On the discussion on whether Malia could be Good, I pointed out that the Orlanthi worship Death and see it as good.
Brian replied:
>I think that the line between Death and a force that kills
>indiscriminately, not to mentions hideously painfully, is pretty clear.
In Orlanthi eyes, the line is abundantly clear. However it is not so clear elsewhere around the world. The Kingdom of War Cult of Humakt, the Carmanian Humakti and the Dorastran Humakt do not see any distinction between a Clean Death and a Death that is 'hideously painful'. Given this state of affairs, what is to prevent a similar permutation in the world view of a Malian Disease Master?
Furthermore not all diseases cause death, Sniffles being a good example.
Marcus Lindberg:
On the subject of biological warfare in the Lunar Empire:
>Is the lunar citizens "open minded"/insane enough to accept
>disease in their arsenal.
Given that they accept the Crimson Bat, I see little reason for them to oppose Malia on such grounds. However the main problem with Malia is that she is more like a 'sourched earth' goddess which hampers Lunar Expansionism a great deal. Poison a well and it's useless by *your* forces as well as the enemy. I have heard that some lunars are researching diseases that affect certain cult affliations...
David Boatright:
Me>>Forget the Malia Writeup in Lords of Terror. The issue is whether
>>Malia could be a Healing Cult. If she can be a healing cult then what
>>is to prevent her worship?
>Why because you tell us to and you have decided. LOT\COT tells she
>us she is evil. _You_ have decided to make her a healing cult so we
>have to accept this.
Perhaps if David had taken the trouble to read the beginning of the thread, he would have seen that the original idea was Sandy's. As for LoT/CoT saying that Malia is evil, spare us the fundamentalist hysterics. I didn't see anybody making a fuss when Nick B. proposed a non-chaotic form of Atyar. Nor anybody complaining in the Great KoW thread that Humakt was actually a god of truth and honor and so could not possibly be worshipped by the KoW Warriors.
>Well I have decided that the Red Goddess is actually bigoted bitch
>who wants all thinking races to be turned into puddles of bubbling
>slime and has no interest in spreading her enlightened word.
>Got that everyone this is the new Red Goddess.
Sure why not? There may be a Lunar Cult elsewhere in the world that believes exactly that. What you forget was that the LoT describes the Malia worship as practiced by Broos and social miscontents. It does not describe the cult of the Shadow Cancer, frex. Likewise many other cult descriptions are not set in stone.
So why cannot Malia be a healing cult in _some_ part of glorantha?
>Malia's reason for existance is to SPREAD disease. Just the SPREAD
>of your fould goddess. That makes her evil.
Only in the belief of her disease masters amongst the broos and other likeminded people.
>Just wait to the touchy feely disease master binds a disease
>spirit to your local well, and yout todger drops of due to creeping
>crud. Lets see how BIGOTED you feel.
Read what I said about inactive disease spirits and inwardly digest (preferably whilst sober).
>Humakt has been restrained by Orlanth\Orlanthi as a power of good the
>God of endings forcing change. Malia's purpose is spread
>indescriminate death so she can get her jollies. She in know way
>benifits a society.
But the cult of Malia the Healer as has been described could 'benifit' society, could it not? And I loved that 'restrained by Orlanth/ Orlanthi'. Surely the Lunars could not do a similar thing with Malia?
Andrew Joelson:
On the subject of Malia being Good, I pointed out that:
Me>> The Orlanthi worship Humakt whom they acknowlege is _Death_ and yet
>> they see him as Good! Given the normal human reaction to Death
>> (something to be feared), surely Humakt should be an evil being?
> The Orlanthi see more than just the Death Rune when they look at
>Humakt, they see Truth and Honor. Humakt is "Death, the Stern Warrior".
But this is only a construct placed on Humakt by the Orlanthi. The KoW Humakti do not believe that their God embodies honor and truth, frex. I am saying that the belief of Malia as the Foul Mistress of Disease as described in the CoT is a similar construct which can be modified and is in some parts of the Lunar Empire.
Mark Groff:
>Now for grandfather mortal etc. If things didn't happen the way some
>of the supplemental material says it did (gods and whatnot begetting
>other gods and whatnot) why is it presented that way?
Because it's what the culture believes to be True and gives us an insight into how they view the world. Believing that Trolls are descendants of Grandfather Mortal means that Trolls will get slightly better treatment than Morokanth, frex.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #476
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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