magic without spells

From: David Cake <davidc_at_cs.uwa.edu.au>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 02:02:47 +0800


>A few days ago i asked myself if an orlanthi who knows no spirit magic and
>is not initiated to any god can create magical effects. The answer was yes,
>and i then created a beta-system for wild magic.
        A good question to ask yourself!
        I think my answer is yes, but only with difficulty and danger.
        To me, Glorantha is magical only because of the existence of the
heroplane and the godplane (I will refer to the combination of the spirit plane and hero plane and god plane as 'the otherworld' from now on for convenience). Yes, I know they draw they draw their energy from the mundane Glorantha, but its a feedback kind of thing.

        So, a mundane person who knows no spirit magic and is not initiated has no connection to the otherworld, and can thus cast no magic at all. Sorcery shows that it is possible for them to cast magic, but also shows that it is very difficult to do so in any reliable way.

        Does this mean they can create no magical effects? No. But they have to find a way to interact with the otherworld to create them. The two most obvious ways (both dangerous and unreliable) are to interact with an otherworld being somehow (otherworld beings can be attracted by mundane means if you try hard enough - going to where they live, leaving out their favourite foods and calling their name is a good start, but very unreliable - - I use the RQ4 Spirit Lore for this sort of thing myself) or to go on a heroquest of some kind (going to a magical place in a magical time having made some appropriate preparations might get you there, for example).

        I think that there are a lot of ways to interact with the otherworld that are capable of creating magical effects without any spell casting taking place.

        My fragmentary heroquest rules are all based on the idea of 'the otherworld' being the source of magic, and a 'heroquest' is a journey into the otherworld in some way (a shamanic discorporeal quest can be a heroquest if it does deep into the otherworld rather than just hanging around the mundane world).

        David


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