He went there to greet the Sun upon his return. Almost all the "spark gods" have, as part of their myth, an attempt to be in a prominent place upon the Dawn. In fact, solar-based cultures which do not worship the Sun directly give credit to one or more of these expectant deities as the _reason_ the Sun returned. Their faith, prayers, and magic _summoned_ the Sun back from the dark. Thus, the East Isles say that Thella's (aka Theya's) long vigil saved the universe. The Dragon Empire says it was the Dawn Emperor. Some Onlaksians give credit to Pole Star, etc.
Of course, cultures that _do_ worship the Sun directly give credit to the Sun himself.
James Frusetta
>As presented in RQ, the magic of all cultures is _not_ inherently equal.
Some >cultures have access to _better_ magics than others, or a better
variety.
A culture's magic only has to be superior in _one_ respect to remain a viable alternative to another's.
>Is non-resuable resurrection (say, as Daka Fal or Kyger Litor get) equal
>to Chalanna Arroy reusable resurrection? Bah.
You bet it is. It's JUST as good from the viewpoint of the resurrectee. If you want to look on it from a wider perspective, try this on for size -- a Chalana Arroy healer gives up her entire life in order to get her resurrection. A Daka Fal shaman can still do anything else he pleases, PLUS he gets resurrection. If you have a band of Lightbringers all working together, with a Trickster, Healer, Sage, Speaker, Warrior, etc. etc. they'll be magically superior to a band of seven Daka Fal shamans. But individually, each adept at only his one little specialty, they'll lack the breadth and flexibility of the shamans. It's the old argument of specialist vs. generalist.
>Is the vast panoply of magic that a Lunar or an Orlanthi can sacrifice for
>equal to the crud that a starving band of feral Broo get in the Wastes of
>Prax? Fooey.
The crud that a starving band of feral broo uses has a HUGE advantage over the Orlanthi stuff -- namely, that it's available to them! They can't possibly get the Orlanthi stuff. That's like complaining you can't get good pork chops in Pent. Well, duh. No swineherds or pigsties around. If you can't reach to scratch a certain spot, you'd better learn not to itch there.
Feral broos learn to use the advantages they have in magic, rather than desperately seeking alternatives. Lunar magic poses a big advance in technology for such broos, and if it can be gotten to them, they will certainly adopt it. They just haven't heard about it yet. But it's relatively new, and hasn't had time to spread across the whole land yet.
Alex Ferguson
>Illuminating the List would be exceptionally hard. One would need many
>stackings of Reduce Heat as well as Increase Light. And isn't
Illumination >supposedly incompatible with a God Learner mindset? That
makes many of us >safe, I think.
Okay, let's fess up. Who, on the Digest, is infected with what mindset? I'll make a starting stab at it:
Nick, Loren, Lewis: Illuminates Alex, Peter, Joerg: God Learners Martin L.: Unrecidivist Barbarian Nils, Greg F., D. Dunham: Wyrm's Friends Pam: Hsunchen IS LUNAR MAGIC BETTER THAN ORLANTHI? Kind of. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Lunar magic is certainlyinferior in weather-control and in combat. But it's better in most other respects. No doubt eyebrows will be raised at my comment that Lunar magic is inferior "in combat", so let me clarify.
A Lunar warrior beefed up by his magic will be inferior to an Orlanthi warrior beefed up by _his_. BUT, a Lunar magician fighting a spell duel with an Orlanthi priest or shaman should win. And 1000 Lunars backed up by a dozen sorcerers will have an edge over 1000 Orlanthi backed up by a dozen Storm priests.
>If an Orlanthi puts a certain amount of magical energy into making his
>sword better, then, IMO, it would require the same amount of magical energy
>for a Lunar to counteract this effect.
Yes, this is true. And the Lunar's Mindblast is "only" a 2-point Rune spell, no more effective at penetrating defensive magic than a Lightning 2. But the effects are somewhat more devastating.
>What's wrong with Skyburn?
No humans were killed, and elves aren't self-aware anyway.
Pam Carlson
>Though I'm not sure the Char-un are much worse than Praxians, who are
>occasional Sartarite allies.
In my opinion, the Char-Un and other Pentans are crueler than any Praxian tribe, with the exceptions of the Morocanth and Cannibal Cult. On the other hand, the Sartarites are occasionally even known to ally with the Tusk Riders, who are unreservedly more evil than any Pentan tribe since Sheng Seleris's time.
Peter Metcalfe, Social Liberal
>The Lunars are no more cruel in this than the Ottomans
Peter, you're my hero for this analogy. (I realize the statement is taken slightly out of context, but Peter's choice of words lightened my day.)
Sandy P.
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