Positing that all manifestations of the divine require prior worship of the divine is logically absurd. Think of it as a chicken-and-egg loop: you are *much* better off casting this contention in the bin and looking at the World As She Is, not the World As She Would Be If This Barking Mad Theory Were Correct.
(Especially if you're keen to run games in "THE" Glorantha, where no effort has ever been made to fit the beautiful, complex, convoluted world we all know and love into such a limiting theoretical straitjacket.)
> Teleport a Storm God worshipper [to] a land thousands of miles away
> from _any_ storm worship whatsoever [where] there are mountains with
> hurricane winds blowing in them ... and he's going to realise that
> there is little correlation between Storms and his Storm God.
Rubbish. He is going to realise that the Storm God's totality is far greater than his parochial and limited worship of it has previously been able to comprehend. And when he worships Orlanth in a great storm, he'll get a great response, wherever he may be. (It might not be the Orlanth he expected...)
> He's going to ask himself: Why am I bothering? Storms just happen. What
> about all my myths where Orlanth (say) did such and such a thing with
> his storms - sounds like it could have been a freak of the weather.
Not unless he's a God Learnerish geek, he isn't. And if he is, he isn't thinking like a theist anyway, so why is it worth asking his opinions about religious affairs?
> Same thing would happen if a Malia worshipper was teleported into the
> middle of a huge plague, and there's no Malia presence there in any form
There is no such thing as "a huge plague with no Malia presence", from a Theistic POV. It's a logical impossibility. It's like asking for a "death without Humakt", or "darkness that has no connection to Subere", or "non-Lunar moonlight".
I am certain Richard's contention that the sun don't shine over atheist lands (later modified to "the sun don't shine so bright") is a Gloranthan absurdity.
Likewise, as an ancient historian, I am interested in Richard's belief that:
> [Real World] Sun worshippers I'm sure used to believe that the sun
> shone brightest over their temples.
Any supporting inscriptions or manuscript evidence will be gladly received.
___
Ian writes, re: increased availability of Resurrection spells:
> the jury is still out on Mhy and Ontor with various possibles playing
> in my brain. such as, they swap their specialised services with other
> cults so as to keep a few resurrections around...
Those would be the specialist Knowledge God services that are *only* available from Lhankor Mhy and Irrippi Ontor, would they? Like the specialist Healer God services (including Resurrection) which are *only* available from Chalana Arroy and Deezola? (Or do C.A and Dee get to cast Reconstruction and Truespeak in your campaign, "because it's often useful to have them, and they can sell these spells in exchange for great cult services"?)
> basically it appeals to me to have these two knowledge cults having
> this ability but I haven't worked out the reasons yet and if I don't
> I might scrap the idea anyhow
They *are* Knowledge Cults, not Healing Cults. There *are* established methods for related cults to borrow powers from one another, including associate cult rune magics (Lhankor Mhy receives "Restore Intelligence" from Chalana Arroy, in exchange for "Analyse Magic"), and - of course - the much-hated Spell Trading ritual of the Issaries cult.
Given that a Lhankor Mhy cultist, in association with willing chums in Chalana Arroy and Issaries, could (at a minimal cost in Rune Magic) get a one-use Resurrection spell of his very own under the existing RQ rules, and could then sell it in exchange for cult services, I don't think we need to posit that Lhankor Mhy cultists get the Resurrection spell as a standard cult power.
In your game, any LhM sages who have cast one-use Resurrects would have obtained them in Spell Trading. There should be a corresponding number of CA healers with nifty LhM rune spells, and - of course - a measurable incidence of CA healers who would be *delighted* to resurrect your recently deceased chum, but whose Resurrection spells are temporarily unavailable, having been sacrificed just the other season in a Spell Trading ritual... but if you want to know *how* your friend died, she'd be delighted to cast her three-point one-use Reconstruction rune spell, obtained in the same trade, and tell you!
A sensible magical ecology is that Healers heal you, and Sages tell you stuff. If Sages can heal you, then: (a) some Healers can tell you stuff; (b) some Healers can't heal you; (c) some Sages can't tell you stuff; and (d) the Issaries cult is making loads of money out of idiots who picked the wrong career and are trying to make up for it now.
Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>
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