Sandy
-
>The deities who are believed to preside as Master of Cerulean Magic,
Master of Viridian Magic, and so forth are NOT the sources of the color
magic, but merely serve as pre-eminent users of it and who can teach its most
effective use to others. Without those deities, the color magic would still
exist. There are types of color magic which do not have a Master, and yet
they still exist (though they are less-exploited, obviously).
Example: Cerulean Magic (of Telask) implies mental purity, fixedness of
purpose, steadfast loyalty, the unity of the sky (it is considered
sky-based), the secret strength of the ocean (it is also considered
sea-based), and the warrior spirit. Cerulean Magic is warrior's magic and its
practitioners tend to be "kenshi" -- the warrior caste.<
I guess I must have missed some fundamental point of Gloranthan theology.
I'm trying to see how your description of the colors and their relation to
their presiding deities differs from divine (runic) magic. Certainly some
deities are sources of runes (Red Goddess? Humakt? Primal Chaos?) But are
there not also deities who can only be said to be "pre-eminent users of a
rune, and who teach its most effective use to others (Waha? Storm Bull?
Yelmalio?)? Without these deities, the rune would still exist. And if the
Red Goddess were to cease to exist, would the Lunar rune cease to exist as
well? Or has it now become the "official" ruling that the runes do not exist
independently of the gods?
- Your practical example of Kralori mysticism at work in the arts and
crafts makes many things clear to me. For one, it explains why they
consider their society superior to others. It also explains their
inventiveness (certainly both are appropriate to the ancient China analogy).
I can't help thinking like a powergamer and wondering what kind of weapons
their mystic master swordsmiths would create.
. . . Tim
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #276
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html