>When magic occurs something that is firmly rooted in personal (or
>communal) convictions changes reality even for people that doesn't
>hold these convictions. The magician's subjective reality is partly
>transformed into objective reality.
>When a Storm-Voice calls upon Orlanth to strike a Rokari wizard with
>lightning, the wizard may - if he survives - attempt to explain the
>lightningbolt in terms that fits into his worldview, as seen in Gods
>of Glorantha. But I think that he misses the point. For a moment there
>reality changed and the Orlanth believed in by the Storm-Voice and his
>congregation was actually there and cast his lightning.
I don't think this is the case at all. Orlanth exists and is worshipped by the Orlanthi whether or not the Rokari believe that he does. I do not think that for the thunderbolt to work on the wizard, the Rokari has to believe that Storm Voice's world-view is right. The Rokari Wizard also gets into fights with other wizards for instance. How does he resist their spells? By believing Sorcery is wrong? 'Forgive me for I have sinned. In the Sorcerous battle with Ancalagon the Black, I have denied the existance of the Invisible God 32 times...'
I think the solution viz-a-viz subjective world view/objective reality is to describe the World Views as having validity and/or potency. The Storm-Voice's interpretion of how the OtherWorld works is _potent_ because he can call down thunderbolts. It works whether or not what he believes is objectively true. A real world analogy would be the alchemist's recipe for making phosphorous. The alchemist is ignorant of the real process that is occuring (ie chemistry) but his recipe _works_ nevertheless.
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