>My main problem is that I don't quite understand what illumination is
>all about, except that it accepts a balance between chaos and order.
>This balance can be understood in a pretty straightforward way, so
>I don't see why the mysticism of illumination is neccessary.
Illumination is more than this. It's a psychic liberation. Understanding that Chaos is not Evil is only one aspect of Illumination (although the one promoted most heavily by the Lunar Provincial Church IMHO). An illuminated Troll might overcome his intrinsic fear of Fire. A Dwarf who becomes illuminated might cast aside her mental shackles and think more like a human being.
>Why is it such a sanity-wrenching event?
It's sanity-wrenching because you realize that everything you know is ultimately mutable. Some people are deranged by the experience merely because they come to accept things that normal people do not and behave accordingly. An Illuminate might come to realize that there is nothing wrong with arson and set fire to everything he can.
>Does anyone have any examples of good riddles/questions, esp. for the
>different schisms?
Zen riddles are the real world model for Nysalor Riddles. Like
Q: What happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object? A: The irresistable force stops, the immovable object moves.
I imagine the riddles for different sects differ in their questions by the subject matter involved. The Lunar Church riddles might be abstract philosophical ones in which the Empire is benign and caring frex. The White Moon Riddles may involve a contempt of force and coercion on the other hand.
Nick Fortune:
>I've always thought of Illumination as a fluid, intuitive sort of thing.
>Riddling all the more so. I could imagine a riddle might not work twice
>for the same riddler. On the other hand a skilled Illuminate can turn
>almost anything into a riddle - a canal, f'rinstance.
>You see, once an idea is formalised like this, it gets frozen.
>Institutionalised. It and loses a lot of its power.
Does it lose its potency? I think not. Russell's Paradox and Goedel's theorem are known but still define the limits of mathematics.
IMO Riddles are formalized paradoxes. An Illuminate can cause another to become Illuminated without recourse to riddles but it is much harder for him to do so. The Puzzle Canal in Pavis is an example of this. Acting in a very stupid manner (like say turning Gold to Lead) is another. Most Riddlers prefer to work with riddles in the same way most people communicate with language.
>But I'd bet one of those wild riddlers who work with raw
>undillutrd stuff could run rings around one of those bureaucrats.
It's not a question of Wildness IMO. One can be absolutely clearsighted in one's illumination and still be an diehard conservative (like most Kralori Mandarins) because it is the Best Possible Road from the Illuminates PoV. Nysalor did teach (according to the FS) the Orlanthi that stability and obediance were necessary. A Wild Riddler is wild because he has choosen (by whatever means) to be so rather than posessing more illuminating phlogiston than Joe Enlightened Bureaucrat down the road. Everyone has Buddha Nature so to speak.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #424
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail