky for purity mostly. The Carmanians think of him as the god of the Light, but I am not sure that the Pelandans do. For them, he is mostly a remote and somewhat dispassionate god of Order, which sounds like Sky to me. I am not even sure that the Pelandans see him as a source of Truth, to be honest.
Idovanus is probably the deity that has the most dramatic difference between traditional Pelandan and Carmanian worship, myth, etc. I might say the Pelandan Idovanus is Light and Law while the Carmanian Idovanus is venerated, having been proven to be a mask of Irensaval (or the other way around).
>> JagaNatha: Moon, Disorder (Disorder *and* Harmony would be interesting)
>
> Natha (pre Teelo Estara): Moon, Death
I will respond to Natha and Ratakar in a separate post due to length.
>> Jernotia(us) - Harmony, Movement (all is change, all is balance) + one
>> more?
>
> Jerontia/Jerontius: Harmony
>
> IMG, Jerontia/Jerontius is a mythic practice that approaches the All
> through the Harmony rune. Jerontia has only the one rune for the same
> reasons Sedenya Herself has only one: one is enough!
An interesting idea. Moon and Movement (Change) as IIRC Peter suggested could work too, although the personality traits for Movement don't fit. Jernotia is the Mother of Oria (Success), Dendara (Virtue), and Gorgorma (Fear). I am not sure I see a pattern that would help.
>> Kenstrata: Harmony, Death
>> Orogeria - Harmony, Death
>
> Kenstrata and Orogeria: Hunting, Magic
>
> Magic: for the ability to chase prey into Other-Worlds
Could work, or Spirit? Didn't Greg imply at one point on the lists that some of the myths in Entekosiad were animist? I think there is precedent for K&O being gods, though. Hunting is a combination of the Death and Harmony runes, so it works for me.
>> Lendarsh: Fire/Sky; Mastery
>
> Lendarsh: Harmony, Movement
>
> Fire/Sky for the Kargzant connection. His mythical actions are more
> about cooperation than conquest or rule.
>
> IMG (currently), Lendarsh provides Change rune magic, limited to horse
> riding.
I could see that. I could make a case for using Fire/Sky for horse riding, though. My use of Mastery was for reordering (northern) Pelandan society.
Thanks for the interesting ideas!
-Kevin McD
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