Re: Black Arkat in society, as divine cult

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 97 22:38 MET


Peter Metcalfe
>Rather Black Arkat was once a cult in which Heortlings
>could enter the service of the Only Old One and form a trusted
>corp of quislings, spies and pinko fag commie subversives.

Wouldn't serving the avatar of Argan Argar be considered darkness worship? Note that it doesn't say "be an initiate of a darkness deity", but "a worshipper". While the Only Old One ruled, every state-bearing individual of the Shadowlands (as the Holy Country's precursor was known) might have qualified.

IMO Black Arkat is the cult to get into if you have a powerful enemy you want to destroy at whatever cost. Its association with Zorak Zoran is a useful way to avoid beginning your afterlife as a zombie (you get some of the powers without entering ZZ). Unlike Urox/Storm Bull your enemy needn't be chaotic. Unlike with Orlanth's Summoning of Evil, which is a group thing, you can exact a personal revenge.

>Now they exist as a cult which opposes whatever Malkioni church is
>ruling in the region.

Full agreement here. The Rokari in Nochet don't like them, the Aeolians in Heortland don't like them.

>I think they were supressed when the
>Pharaoh ruled but since he was dismembered, they've become more
>open with the location of their temple known but protected by
>the Shadow Plateau.

I'm not convinced that the Pharaoh would have suppressed the human Black Arkat worshippers. I have the nasty suspicion that Belintar used the path of Arkat to rid himself off the enemy ruler of both Fire and Darkness (yes, that's the Only Old One, avatar of Argan Argar, the _other_ troll god with powers over fire, and light).

Godunya-like mechanics for Black Arkat:
>One sacrifices for a spell like smother normally
>which functions as a Divine Spell for purposes of casting
>success and memory. When one casts the spell, one can
>manipulate it (increase intensity, range and duration) by
>expending magic points. The limit of the expended magic
>points would be equal to the amount of spells you have
>sacrificed for (ie if you have 5 points worth of spell, you
>can expend 5 magic points for manipulation purposes). That
>way you can be powerful without having to waste time learning
>intensity and other arts.

This reminds me of the (free INT-using) concept of "low sorcery", where the candidate would learn a spell for not one point of memory, but several, and get that amount of intensity for free. Like good old Battle Magic...

Out of curiosity: once I expended one of my spells, does this lower the maximum manipulation by one for the next spell?

In the RQ3 sorcery/divine magic rules, your concept makes a lot of sense.


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