Re: nature of mysticism

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:05:15 +1300

On 2/25/2013 5:40 AM, jorganos wrote:
> Peter Metcalfe wrote:
>> Except that arguing from Ingolf as an example of a mystical failure > is flawed because you have the examples of Great Lord Burin and others of the EWF making dramatic displays of draconic power without any ill-effect.
> I regard them as even greater (and earlier) mystical failings than Ingolf. Their greater displays of power were of course fueled by thousands of draconic theist worshipers feeding them - not that different from the uz consolidating their support into the Black Eater at the Battle of Night and Day, or the units supporting the magical ramps at Whitewall.

How can you tell if they are failures? Why should they be regarded as failures? I (and I hope nobody else) spends their time deciding whether or not the Red Emperor and other prominent Lunars are mystical failures so I don't see the necessity of the applying the exercise to the EWF?

And given the Kralori Empire uses a similar system in channeling energies of worship to the Emperor, would Godunya then be a failure?

>
>> The nature of Ingolf's flaw was not that he used vast magical
>> powers but he used vast draconic powers at the expense of his
>> draconic self.
> That's another way to say he used the powers outside of the mystical context for self-advancement.

I don't see anything in Ingolf's Saga saying that he used his draconic powers for self-advancement. Practically every failure he had was for the benefit of other people, not himself. He even went so far as to propose a philosophy that this was good.

>
>> I'm also dubious about the thinking that a mystic acquires vast
>> amounts of magical power but does not use it for fear of failure.
>> Human nature being what it is, I would expect about 5% of mystics
>> to crash and burn dramatically. If they had vast magical powers
>> I think the east would be producing a hundred Sheng Selerises in
>> an age rather than just one in 1600 years.

> Only very few humans get as close to the Ultimate as Sheng, and I don't think there is another failed mystic who persisted through all the transcendent crap while intending to fail spectacularly from the beginning like Sheng.

Okay. Firstly a little mathematical exercise. How many people are there in the instant torture camps? And as a percentage, how many screw up really badly each year? Also consider that if one Sheng was unlucky to fail as close as he did, then half-Shengs and quarter-Shengs should be a lot more common and still be capable of doing a heck of a lot of damage.

In addition, I very much doubt that Sheng actually went in intending to fail. That renders his motivation too much of a vanilla villainy. I think he was tripped up just as he was about to embrace the ultimate by remembering that he hadn't fulfilled his oath to stand on the Moon.

--Peter Metcalfe