Illumination

From: Graydon <saundrsg_at_qlink.queensu.ca>
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 1995 06:27:14 -0400 (EDT)


My take on illumination is that it has to do with time.

Because of the Compromise, Gods are in the 'Godtime' - everything they've done, they're still doing at this moment, world without end, amen.

People exist in the world, with a sort of cumulative time; your latest action determines your present spiritual standing. (also note - 'cult restrictions', to a Gloranthan, have a lot more in common with laws of physics than our version of moral law; the place is built out of mystically significant events. I don't think anyone has to *do* anything to send the spirits of reprisal around, anymore than someone has to do something to make a rock fall once it's dropped.)

Once you're Illuminated, if you're a mortal, your perception of time is changed; you're aware of the past parts of your life and the future parts of your life in a way that gives them equivalent mystical reality to the present parts of your life, for values of 'life' that include where the basic bits of your soul came from and where they will go.

So when the cult spirits of reprisal show up, or you walk into the Holy of Holies, or whatever, the natural human desire to be viewed positively, in conjunction with the awareness that 'now' is no more important than 'past' or 'future', allows the Illuminate to present themselves as being the self of a time when they were not in violation of any cult requirement.

This varies in difficulty; an ogre would have to reach a long way back, throught the man-rune, to a compenent of their soul that came from an uncontaminated source in the Godtime, not just to their own past.

There are doubtless big arguments and factions of Illuminates; is it that all times are Now, or that *no* time is Now, for instance?

As far as Heroquesting goes, I'd say that the Godplane has a mystical structure that corresponds to a very complex weaving pattern, with the threads being the histories of the lives of various divine beings (you're a divine being when you have a thread in the thing, and not if you don't, pretty much by definition).

Arkat figured out how to jump from thread to thread; you no longer had to go through a God's life in linear order (impractical, for a mortal) to get something good, or find out what good there was to get.

The God Learners figured out how to add, subtract, and change connections. You can't do this anymore; the downfall resulted in a change to the knots, so that mortals can no longer comprehend them.

Chaos is part of this; chaos might be thought of as ink, constantly poured on the fabric, that spreads if it is not constantly mopped up, but the ink is welling out of some of the threads.

Illumination allows you to present yourself as something that you're not; an Illuminated broo (presumably with 24 oz solid brass balls) can walk up to Stormbull on the Godplane and get a 'bugger of an illusion to be cursed with' response. (Someday I am going to be sufficently sadistic to inflict an illuminated heroquesting reformed Urox broo (with a bull's head, of course) on a campaign, but that day is not yet.)

So the question of whether the Seven Mothers were illuminated to start with comes down to a question of what kinds of self representation did they need to do to succeed, in my opinion.

I'd further argue that 3 were, 3 weren't, and that the kid couldn't know what the question meant, as a matter of necessity for the ritual aspects of the quest to succeed.

There are all sorts of interesting variations within Illumination, too; if someone views Illumination as a tool to misrepresent themselves, they're going to be *very* different from a person who views Illumination as a means to fulfill their entire potential.

It is, after all, a basic human capacity; it doesn't take mystical intervention as such, just a change in perspective. (Which might be why traditionalists hate it so much; it's not something you can fight, and it spreads.)

Then there's the possibility that Illumination allows Gods to experience linear time and, with that, grow greater than they are. Which, being Darwinian, argues that, in time, all gods will be Illuminated.

saundrsg_at_qlink.queensu.ca | Monete me si non anglice loquobar.


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