<< Peter Metcalfe:
> A Materialist does X and creates effect Y.
>
> A Shaman horsetrades with Spirit X and gets effect Y.
In other words, the Spirit does X and creates effect Y.>>
Which is doubtless how the Malkioni explain why spirit magic works. However, the attitude and state of mind of the shaman and the materialist are very different. The materialist magically affects the world without the intercession of any other beings, or contacting the spirit/god plane, and through the application of impersonal physical laws. The shaman, OTOH, does his magic via intercession on the spirit plane, and does not believe in impersonal materialisitic physical laws - to him the world is moved by the actions of spirits with their own personalities and agendas.
<< And the shaman may use a spirit spell, which means that: A Shaman does X and creates effect Y.>>
But in order to get the spirit spell in the first place, the shaman still has to get it from a spirit. And the nature of 'X' in this statement is pretty different for the shaman than it is for the materialist, because their view of how the world works is so different.
<<> A Theist prays to God X and is rewarded with effect Y. Which means that the God does X and creates effect Y.>>
Well, yes (although once again it isn't the same 'X' as the materialist's 'X') but that's not helpful from a game POV unless the God is a PC. What the theist does and how he perceives the world are very different from the methods and understanding of the materialist. Indeed, they are much the same as the shaman, except that the relationship between the mortal and the spirit/god plane is on a very different footing.
<<But in the RW believing in God is an act of faith, not of proof, precisely because nothing proves the existance of God.>>
Malkionism is not Christianity. It has a strong streak of quasiscientific reductionism in it and does not rely as heavily on the concept of 'faith' IMO.
<<The spirit plane is no less 'material' than the mundane plane.>>
It depends on your definition of 'material'. The spirit plane is material in that it is real and provable in Glorantha. But 'material' generally means 'physical as opposed to spiritual' - so by definition, the spirit plane is not material in that sense.
<<it [Malkionism] allows a person to be more ready to understand the limits of the material, and to try to reach an higher level of existence without the constraints of matter.>>
I don't really agree with this. Its surely easier for the polytheists and animists to understand the limits of the material, because they deal with the spiritual and 'higher levels of existence' every day.
<< Certainly, only an handfull of very special people can attain the highest reaches of Malkionism.>>
And it is those rare people, I would argue, that are able to reach higher levels of existence without dying first, wheras such people are far less rare among polytheists and animists. Sure, the Malkioni may aspire to transcend the limits of the physical realm when they die and enter Solace (whereas polytheists and animists generally don't) but in terms of how they do their magic and how they understand the operating of this world they are very much stuck in this world.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
Sergio
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