The rules change was stimulated by Harley Patterson's comments. To sum them up, the Brithini/Vadeli Art skills are now increasable by experience; St. Malkion can now only be invoked to learn an Art once a year, during Sacred Time; and unaligned sorcerers receive -3 to their Presence for Art Vows (plus whatever Presence the Vow provides.
The result is that the Brithini and Malkioni serve lengthy apprenticeships, while unaligned sorcerers get their magic quicker and cheaper, but pay for it as their Presence is lessened -- an unaligned sorcerer with all the Arts generally has 21 Presence less than a typical Malkioni journeyman. One result is that I suspect many unaligned sorcerers don't bother to learn the more obscure Arts, like Ease or Permanence.
Malkioni: -- St. Malkion is the source of Arts. Once a year, in Sacred Time, Malkion can be invoked to gain an Art. Once he is gained as a patron, each successive Invocation (at 1 POW each) gains the apprentice 1 Art. An apprentice's master typically forbids him to reduce his total Magic Bonus below 10, even to invoke Malkion.
Unaligned: they have access to Art Vows. An Art Vow can be any Vow, including the High Vow, the Vessel, and Lore Mastery. To take an Art Vow, the student needs to meditate largely uninterrupted for a full season. These Vows may be taken before any other vow. An Art Vow also increases Presence by its (value - 3), in addition to providing access to the chosen Art. Note that for many Vows, "value - - 3" is negative! A sorcerer who chose Shun Immortality (1 pt) would have his Presence reduced by 2. Shun Harm (3 pts) would leave his Presence unchanged. A Presence less than 0 is treated as 0 in spellcasting.
If the sorcerer violates an Art Vow, he loses use of the Art, and his Presence is restored to what it would have been without said Vow (note that it may increase!). He also loses 10 percentiles from all his sorcery spell skills. He may take another Art Vow to restore use of the lost Art. This will not restore his skill loss, however.
Other remarks on Malkionism.
Hasni Mubarak asks
>Farmers: Farmers don't get intenstity, so what sorecery spells can
>they use that is not completly worthless? Smother 1 is the only
one >I can come up with. Any one else?
Okay, first off, Rokari Farmers do get Intensity, but that's not your question anywa. The answer is that the following spells are all useful without any Intensity (except the basic 1 point you get if your Presence is 0). Their usefulness is less, of course, but even a 1-point Attract Missiles gives a 5% chance of sending them your way.
Animate Dead (for small animals), Animate [substance], Attract [harm], Bless [object], Boost [attribute], Castback (1-pt spells), Dampen [skill], Diminish [characteristic], Dominate [species] (only for very weak critters), Drain, Evoke [energy], Fly (levitate keys and such), Hinder, Holdfast, Identify Spell, Neutralize Magic, Produce [energy], Resist [attack type], Suppress Sorcery, Tap POW, Telepathy, Treat Wounds, Venom, Banishment, Binding (only for power spirits and hellions), Bless, Enchant [characteristic], Enchant [metal], Magic Point Matrix, Open Seas, Spell Matrix, Strengthening.
>WAR: What countries are currently at war.
Organized governments rarely formally declare war on barbarians. The Seshnegi is basically hostile to Safelster (but not currently at war with any of the states therein, I believe), and to the Orlanthi as well. Esrolia is too far away to worry about.
>How much contact do they get with the barbarians, any how?
Way too much. The barbarians come raiding down in large strength on occasion, and it's not uncommon for them to bypass Safelster and go straight to Tanisor. Even worse, some of the Safelstran kingdoms have adopted the custom of bribing barbarian invaders to spare their property and go straight on to a neighbor (either another Safelstran or Tanisor).
>Armoring is a Humakti cult skill. When does it come into play?
When you want to make a new piece of armor, or to repair an old damaged one.
>Humakti Gifts: Does the gift go away when a Humakti dies?
No, it goes with him to his afterlife. Or else it goes to someone else willing to follow the geas, as Dave Dunham suggests.
>If a Humakti dies, can his last DI be something along the lines
of, >"Make me an allied spirit embeded in a sword!"?
He can request this, but it's unlikely Humakt would grant it unless he was particularly heroic. And it's even less likely he'd grant it on the spot, to the sword the Humakti intended. And it's even _less_ likely that Humakt would approve of the person whom the Humakti wanted to have access to the sword.
Becoming an allied spirit does happen, but generally not by freshly dead Humakti -- usually only those who died centuries ago, and there seems to be some indication that much of their memories from earth life have been forgotten. Many Humakti allies are probably "awakened" swords or Sword Spirits, not dead Humakti.
>If an Elf learned Sorcery in the west, would he technically be
>a worshiper of the Invisible God?
There is evidence that elves cannot learn Sorcery at all. I suspect that "bent", excommunicated elves can do so, as they've lost their world view. They wouldn't have to worship the Invisible God, but no good Malkioni would teach a non-believer.
>Is ALL sorcery phrased as prayers?
Only by the pious.
Mr. Happy
>The discussion of the Malkioni on and off-line seems to have
>concentrated on schism, heresy and theological nicities. Fair
enough >but the sorceror's magic isn't supplied by his deistic
religion, >merely justified by it. Their cosmology is seperated from
their >theology and just hasn't been addressed.
Their cosmology isn't _separate_ from their theology, exactly, and probably differs in some degree from one religion to another, though with more similarities than differences (just as with their theology).
Here is my evaluation of "standard" Malkioni cosmology.
NATURE OF THE WORLD
The Invisible God's mind IS the cosmos. He rules by Law,
and his mind is also ruled by Law. As we learn the Laws that govern
the world we grow closer to understanding God's mind. As we better
our understanding, our magic and hope of Peace in Glory improves.
There are two schools of thought as to how our own souls come into existence (doubtless fostered by competing sects). The first is that our souls are made by the Invisible God, and that we are naturally made perfect, only to degenerate as we struggle through his universe and disobey his laws. The second is that our souls are made by the Invisible God, but that we are only embryonic and primitive when constructed, and that we must improve and strive to perfect our souls. Most sects agree that a degenerate or primeval soul dissipates upon death, returning to the natural energy cycles of the universe. The Malkioni know no Hell.
There are three types of Laws that we must follow. First are the Laws of Nature. These are immutable andattempts to violate them result in direct harm to the physical body. For instance, fire burns, water drowns. a long fall is injurious. It is possible to bypass these laws temporarily, but their effects are still present.
Second are the Moral Laws. These are as immutable as the Laws of Nature, but their violation is not immediate, and not perceptable, as the damage caused is to one's spiritual self, rather than the physical body. Theological disputes are about the Moral Laws.
Third are the Laws of Man. These are created by the minds of Men, in imitation of God, and ought to be obeyed, where they do not violate higher Laws.
The Invisible God is impersonal and does not perform miracles, for he must obey his own Laws. It is possible for a very wise human to receive a vision from the Invisible God, but this happens rarely indeed, and only to Saints. In any case, this is not evidence of the Invisible God taking action, but of the soul of the man reaching out to God, and sensing a fraction of His intellect.
Theists naturally perceive the Malkioni as being atheists or as worshiping a useless blind god. Malkioni scoff at the materialism of the theists, who worship a god only because he can give them instant satisfaction.
Sandy P.
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