I said;
>2) PoIM is a source of the Five Dragon Warriors, Godunya's bodyguard.
Pete said.
I don't think so. It is a bit too easy to become a 'Dragon' via Immanent Mastery and the resulting Dragon is no tougher than a Winged Dragonewt. The ease of the Path is the main reason why the Mandarins call it False. I would imagine Godunya's bodyguards are at least Dragonet in ability. Hence IMO the Five Dragon Warriors are those who attain Draconic Status via the more difficult path of the state mystical school.
I say -
In my idea of the monasteries I said that the BEST of the PoIM
dragon changers would be selected by the mandarins to be taken to
the state school and then be shown the correct way of development.
Just as a dragonewt scout has to learn by his errors before he
can become a warrior. I also suggested that this was only one
method of selecting Five Dragon Warriors. The write up suggests
that this can be done in a number of ways. I also suspect that
the dragon in Sandy's Dragon Project puplished in Dragon Mag (TM)
may be another way of becoming a Five Dragon Warrior. aka direct
blessing from an Emperor
I think I can agree to some compromise, I think that there are
some state run schools for the PoIM, developed in an attempt
to moderate its worship. But Pete's idea of an underground
network of PoIM is so good that I must accept it
Finally Pete said;
So how do the Mandarins control the cult if they get out of hand? IMO the answer lies in the recreation of the War in Heaven ceremonies. The draconic students (hundreds of them exist according to Elder Secrets) issue challenges to the Path cultists and they square off in ritualistic duels. The draconic students usually win because they are morally superior to the Path (and also because of biased referees, covert magical support etc). However some cultists can suffer 'accidents' in these duels...
I suspect that this ceremony might be the selection process that I discussed in my original post, with a little more MGF and flair. Having just had a weekend of Martial Arts films on the Beeb, this ceremony is a must.
At present I am running a campaign about a Kralorelan who has wandered the wastes in search of Dragon Pass. He has been commanded by Godunya to take a message of mourning to all the dragons of that land. This character is a would be Five Dragon Warrior. The system that I am using is that he must accumulate mystical understanding to awaken the dragon that is within him, he must do right action etc. to gain this mysticism and see the correct path. He has so far only been able to transform into a week dragon, because he was rash and unleashed his power to soon. having learned his lesson the player is being much more mystical in his role playing. (It does help that my player is a martial artist, does loads of Tai Chi(sp?) and reads Bhuddist literature.)
Cheers Simon.
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