> What is the difference between a verbal psychological exercise and
> a spell, Grasshopper? A Joke is a Trickster spell to make people
> laugh. A Lie is a Deciever spell to make people believe in something
> that is not true. So why are Riddles Not Spells?
But master, is not a joke sometimes only a joke? "Why did the dark troll cross the road?" A childhood friend of mine asked this of everyone in our village. Several times. To the best of my knowledge no one became Illuminated as a result. Perhaps sometimes a riddle is only a riddle, just as not every pebble is composed of Truestone.
> What is non-magical in Glorantha?
What is non-scientific in the RW? Just because we believe that a rock is made of atoms, composed themselves of sub-atomic particles, does not mean that each rock is packed with silicon chips and integrated circuits. Likewise, just because the Gloranthans describe their world in magical terms, does not imply that that there exists nothing that can be usefully described as non-magical. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a rock is just a rock.
Nick Brooke
> Nick Fortune (another Nick! God be praised!) writes:
Ah, you're just hoping someone will get us confused and try a God Learner Switch on us. (Why should Peters and Davids have all the fun?) :-)
On magic and language: I didn't mean to suggest that Gloranthan magic was based on mathematics (a la Sprague du Camp et al). What I meant was that in the case of _sorcery_, the language used to express magical concepts is so abstracted from day to day reality as to resemble mathematics more closely than it does any spoken language that I have encountered. A spell may be spoken in a normal language, but I suggest that in order to cast it, the mind and/or spirit of the caster must be focussed in one or more highly specific and counter intuitive ways. To grasp the underlying concepts with the required precision, it seems probable that a language or notation has been developed that is very far removed from the requirements of day to day communication.
As I say, this applies to sorcery. In the case of the hunschen, I would accept that natural language is the medium of magic. The shaman's song of power is at once an assertion of identity, a description of his place in the universe and an evocation of the change he desires to occur.
Odd musings: Did Nysalor invent Illumination, or did he just teach people how to attain that state? Are dragons and dragonewts, with their apparent indifference to chaos, Illuminated? If so, how come human Illuminates haven't noticed? Do the Uz have their own term for Illumination, to avoid the nasty associations, or is it a terrible Mystery like the ZZ mastery of fire? Is a Nysalor riddle itself capable of Illuminating, or must it be posed by an Illuminate? (The Puzzle Canal could be used to support either point...) Why do we see so few riddles expressed through non-lingustic media? Does anybody care?
Nick Fortune nick_at_nymar.demon.co.uk ===========================================================================+++ Sense Of Humour Down For Maintainence +++ Witticism Unavailable +++
Powered by hypermail