> think it likely that to become an Exarch a Mandarin (or whatever) needs
> to have some sort of mastery of draconic powers. Without it, he would
> never be able to properly channel the energy he receives to Godunya.
I agree completely, thereby the practicing at using the left had.
> BTW, does Nils or anyone else think there are intermediaries for this
> power between the people and the Exarchs? I sort of assumed that the
> "priests" of Godunya were the ones who received the initial
> worship/reverence, then passed this on to the exarchs themselves, then on
> to Gondunya.
I'm divided on this, I can think of two variations: either there are specialized priests performing this issue or the provincial exarchs travel around their province and hold worship at every village they pass two. Perhaps there is a combination even, the priests receive the worship and "store" the magical energy for when the exarch comes by next time.
Otherwise I basically agree with Peter Metcalfe's description in #257.
Peter Metcalfe:
> However my point is there is nothing to stop the Lunars from
> adopting a cultic structure that you alleged for Kralorela where
> the Satraps are worshipped who then worship the Emperor.
But they haven't.
> The
> only reason they do not is that it probably gives the Satraps too
> much power (and having played in the Life of Moonson freeform,
> I am inclined to agree that this is a bad thing).
If a pyramid structure was useful for the lunars they could easily set up others than the satraps as foci for worship, in order to separate temporal and mystical power.
> Secondly, I do not believe that the average Kralori worships
> the exarches who worship the Emperor. The Kralorela writeup
> states that OTOH:
>
> 'All adult citizens worship Godunya, the Dragon Emperor
> as a matter of state policy. Their worship is channeled
> through the exarcs, making them foci of magical power,
> and making the Emperor himself the most magical human in
> the world'
I think we mean the same thing here actually. I have never thought anything else than that the exarchs receive the worship, but the dragon emperor is the real target.
> This I doubt. The Kralori magical tradition is mysticism
> as opposed to the theism of central genertela.
Sorry, clarification needed. Yes, they are within the mystic tradition. I think this means that mysticism is what they use for daily magic "low magic" if you wish. But I also think that they _do_ worship the gods within that framework, for "high magic" and divine intervention.
> Secondly, I do not think that the Kralori draw a distinction
> between Dragon Magic and Mysticism. Both are the same thing
> as far as they can tell.
I think they do. Mysticism is what everybody use, even though only a few really master it, while any knowledge of dragon magic is the realm of a select few, with a true dedication to the mystic arts.
I think dragon magic and mysticism stem from the same holistic world view. But I also think that there are differences. First of all, the most obvious is that dragon magic is for draconics, it's the left-handed way. Mysticism is for humans.
But there is another distinction. In the published dragon magic rules, it is based on mastery of your emotions. The user does magic by eliminating the (illusory) line between the inner self (emotions, personality) and the outer world, starting at the inner self.
There are no official mysticism rules, but theones which I use (the result of a long discussion with Sandy, they been presented in the Digest before), the same elimination of the division between self and world is used, but the direction is the opposite, the magic is based on skills, the indiviual's physical interaction with the outer world.
> OTOH the Kralori would say some things which look, feel and
> smell draconic to the outside world are _not_ draconic (such
> as the Path of Immanent Mastery).
That I agree with.
> The human-dragonewt relationships are good but the Kralori
> did not learn their dragon magic from the dragonewts nor
IMO the relations wouldn't be good unless the Kralorelans did their draconic stuff "the right way", with proper respect and all.
> Lastly there is considerable doubt from the dragonewts of
> central genertela as to whether the eastern dragonewts are
> proper dragonewts.
And the people of central Genertela think the Malkioni are soulless, the Orlanthi think the lunars are chaos scum etc...
Finally, all IMG of course.
East Isles pearls:
Gary R. Switzer:
>Also, in GDV5#251 Stephen Martin has a swell idea of East Islanders
>utilizing a RW technique to make pearl-icons of their local gods. But, in
>Glorantha, sometimes things happen for no reason at all, they just do. The
>10,000 Gods of the East Isles can get their oysters to produce little
>images of themselves very nicely without the help of their worshippers.
Of course there are gods who can do this, but they won't do it the beck and call of th haughty Haragalan Captains, so they have to resort to the described method.
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #258
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