> i wanted to go further I think. IN my view it would be a god that
> would want to keep Glorantha alive and flourishing without the use
> of magic at all. This would of course cause upheaval just in the
> fact that chaos would want to use it to destroy the other pantheons,
> and the others such as orlanth would want to use him to destroy
> chaos, as well as the other groups, and of course they would be
> confident in their abilities to actually deal with this newbie as
> they see fit. Maybe even going so far as this gods prophets going
> around and draining glorantha of its magic to be used eclusively
> by the new god.
Well, this sounds slightly "bigger" than your initial proposal. There, you seemed to be suggesting a "new cult" that gave up magic for some less tangible benefit. Now, you're suggesting some organisation that actively drains the magics of the other cults. Again, it's a plausible Gloranthan situation (with some similarities to, e.g. the vile Brithini habit of Tapping their environment, some Western ways of interdicting "paganism" with their sorcery spells, etc.). But it does sound a bit of a world-fucker, if you let it get out of control.
I suggest you think about where in Glorantha you want to set this, and how your "prophets" are going to operate. How long have they been in action (openly or secretly), and what side are the players meant to be on? Think of a scenario (save your clan's temple from desecration by the Gray Reducers!), or a campaign theme (the peasants are turning from True Worship and embracing some new cult -- send out the knights and wizards to investigate!), or a way in which the new cult can be encountered by the players.
But I'll warn you now: if your campaign necessarily involves destroying major Gloranthan magics and deities and cults, this Daily will *not* be the best place to discuss your ideas. Because if you run a campaign which=
gets "out of sync" with mainstream Glorantha, it's that much harder for anyone to usefully contribute ideas (other than "I wouldn't do that, if I were you..."). As your proposed campaign involves inventing a new cult and destroying old cults, temples and magics, there isn't likely to be that much common ground between it and the "collective" Glorantha.
You could avoid this by running the campaign on a smaller scale, in some out-of-the-way region, using an established "magic-renouncing" or "magic-=
draining" cult as enemy. Remember, none of us know much about how these
work in practice (yet), while if you happen to *live* in such-and-such a
kingdom, or barony, or city, a threat to your *local* cults, priests
and temples is just as bad as a world-threatening mega-disaster. You do
not need to worry about "destroying the Block" or "draining the Old Wind
Temple of magic" or "killing off the cult of Orlanth" if knocking over th=
e
standing stones of Ringaround Hill, defiling Ernalda's shrine and making
Olaf Rimebeard the Storm Voice a convert to your new, unholy cult would
also "kill" the local community. In fact, you'd take it more personally!
Then you wouldn't be trampling on other games' continuity, and we could
usefully support your efforts while gaining ideas for our own Glorantha
(about the region you're setting your game in, the "villain" you've chose=
n,
the modus operandi of the cult, etc.).
Your choice, really. I look forward to hearing how the idea develops.
> I began to see parallels between the Lunars of Prax and the frontier
> outposts of the Roman Legions.
It's a very workable parallel. If you can watch the Roman scenes in "Life of Brian" and not think of the Lunars in Prax (or, indeed, watch the Judean People's Front and not think of Orlanthi conspiracies), you need to get out more. =
> Then it hit me, one of the most revolutionary things that ever happened=
> in the RW that changed the world the most significantly was the advent
> of christianity, and the thought crossed my mind what if the same or
> similar thing happened in Prax.
Well, to be fair it took three centuries of persecution and the conversion of an Emperor to make Christianity significant. If the Lunars nailed up a "new god" in Pavis tomorrow, they'd still be cosy for some time to come. (No religious flames, please).
You could easily have a practitioner (or band of practitioners) of one of the aforementioned unspeakable heresies turn up in Pavis by way of caravans or Corflu sea-trade -- "Strangers in Prax" shows us this is a viable entrepot for weird and outlandish individuals and beliefs. If you liked the sound of the Perfecti, or Renunciators, or Tappers, or whoever.
But, just speaking "realistically" (and without any magical coercion), you will have a *very* hard time making converts to the "new religion" from scratch. It might be easier if, for example, you had a White Moon sect starting up in the city, making their converts among the Lunar Administration. With the potentially-transformative End of the Wane looming, Sor-eel's staff could easily get all millennial. Then you have a bunch of interesting moral quandaries: the White Moonies want Peace, but they are still Lunars (so do we join them, or kill them?). They'll willingly assist the Orlanthi rebels to bring down the structures of the Empire, sabotage Lunar military strength, etc. -- but will presumably prefer to avoid killing anybody while doing so. They're a useful "enemy within" for Sor-eel and company to deal with -- but there are also "good Lunars" (non-White) in the local temples, garrison, etc. who won't want anything to do with religious inquisitions, persecution, and so forth against a band of "harmless" sandal-wearing drug-taking dropouts. (And who will, of course, thereby come under suspicion themselves). When there's rumours of heresy on the border, you could easily justify sending in the Cenobites (Rune Priests of Danfive Xaron, god of coercing obedience to the Lunar Way), and add a whole new dimension to the Pavic kettle of fish. And you'd also have some interesting questions:=
do we support these dissenters because it's useful (to us, for now), or because it's *right*? Do we stand by and let our one-time allies get denounced, tortured, martyred, etc. once they've blown their cover to help the Underground, or do we bust our own guts to get them safely away? Hell, they're *still* Lunars, aren't they? ...Aren't they??
> My players can fight for either side of course in this new epoch and
> knowing my players they will resist it.
I think that by making this "new epoch" less dramatic -- making its supporters into idealistic *victims* (like the persecuted Christian martyrs) rather than granting them some form of overwhelming antimagical firepower -- you'll have more chance of engaging your players' interest. Just my 2p'orth, your campaign goals may vary.
> I'd be tempted to make it some sort of White Moonie cult in the
> center of the Kingdom of War... kinda the extreme's thing. With
> this huge concentration of whacked-out war magic on the borders,
> and a funky pacifist-anti-magic movement in the heartland. (and if
> anyone complains, you can always have the army turn back on your
> cult to recreate the "official" KoW) anyone who uses magic could
> be "banished" to the army...
Not to resurrect the old KoW debate, but there isn't really a Kingdom there at all. It's all burnt, blackened, oppressed, occupied territory. Mind you, the INT- and POW-Tapped serfs might feel more drawn to a "magic-renouncing" heresy than other Gloranthans: what have they got to lose? :-)
(I also think it's kinda more fun to be a pacifist *opposing* the KoW than one within it: you've got exactly the same risks of upsetting the military, being conscripted and sent to the front lines, etc., but you don't need to "humanise" the Enemy at all while doing so. This was one role I had in mind for the Loskalmi Perfecti).
::::
Nick
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End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #302
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