In Digest 2:102 (Sept. 6) Peter Metcalfe wrote:
"The False Gods and the Pagan Gods are two separate categories. The Western Soldier's World View in the Player's Book of G:CotHW makes this clear."
Probably I'm missing something obvious, but this is not clear to me. The Western Soldier says: "The False Gods are ever ready to lead us down the path to perdition. The Invisible God has shown us the way to immortality and happiness, and his word is to be followed in every way. The pagan gods and their stultifying magic must be shunned." (G&, p.21) Is the speaker here really drawing a distinction between false gods and pagan ones? Or is this just a case of what writing teachers used to call elegant variation-- using different terms for the same thing to enliven a text? A statement on the previous page seems to equate the False Gods with those that the pagans worship: "Any other attempt to work magic results in damage to the user and leads to imprisonment within the material plane--look at the hordes of pagans trapped in the worship of their False Gods for proof." (G&, p.20)
Furthermore, GoG appears to support the idea that the False Gods are the mental construct that Westerners use to categorize/explain the pagan gods of their neighbors. "False Gods--According to ancient Malkioni history, wicked sorcerors learned to control great natural powers and intertwined their souls with Nature's forces to become creatures now worshipped by lesser beings." (Prosopaedia, p. 6). The 3 examples given, Ehilm, Humct, and Worlath, clearly are related to important pagan gods. Nor does it seem to me that these are more than examples--one wouldn't expect the authors to clog the Prosopaedia with a Malkioni False God for every pagan god.
Jonas Pope
popej_at_cofc.edu
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