>When I had the good fortune to meet Greg at GenCon this year.
>he taught me a Gloranthan secret..."Draconic Wisdom and Illumination
are
>the *same thing*", he said like a wondrous child. :) On my gut level,
I
>seem to feel in me bones a difference between Draconic Teaching
>concerning the Void and Nysaloran/Lunar Illumination.
I think they are more diferent than Nysalorian Illumination is from eastern mysticism.
>What is Orlanth's Dragon Wisdom, if there is any? How does it differ
from >the Red Goddess' teachings? Do both cultures, with different
trappings, >merely teach the same things?
Perhaps at a higher level, but at a practical material level they are very different. They have different requirements, involve different practices and disciplines which may be fundamentaly incompatible with each other, at least from a non-transcended point of view. We have to remember that Sheng Seleris was a powerfull mystic and yet the Red Goddess's mortal enemy. Mysticism is not a universal church.
No culture in Genertela exists in isolation, excpet possibly in Charg. They all have long, convoluted and interconnected historical relationships with each other. No religion is purely animist, or purely theist, or purely materialist, or purely mystical, though some may come fairly close. Perhaps the Dragonewts are an exception due to their alien nature, but I doubt it. Perhaps the jury is out on whether the Aldryan group conciousness is actualy a form of mysticism or merely resembles it, but it is it is clearly very different from Draconism.
>Is what I'm typing here making any sense? :)
I think it is, but I'd be wary of jumping to any conclusions. A nysalorian mystic might view draconism as being a horribly perverted and corrupt form of mysticism.
>
- -.......Orlanth may be the Boss, but
>his companions the Lightbringers and his family the Ring have full and
>complete personalities and tales, and do quite well on their own, thank
you
>very much :)
I think there is definitely scope for portraying these as full blown subcultures. There may be extended families that have worshiped Issaries for generations and which are dislocated from their mother culture. In some areas perhaps the only way to join Issaries is to marry into the right family.
Simon Hibbs
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