magic waffle

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 12:30:50 +1300


Erik Hamilton:

Asked for help on Lunar Sorcerers. I can't really offer any answers as the Lunar Way is so varied, all three suggestions probably have some adherents within the Lunar Empire.

Paolo Guccione:

Me>> IMO there needs to be an intermediary stage (or range of such stages)
>> between spirit magic and sorcery which depends on how 'logical' one
>> is.

>As I replied to David, Spirit magic and Sorcery are different in
>_nature_. I cannot see how you could define a range of variations
>between two intrinsically different things.

Here you're really arguing from the roolz. Look at Gods of Glorantha where cults which fuse spirit magic and sorcery (ie Red Goddess) and divine magic and sorcery (ie Godunya) are given.

Some possible degrees (there may be more):

  1. Pure Sorcery: As per the RQ3 rules, RQ4 draft, Sandy's sorcery etc and ToTRM#13 Saint rules. Season for taste. Found in Seshnela, non-farmer caste Loskalm and much of Urban Safelster. Even a significant portion of the wizard caste in Otkorion and Naskorion are of this quality.
  2. 'Hedge Wizardry': People do not learn intensity or other sorcery skills but instead use inferior techniques like knowing multiple points of the spell (ie Smother 6 which takes up six points of INT to know). The Village Wizards will be more proficient in Saintly blessings than sorcery spells. This economizes on the amount of education needed to know sorcery as it can be passed by oral instuction rather than having to go to university or delve in dusty tomes. I suspect this method will be found in Urban Jonatela, Otkorion and Naskorion, much of rural Safelster and Farmer Caste Loskalm (where the farmers are forbidden intensity).
  3. 'Theism with a Humanistic Face': This is probably the hardest to describe but simply put the magician acquires some control over the spirit and rune magic that he knows and thus can augment it with extra effort (which is not as easy as intensity or Lunar Sorcery). There is probably some spiritual cost involved to distinguish this from Pure Theism (perhaps emotion affecting spells don't work as well) but it is useful for many. Much of Otkorion and Naskorion are of this quality.
  4. Pure Theism. As per the RQIII rules. Found in the East Wilds, Syranor and the backward clans of Lankst.

I believe similar degrees of magic could be constructed elsewhere for different philosophies (ie the Hsunchen of the Shan Shan will have varying degrees of shamanistic magic and mysticism).

>I would very much
>prefer a different approach for non-runic magic taught by cults, barring
>shamanic cults. But the hope of anybody persuading the average
>Gloranthan player to drop easy access to spirit magic (the only one
>suitable for most adventurers, since it is reusable, easy to cast at
>starting levels and easy to learn without spending weeks in study) is
>very near zero. Humakti zero (0%), not Orlanthi zero (15%).

I agree here, but think it would be better to amend the spirit magic taught by Shamanistic Cults rather than theists. That way the change over would be less painless.

>Phil Hibbs suggested blessings for the Henotheist versions of the
>Lightbringers. Nick E. rejected the idea. So do I. There is no need to
>assume that there have been a total absorption of the cults into the
>Malkioni way.

For Otkorion, the cults will not be fully absorbed into the Malkioni Framework (ie follow the ToTRM#13 framework). But for the more sophisticated states like Sentanos and Azilos, I've a feeling that some cults will be totally absorbed in some places.

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