Malkioni Theology

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 21:43:22 +1300


Carl Fink:

>This is from _Adventures in Arabia_, by John Seabright. The words
>were spoken by Nadir-Lugh, a priest of the Yezidee people, who worship
>Shaitan by the name "Melek Taos", Peacock Angel.

To say that the Yezidee worship Shaitan is a bit strong! They are said by their neighbours to be Shaitan Worshippers which is something slightly different.

>Earth's Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Moslems agree (mostly) on
>certain things that don't occur to Western Genertelans. For instance,
>Malkioni don't have an Adversary, a spirit opposed to the Creator and
>actively tempting and destroying mortals.

There is the mention of the Devil (who seems to be a different entity from Wakboth) in the Genertela Book. However I presume you are concerned with the fact that he doesn't figure largely in current Malkioni thought. Why should he be? The current concept of Satan as the Adversary in Christian Thought really dates to the Second Millenium AD. In Job, he is spoken of as _Man's_ Enemy.

IMO The real worry of the Malkioni is that they do something wrong and fall into Manifest Error (nifty catchphrase swiped from the Qu'ran). If they do so, they become emeshed in this world (shades of the Buddhist Devil) and fail to reach Solace (the precise details of what happens varies from place to place - basically the Malkioni don't have a clue).

This is best examplified in the anecdote described by Charles Glass in 'Tribes With Flags'. A Qadi (Muslim Judge) was presiding at a trial. After hearing all the evidence, the Qadi was considering his verdict. He noticed the defendant was laughing. "Why are _you_ laughing" the qadi asked him, "when it is _my_ soul that hangs in the balance?".

>In fact, Malkionism is the most unEarthly religion I can find in
>Glorantha. It really doesn't have a cognate -- it's certainly
>different from any real monotheistic religion.

It's a smorgasbord of Monotheism (mainly Christian and Muslim). The basic principle is that you believe in a moral code and get into Solace if you follow it successfully. I don't see how the lack of End of the World myths or Angels makes this UnEarthly. Neither of those are central to a Monothesitic Religion.

Powered by hypermail