Sanctify and Creating Shines & worship diety

From: fantome_at_ozemail.com.au
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 20:14:38 +1000


Hasni Mubara writes

>>

 Sanctify, however, is a bit different. Sanctify is not a shrine. You can renew divine magic and I suppose you can do a divination, and you can tell when somebody enters it, but you CAN'T get new spells there. <<

And in a subsequent post
>>

The question is ... do you have to go to a Major Temple to regain spells only available there, or can you use a shrine? Can you use a sanctified area?
<<

 Paolo Guccione puts a different view

>>

Hey, stop it here. Either I have understood nothing about the RM rules or somebody is going out of the way. Ok for Divination, but you cannot renew anything at a Sanctified spot. The spell availability at different sizes of temples refers to both learning and renewing. <<

In a past gloranthan game we actually created a shrine. We did a ceremony in which casting sanctify was a part of creating the shrine. However, we did not have enough followers, magic etc., (implying not an established link with large enough 'bandwidth to the godplane') to get any magical effects when it was created.

i.e. no renewing spells, no rune magic.

The point of doing this was to create a place for worship and where a permanent link with the deity was established. In my thoughts, that's what a shrine is in Glorantha. And that shrines are not established casually or abandoned quickly.

And after a couple of years, with more regular worshippers, maybe the link will strengthened enough to renew and then actually gain magic.

I don't like the idea of the regiment on the march creating its own temporary shrine only to quickly abandon it later. Why would any (right in the mind) priest attempt to create a shrine knowing they are to leave it. Abandoning a hallowed place leaves it open to who knows what possible defilement.

In established shrines, we are always able to get our spells back even if the spells to be renewed were not taught there.

Alex Ferguson
>>

Isn't praying for a new Divine Magic (or other) a "ceremony normally only performable in a temple"? I'll grant you that performing initiations and ordinations in such are (even more) questionable, though. <<

The spells normally taught at an established shrine are worship deity and one of the cults special spells. But by just casting sanctify, my feeling is that rune magic would not be normally be able to be renewed, even allowing that sanctify was extended for a 'day' of worship.

And the RQ III magic book rules on sanctify (which is listed as stackable) say "Ceremonies are performable within a sanctified area that normally can be cast only in a temple".

Sanctify, IMO, is used for creating a temporary limited link to enable proper worship as well as for casting divination. Ceremonies I would permit using sanctify include initiation and ordination as the link is 'merely' extended to / strengthened in the persons' soul. Normally the link is too tenuous for other 'flashy' magical effects such as gaining rune magics. Anyway, normally no ordination would be attempted using the spell sanctify. I think people would prefer to be ordained in a temple on a high holy day. Likewise people would generally prefer to be initiated at least the shrine they normally attended.

And I pretty much agree on Alex's >> I see the Temple Size Rules as merely a first order approximation to this based on common sociological observations, not Hard Magical Fact << etc. freeform.

Casting sanctify at the same 'favoured' location, time after time, may eventually create a shrine, in fact, if not in name.

On the holy days, the link created by sanctify may even (pick any dozen variables why it should or should not ) be strong enough for other magical effects, aided by the worship in other parts of the lozenge, or even be self sustaining for the day.

As an aside, in one of a series of changes to our gloranthan worldview...

Since an initiate can lead worship services if no priest is available, upon becoming an initiate the first rune spell an initiate will be taught will be worship diety.

That should help the continuation of worship to a diety in a place where priests are rare.

Brian
fantome_at_ozemail.com.au <SPACE RESERVED FOR RENT>


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