> Because Spirit Magic is limited magic. Its usuage is almost mundane.
> IMO A spirit magician would understand his magic as working like this:
>
> _IF_ I chant A and gesticulate B _THEN_ My Sword will burst into Flames.
>
> He would know that if he alters A or B, then his spell will not work.
> For him to imagine changing the effect to 'So-and-so's Sword will burst
> into flames' would imply that either A or B would have to be changed.
> But that would mean that his spell won't work so he can't change the
> effect. As this is spirit magic, the forces involved are intuitive
> and personal and not subject to rational analysis.
However, man is an animal capable of learning. Since they have been using Spirit Magic in some form for thousands of years, I believe they have a pretty good idea of what their spells can, and cannot do.
Maybe back in 100ST, people insisted that Fireblade only worked on *your* sword, and that Firespear was a completely different spell. By now, enough "crazy" people have learned through experimentation what is written in the rules book. The possible ways Gloranthans could re-interpret their myths to justify such increases in knowledge are left an exercise for the pedagogues on the digest...
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #470
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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