Malia, Magic for the Common Being

From: Carlson, Pam <carlsonp_at_wdni.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 96 10:55:00 PDT


Peter Metcalfe sticks to his syringes on the Malia as Healer concept:

>The issue is whether Malia could be a Healing Cult. If she can be a
healing cult then
what is to prevent her worship?

Um - er - so expert priests worship Malia to obtain weakened or nonharmful disease spirits to ward off the nasty ones which might find you. Possible, I suppose, but isn't it better to wipe out Malia worship so the disease spirits have a harder time interacting with folk to begin with? Or are you assuming that wild disease spirits float about, randomly attacking people? (Could be - depends on your Glorantha.)

> As for Malia being against the precepts of the Solar Culture, the Lunar
Empire is not bound by
ignorant legalism IMHO.

Not at all, but the vast majority of the Empire's population still worship the old gods. I don't think that just because 3% of society is enlightened that everyone else is. I just don't see a temple to Malia in central Darleep; but perhaps there is a small, subtle temple in Glamour.

> 'Malia is also the janitor of the gods, providing the

        corruption which turns flesh and bone back to dust.
        Without work in this regard, there soon would be no
        room for the living'

According to Malians. I'm sure it's Gorakiki for the trolls, reabsorbtion into Aldya for the elves, or being consumed by an aspect of Ernalda/Oria for humans.

>Ergo I do not believe that Malia is objectively evil.

I don't think so, either, especially because there is no "evil" in Glorantha. But I'm not sure how much Malia can divorce herself from Destruction through Disease, which most Gloranthas _percieve_ as evil.

>And yet the RW disease masters who work with them are seen as forces of
Good, are they not?

Yes, but the _diseases_ (Malia) aren't. Heck, even the virologists as the CDC (or NIH?) struggled with the decision to extict the last known sample of the small pox virus a few years ago. Biodiversity/willful extinction vs an historical killer. Fear won, and smallpox is gone. This was done in our "enlightened" society.

>Why cannot we have an analogue with these noble people in glorantha?

Well, if you came up with a myth that said that Malia doesn't _cause_ the disease spirits - just controls natural ones, then you could argue that Malia could be worshipped in order to keep them harmless. But the impression I've gotten from the material in print is that when propriated,  Malia just sends the diseases at someone else, or gets you addicted and nails you later, etc. But maybe the RG has helped her Heal to where she doesn't need to send disease spirits at folk?

> Making them Malian Cultists is merely another opportunity to play up the
distinction between the enlightened empire and the benightened barbarians.

Well, this is MGF, and may also provide another bit of the White Moon's Bright Future prophesy.

> it is my belief that the worship of Malia is done to gain control over her
minions rather
than promote the occurence of them. The writeup implies otherwise but that's based on the chaotic viewpoint of diseased broos and so can be safely ignored. IMO the population of disease spirits in Glorantha is stable.

This is a key assumption for your point. The Broos' POV is all we have.  Why don't you write up the cult of Malia Theresa in Glamour to give us another POV?


Magic for the Common Gloranthan

Welcome Howard! I hope you don't mind if I take exception with you on your very first post...

>From: Howard Fielding
>IMHO, too much magic is BAD...Players have it because they are above the
cut
of the rest of humanity...Most NPC's should not have spirit magic IMHO unless their status warrants it. That is, the bulk of the unwashed masses should be magic poor or void.

Glorantha is a magical place, and even daily tasks have magic behind them.  This means that every Gloranthan knows a lot about the rituals of their daily lives. Most Gloranthan deists have some spirit magic - useful stuff, like Heal 2, Strength 1, Prot 1, Light, Calm Baby, Slow Calf and Detect Sheep. And, of course, Peaceful Cut for hunting or slaughtering livestock.  And most enchantments would be for useful objects, like sacred plows and field markers, hotplates in wood-poor areas, oath-taking chairs, etc. Items like flaming intelligent swords are very rare - they just get all the PR.

You are right in that none but misfits and landless wanderers would waste time learning Bladesharp and Demoralize spells.

Consider, too, that the magical aspects of daily life make it difficult for Glornathans to take on new ways of life without learning more magic.  Imagine a Humakti fron Nochet (an urban person) switching to farming. He would need entirely different prayers for slaughtering sheep properly than for killing humans. (I think that death cults' initiations are partly aimed at removing the normal taboos on killing humans. Perhaps Humakti can't be haunted by their victoms?)

And if Humakti adventurers think that Ernaldan farmer's wives are unwashed, ignorant, and unimportant in the Grande Scheme of Things, that happens to be just about what Ernaldans think of Humakti!

Pam


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