ryancaveney_at_mh6tAqEQkiClZq6B-Lyvue0EBG1lbpo1IfHN1QWIi_NIs4y8_oolmE-m_j7aSmTF87O6V8WHyTNpRQ6exWVQKg.yahoo.invalid wrote:
>
> Ttrotsky wrote:
>
> > The key issue is that the germ theory isn't actually true
> > in Glorantha - disease really is caused by evil spirits
>
> I knew that was true for animists and theists, but is it also true for
> sorcerers? They might say unbalanced humors, but I thought they would
> think
> "evil spirits" was just more foolish pagan superstition, and would
> have some
> kind of purely materialist view which would be true for themselves --
> which is a
> practical reason for the (I had thought general) observation that
> sorcerers are
> good at curing sorcerous diseases but not animist ones, and vice versa...
>
>
They might say "evil essences" if it's a sorcerous disease, or "evil
noncorporeal entity" is they aren't sure if it's a sorcerous disease or
an animist one. And they might well say that the evil noncorporeal
entities do their work by creating imbalances in your humours. But that
doesn't mean that they think diseases are caused by physical entities,
largely because they aren't (unless Glorantha has, say, tapeworms, I
suppose).
The materialist view that sorcerers hold of the cosmos does not imply
(as its modern counterpart often does in our world) that they think
purely spiritual entities don't exist. The very fact that magic works
implies that such things do exist, and it wouldn't be very logical to
deny that. Nor are all noncorporeal entities necessarily evil in their
worldview - although many are, and you certainly shouldn't worship any
of them, or give them sacrifices!
>
>
--
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic
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Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell.blogspot.com/