God Learners and the One Sun

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996 13:31:36 +1200


David Cake:

Me>>If they made corrections then they wouldn't be God-learners
>>anymore IMO. Their chief flaw lies in their attitude rather
>>than what they knew.

> If you believe (and I do) the TOTRM Caladra and Aurelion, the cult
>is a God Learner bonding of two previously unrelated cults, and two of the
>cult heroes were actually the God Learners who did it. However, they
>respected the original cults and so avoided much of the evils visited on
>the God Learners, and their works remain intact.
        

They did *not* respect the original cults. The cults were changed quite dramatically. Caladra was originally a male god called Caladril whereas Aurelion was one of the Evil Gods of the Red Glass Mountains feared by the Jrustelan pygmies. Furthermore you forget that the two cult heros actually undertook major quests to ensure that their cult was on safe mythic footing before the Disasters struck.

> I agree that the God Learners attitude, not their knowledge, is
>MOST of what was wrong with them. Except perhaps whatever secret it that
>the Gift Carriers where sent to wipe out.
        

Ah, but if they had managed to ward against the Gift Carriers then they would have fallen to another mystic guardian sent to punish them for their abuses IMO. Their attitude is what led them to uncover the Forbidden Secret devoid of context and that is what did them in. If they had discovered it in its context, then they would have been safe from the Gift Carriers.

>The point is some God Learners were OK people who did good
>things, even if the God Learners as a whole did massive damage.

Did I say they were totally bad?

David Boatright:


Me>>A gloranthan looks at the sun, he only sees only *one* Sun,
>>not the forest sun, not the mountain sun.

>Are you sure about this. A Gloranthan low lander who had never been
>in the mounatains surley would think "By Yelm the Sun sheds no heat
>up in this place, maybe its a differnet God."

And so he would be unable to cast Sunspear in this Strange New Land because it will be from a different god? I think not. He would instead ascribe Yelm's weakness in the land to the worship of Oralanatus rather than believe that Yelm has dissappeared and been replaced by an inferior Elmal, the moment he stepped up the hill. Because of the strength of Oralanatus, Yelm presents a different *face* towards the native Solar Worshippers there but the Lowlander _knows_ that his Yelm is the True Face of the Sun. That others may apply this syllogism to infer that Yelm is a different face of Elmal or Somash is not something that would occur to him (unless he was illuminated).

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