>To a certain extent, yes. I think that the question of illumination
must be
>thought in a different way. Being illuminated means that you're tainted
by
>chaos. It doesn't make your chaos taint acceptable to your
(non-chaotic)
>god.
Whoa there, illumination does not make you chaotic.
>It doesn't make your chaos taint acceptable to your (non-chaotic)
>god. It simply makes it hard to discover your chaos connection
But if you are not chaotic in the first place?
>So, once your god acknowledge that your illuminated, it will get rid of
you
>as fast as he can, since you're even more dangerous
I cannot agree. Whether a worshiper is illuminated or not is of no consequence to the traditional gods. They are oblivious to it. Please state your sources, or supportive evidence for this opinion.
>Only men perceive the change, since this a time-ordained change. At a
>divine level, the DH Emperor is both a man an a god and has the proper
>worship where it must happen.
So you're saying that the Dara Happan theological stance on the divinity or otherwise of their emperor is irrelevent? What if two factions in Dara Happa, one wanting to worship the emperor as a god and the other denying his divinity, were to engage in a civil war? This is a fundamental theological point that surely is crucial to the religion. Which do you say would win?
>Contrary to gods, men are within time. They must respect the order of
>events. So, they cannot predict in advance which faction will win, or
they
>would break the time frame. What men can do is keep their faith and
>respect the commandments of their god. If they do so, they can be
certain >that they will win.
But how can you tell whether you're making a necessery evolutionary change to your religious practices, which you admit does happen in Gloranthan religious traditions, or are perpetraring a heresy? How do you know? Are you seriously telling me that the god has a clear actual opinion on this, but despite the availiability of divinations, heroquests to talk to the god directly and their ability to inspire divine revelations, they obtusely refuse to say anything? Instead they just watch the war continue, and then mysteriously wipe out half of their potential followers, but right up till that points they continue answerign their divinations, granting them magical powers, etc?
If a god does have a clear opinion, they have plenty of mechanisms through which they can reveal it. To say that they do have opinions but obtusely refuse to reveal them just seems daft.
The magic the gods grant to their followers are the method they have for intervening in the world, and it's largely the only method they can involve themselves in the affairs of men. Orlanth is not some mysterious divine force pervading the world that can covertly and miraculously grant victory to one faction or the other without anyone noticing. Orlanth is storm. He is the storm god, who's body is the winds. The rains are his blessing and the thuner is his wrath.
When the EWF strayed from the path of their draconic allies, the great dragond didn't have them mysteriously defeated by their enemies, they ate them. That's what dragons do. When nature revolted against the God Learners, the Invisible God didn't mysteriously have them defeated, their continent was shattered and angelic avengers sloughtered them wholesale. When the tribes of Prax war with each other or their joint enemies their founding spirits don't mysteriously aid them, they show up on the battlefield and devour the souls of their enemies. If the gods want one side or the other in a conflict to win, they bloody well do something about it and no mistake.
Simon Hibbs
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