[Arguing about the Nysaloran missionaries to Tanisor and the Vampire Kings]
>>I still disagree that the aim of the missionaries was to donate magic
>>points to Dorastor.
>Probably not to Dorastor, but to themselves.
If you want to reduce religious experience in such materialistic terms then virtually any religion could be said to be such a cynical exploitation. But I do not believe that the missionaries thought so from their PoV.
>I don't really see any
>idealists among the upper echelons of the 2nd Council or the Bright
>Empire who would not think in terms of accumulating power, if only to
>achieve the (once) idealistic goals they pursue.
Tell me when the Jehovah's witnesses appear on your doorstep, are they power-mad? Or simply intent on spreading their word? As for the charge of power accumulation, what is the difference between virtuous thought and viruous action?
>>Tanisor and Dorastor lie on opposite sides of Dorastor. In
>>between is the Dari Alliance which is not part of the Empire
>>of Light. Therefore for the Dorastans to try and set up a
>>'colony' in Tanisor is bound to run into problems with the Dari
>>Alliance.
>And lo - the Dari people were quick to join forces with Arkat when he
>had overrun Tanisor.
No they didn't. Only Maklamann, who was prominent in the Dari Alliance:
'defied his cult to accompany Arkat through the epic of
the Chaos Wars. Cursed by his own cult hierarchy and
hunted by Gbaji's evil assasins, he remained faithful to
Arkat always.'
ToTRM# p25
>From the defiance of the cult, it seems to me that Maklamann was
on his own when he fought for Arkat. A more impartial description
may be traitor...
Likewise the Dorastor Book says that when Arkat invaded the Dari Alliance, they called from help from Dorastor who sent them Derinogus Pistol and some troops to help.
>>The Vampire Kings were created by the fear of Arkat IMO.
>To me this sounds more like fear of death than fear of Arkat. Arkat may
>well have taken the Wakboth role from the Vivamort myth wrt the
>Tanisoran kings...
Vivamort was not afraid of death but something else. And that something else was probably what Arkat was capable of.
>They also professed abhorrance about the practises of the Western
>missionaries. Sorry, but while I do believe that Arkat did some pushing
>further to the Dark Side, the tendency must have been there before.
In the human condition IMO not in the teachings of Nysalor.
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