On 12/06/2013, at 4:00 PM, Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_quicksilver.net.nz> wrote:
> {prompted by a discussion on google+}
>
> It's occurred to me that we have a pretty good idea about Illumination
> as practiced by
> the Lunar Empire and some idea about Illumination as practiced by the
> Nysalorans but
> we don't have much of an idea about Illumination as practiced by the
> Yelmics (also the
> Sun Domers).
>
> WHAT ARE YELMIC ILLUMINATES LIKE?
>
> Plentonius describes Yelm's Illumination as experiencing the impossible
> and knowing the
> Other. Now Yelm (according to Plentonius) experiences this insight
> while being among
> the Many in Hell. So the original path towards Illumination might be a
> destitute lifestyle.
I think Yelmic Illumination is largely about the Many knowing the One, and the One knowing the Many. Yelm is the One, and the Many is his Other. It allows the destitute and low to know the high powers of the One that without Illumination are restricted to the noble and pure. So it allows destitution and low status to, instead of being a disqualification for seeking the high Yelmic powers, actually be part of a pathway towards it. It allows, to quote Nysalor, self-fulfillment "as if you were a noble" - which in Dara Happa, whose religion is pretty much entirely based around the idea that non-nobles are dirt incapable of deep insight, is pretty meaningful. It think it also allows noble practitioners who strive to emulate the One (the White Sun Lords, perhaps?) to contact the Many - to embrace the low, the human and the impure without having their powers destroyed by ritual impurity, for Yelms Justice to embrace the many.
> Other examples support this. The Margins have "origins among the
> socially disenfranchised"
> while the White Sun Lords were commoners who were "rallied by an Emperor
> who had been
> hiding among them".
Dara Happa Stirs presents a different version of these events, but not contradictory - clearly, DHS, even if considered canonical, would only present the events from the point of view of a small group of Karvanyars close supporters.
> IMO then Illumination was originally a mental state
> of Yelm that
> spontaneously broke out among the rabble of the Empire and still does.
I'm doubtful that Illumination was a practice widely pursued prior to Nysalors preaching. It is, of course, possible that individuals might have contacted Rashoran or similar, but I'd think that more likely to be isolated heroquesters etc. One thing mentioned in Lords of Terror (that of course might not still be canon) is that not all Illuminates are capable of teaching or effectively communicating Illumination.
> WHAT CAN YELMIC ILLUMINATES CAN DO?
>
> We know the Yelmic Illuminates do not mess about with chaos. They don't
> have glamours nor
> can they use their illumination to substitute for other runes.
We certainly have no evidence that they do any of these things. It is certainly possible that some schools do, though - there are quite a few. Though it certainly seems likely that chaos would not be tolerated, and I'm not sure Glamours make sense out of a Lunar context.
> They
> could fight Dragons and
> were very good at it.
Draconic powers, mystic in origin as they are, may well be unusually vulnerable to mystic refutation or similar. Whatever the mechanism, effective dragon fighting seems to be a common power.
> I think the answer is at the Battle of Night and Day where we are told
> the Compromise was
> broken with the incarnation of Daysenervus. Therefore when the Yelmic
> Illuminates do feats,
> they can Do the Impossible and ignore some portion of the Cosmic
> Compromise. Not as
> spectacularly as the events of the Battle of Night and Day but enough to
> make a significant
> difference.
This certainly seems to be a pretty reasonable interpretation to me. The secret knowledge of Illumination is about recognising that what appears to limit us is illusory, and the Compromise is nothing but a limit on the exercise of divine power. Of course, it is too 'big' a power to come up regularly in actual play - but lower scale
> There are two risks to using illumination this way. The first is that
> the soul can be utterly consumed
> by the deity if the Illuminate surrenders everything (to which the
> answer is not to surrender
> everything). The second and more important risk is that if the
> Illuminate ignores the Compromise
> too much, then the Enemy Gods can manifest among his opponents and even
> the odds. A third
> risk might be environmental damage to the Cosmic Compromise (this is
> based on a long ago remark
> by Sandy that the Nysaloran Empire would have destroyed Glorantha if
> Arkat hadn't stopped them).
>
> So why don't the Lunars do this? The best (and simplest) answer is that
> the Lunars don't have feats
> so can't break the Compromise with them.
Many Orlanthi would argue that the Lunars can, and do, break the Compromise (and the Goddess herself certainly did at several points). The absence of Feats mean that it may be possible for them only with more advanced forms of Heroquest magic, though.
> NYSALORAN CULTS
>
> Armed with this, I'd say there's two components to a Nysaloran cult.
> The method by which they
> seek Illumination which can range from full-on slumming as the Cynics
> did or to studying the Riddles.
> Most schools will have taught a mixture of both. Exposure to the All is
> a Lunar practice.
>
> The second step is the deity they worship. Because they are
> Illuminates, it can only be a light or
> fire rune deity, such as Antirius, Shargash or Yelmalio.
This ignores the historic intermingling of Umbarism with Nysalorism in Dara Happa - such as the Old Good Shadow. There are a number of possible responses to this (you could say the Old Good Shadow were Nysalorian but only 'shallowly' and not Illuminated, or that it represents a different tradition to the one you are talking about, etc), but I think it needs to be addressed. The essence of it seems to be that if Illumination means knowing the Other, the Other of Light is Dark.
> They can
> ignore many "petty" cult restrictions
> and hence are more demotic than their orthodox counterparts (an
> Illuminated Priest of Yelm has no
> need for family connections). In addition, they can only break the
> compromise with light or fire-rune
> feats (ie an Illuminated Yelmalion cannot use a Truth Rune Feat in this
> manner). Hence Illuminated
> Cults are truncated versions of the original cults and so rarely if ever
> can replace them.
Cults that have Nysaloran practices integrated into their cult practices may be more effective than simply Illuminates using the powers of an existing cult, and so may work more effectively. The Daysenarus cult was an example. The Daysenarus cult presumably integrated practices taught by Nysaloran Illuminates into their regular practices. And I think we can see echoes of this in the Yelmalio cult (presuming that the existing cult practices of the Yelmalio cult might represent the historical echoes of the Daysenarus cult). Meditation, for example. It is true that meditative practice was part of the Solar religion pre Nysalor (at least, as far as I know the Dayzatar seers have been doing it since pre-Dawn times) but it is very unusual as part of a fighting cult. And Yelmalio gifts and geases do include some elements that could resemble ascetic practices. Similarly, there are reasons Lokamayadan revers Tarumath, not just encourages Illumination combined with Orlanth worship. Cheers David
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