> You are falling under the allure of the antigods, of course. But if mystic magic isn't usually notable compared to other forms of magic, then falling of the correct mystic path isn't going to make that much difference either. > Simply adopting foreign ideas that reject the mystic alone, especially if your primary magic is clearly not mystic (and I have no definite sense of what primary form of magic Telask, or any other Vormain magic, is), shouldn't make much difference. > Of course, the practical and social consequences of an acceptance of foreign ideas in a profoundly xenophobic culture are likely to be significant if known to othes, and for some forms of magic (especially theist) may be a big problem.
I'll respond to this, not to refute it in great detail (or even to fight loaded premise with loaded premise and snark with snark) but to demonstrate why I think what David wrote is flawed. Not wrong, mind you, flawed. First of, I had asked for people to avoid speaking generically of attachments and the like and give specific examples. Two sentences in David's explanation and "mystical magic" appears (along with an unnecessary qualification about whether Telask's magic is mystical - who cares?). The third sentence isn't much better with two uses of "mystic" while the last avoids the use of the m-word but is still dull to read. As things stand, the entire passage teeters over the cliff of tl;dr and even worse, tells us nothing about what happens to the poor Telask warrior.
What I was hoping was something along the line of.
The Telask Warrior is infected by the Ezdali. His mind begins to fill up with vile thoughts
about harming his beloved country. He is drawn to seeking out strange and evil cults in
order to satiate his new desires. If not detected soon, he will become a demon in human
form.
The Vormaini authorities have long been wise to the menace of the Ezdali. They have
special magicians whose sole mission it is to seek out the presence of such evil. When
found out, the Telask warrior is offered a choice. Either he has soul surgery in which the
demon is excised but he can no longer be happy. Or he could don ashes and sackcloth
and walk the length of Vormain in abject misery while being hissed and spat upon by his
betters so that his Ezdali may be purged. Or he could chose Exile - the Ezdali will no longer
consume his soul but become a new organ with which he could sense those who seek to
harm his beloved Vormain.
The same trope of the mystical fall from grace is there but it's embedded within culture and magic, which is far easier to read (even if completely uncanonical) than abstract and repetitive references to mystical notions.
--Peter Metcalfe
Powered by hypermail