> Some people use it [illumination] to cure the mentaly ill, some
> people use it to conduct effective advertising campaigns and others
> use it to wage psychological warfare. Why should illumination
> determine what kind of person you are?
>
> Illumination isn't just an insight into the workings of Glorantha,
> it's an insight into the workings of your own conciousness, the
> architecture of your intelect.
I basically agree with you, Simon. But IMO: Insight into the workings of your consciousness is Illumination Insight into the architecture of your intellect is Enlightenment, or something else with a Gloranthan name instead of a RW one. An atom scientist would likely have excellent understanding of his intellect. It doesn't necessarily follow that he's an illuminate.
ME:
> >Sorcery, as defined there, is a technique for the direct manipulation
> >of magical energies by a sorceror.
Simon:
> Also from the same rules, in the section on the High Vow :
> " .........Even non-Malkioni sects may have an
> equivalent to the High Vow -- usually some kind of philosophy upon
> which the sorcerer can base his mind's architecture. While it is
> possible for a person to learn sorcery without this kind of framework,
> it is of course much harder. Unaligned sorcerers must adhere to an
> ethical doctrine or mental discipline in order to take the High Vow.
> If they have no such dogma to base their reality around, the High Vow
> is not possible, and their sorcerous power is correspondingly
> weakened."
> Sorcerers without any vows have a presence of 1 (poor things).
>
> On Renegade Malkioni - they will have violated their High Vow, and so
> suffer as above, unless they can take a new High Vow.
Well, there's several ways of running with this one. Sandy's rules basically cover western sorcery, but a non-western system of sorcery would have much in common with the western humanist one. If it didn't, we'd have to call it something other than "sorcery", to start with.
He says " ...may have an equivalent to" the High Vow. My interpretation is that you can't just take Sandy's sorcery as the be-all and end-all of Gloranthan sorcery. I see his rules as a kind of core rules set which work for the largest group of Gloranthan sorcerors, the Malkioni. Non-western traditions of sorcery would almost always have something like the Vessel, and would also make some kind of definitive intellectual decision equivalent to the High Vow. I would see such traditions as, each of them, having something in common with western sorcery, as well as something different.
The key questions for designing non-western sorcery traditions then
become:
What Arts of Sorcery are used, and what do they do?
How is Presence increased? (many possibilities here!)
What kind of mental discipline is necessary, and how is it related to
Presence and the Arts? (Almost always a Vows system, AFAIK.)
We'd also need to know what shape this tradition gives to the sorceror's
Presence. (ie the Vessel. The Malkioni Vessel is, of course, invisible.)
What Joerg said about small cults re: RuneMasters would also be true for unusual traditions of sorcery. A tiny school of sorcery would be dominated and shaped by the personality and insights of its Magus and other prominent members. Their knowledge, prejudice, and ignorance would be passed down to their students, most of whom wouldn't bother questioning any of it, rather learning by rote.
Philip Hibbs:
> OK, so what's a Meldek? I get the general impression from what has
> been said, but specifically, what is the reference? I've never heard
> the term before. Is it related to Melchezedek?
Strangers in Prax, p.65. It is a derogatory term, derived from Emptied. (Melchezedek: who he?)
Oliver Bernuetz:
> Is there any more information available on Tara, Lady of the Wilds? I
> haven't seen too much written up about any nature goddesses and I'm
> interested in what's known about her as I postulated the worship of
> such a goddess in Balazar.
She is, from what I've worked out, a goddess who is worshipped by wild beasts of the forest. Consciously so, in the case of awakened ones, and Beastmen. Her initiates, then, are mainly animals and she gives them protection against hunters, etc.. A hunted animal who was an initiate of Tara might know stealth magic, animal spirit spells, and, in dire straits, could DI out of the Hunt! Encroachment by civilisation into wilderness domains would be resisted by this cult. She also receives propitiatory worship from Hunters. Where she is powerful, hunters must sacrifice to her, or return empty-handed from the forest, or incur her Revenge. They must use the Peaceful Cut, to let the spirits of their prey return to Tara. This is an effect of the Compromise. There are RuneLords of Tara. Most, I think, are animals. When I say animals, I mean animals like wild boars, big cats, and other large carnivores. Tara is also a Hunter Cult for Beasts. RuneLords of Tara who are Men have become part of the Wild, and have left mankind behind, for ever. The Rune Lords of Tara are the Vengeance of the Beastworld, and can use strong animal magics.
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