> << And I'm not able to recall an example of a Hero who dies on the Mundane
> Plane and still goes on being worshipped (well, outside of Malkioni
> Saints that is). Go on, deluge me with couter examples..... >>
Trotsky replies:
> Why 'outside of Malkioni Saints'? In what way are they not Heroes? While
> non-Stygian Malkioni admittedly don't worship them as such, they act just
> like pagan hero cults from the POV of an impartial observer.
I had not replied when Joerg first introduced the subject of (Saint = Malkioni Hero) some two weeks ago, but it has resurfaced, so I submit my opinion to the digest now.
There are differences between Malkioni Saints and Heroes, and I think the main one is exactly the one Michael pointed out: Saints receive no worship in life, heroes do. Arkat is an exception, but Arkat is not a Saint for most Churches, except the ones who worship also the Darkness or Storm Pantheon, which in turn have plenty of hero cults (coincidence? I think not). There is a parallel with RW Catholicism, where you cannot be sainted until a given amount of time has elapsed since you died.
Of course, many Saints may have been HeroQuesters (notably Arkat and Talor, but Hrestol is a suitable candidate, too). But being able to change the mythic framework of reality is not a Malkioni's main goal. In a society that does not rely on the physical evidence of its god's reality provided by perpetual reenactment of myth, a "hero"'s goal is changing his people's belief, not mythic reality. Which Rokar, for instance, did perfectly well with the mundane means of teaching and martyrdom. And may I remind you that Rokar's non-heroplane deeds influenced much more people than, say, the extremely hard and devastating quest to free Siglolf?
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