Me>>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.)
This is my belief. People get attacked by Passion Spirits every day yet what worship is there of Lemure? I don't think that every swarm of locusts occurs because of an intervention by a Gorakiki-locust Imago.
>I just don't see a temple to Malia in central Darleep; but perhaps
>there is a small, subtle temple in Glamour.
_Some_ parts of the Lunar Empire was _all_ that was said originally. Sandy did not say that Malia had replaced Chalana Arroy as the Healing Goddess Empire wide.
Me>> '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.
But what _really_ causes the corruption? If it is Malian in origin (perhaps minature ghoul spirits) then Malia encompasses a wider range of spirits rather than disease. She probably also is the source of symbiotic bacteria IMHO.
Me>>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.
By creating an image of her as a _tamed_ goddess of Disease (akin to Oslira being the tamed River Goddess that will not flood destructively). The Destruction from Disease is really no different from Destruction by Flood and yet the Emperors of Dara Happa peforms river rituals to tame the river to stop his citizens from saying 'blub blub'.
Me>>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.
The diseases are only _one_ facet of Malia for a start. An inactive disease is a good disease so one who spends her life turning diseases inactive would be no different morally than the alchemist who keeps snakes, scorpions and spiders so that he can extract their venom to make cures.
>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?
Malia doesn't need to send disease spirits at folk anymore than Telmor sends his wolves to prey upon mankind. Malia is a goddess of a specific genera of spirits and has the attributes of what the spirits rather than vice versa. The image of her in her worshippers' minds depends on their needs and desires (Malia helps us against the humans by inflicting with diseases and helps us by doing so ergo spreading disease is her aim in life).
>>The writeup implies otherwise but that's based on the chaotic viewpoint
>>of diseased broos and so can be safely ignored.
>This is a key assumption for your point. The Broos' POV is all we have.
So? The Orlanthi PoV for Humakt is the only one we have. That hasn't stopped speculation of Humakt being a horrible God elsewhere.
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