<<I think that Leonardo has yet to be fully fleshed out officially. Is that
correct?>>
To the best of my knowledge.
<< Do any of you wonder also that atheists can exist in Glorantha except in
totally isolated areas, because magic is VISIBLE in Glorantha, that is spell
casts can be seen as far as I recall?>>
I wasn't aware that Leonardo didn't use magic, so perhaps I've missed something. At any rate, the Vadeli, Brithini and Mostali are all described as being atheist, yet they still use magic, and I don't see what magic being visible or not has to do with it. Sunspears are pretty obviously visible, for instance, but their existence would not cause an atheist to renounce his beliefs; he'd just suppose that it wasn't created by a god. Admittedly, a culture that didn't believe in magic would be pretty odd in Glorantha, but I'm not aware of any that hold that belief.
<< So if Leonardo chooses not to believe in sorcery (oh hang on a minute,
sorcery may be invisible - it is in my game) So if he chooses that, fair
enough, although that would mean he also has no exposure to sorcerers, which
I believe would be unlikely on the God Forgot? >>
Right; the island is full of atheist sorcerors, so naturally he must have met a few of them.
<<So in this case he'd maybe watch people flying through the air under their own power, resisting damage, creating illusions, blasting each other with bolts of lightning, or other more mundane sorcery and go "Nah, its not happening, its all rubbish, make believe!" and then maybe "Why is my INT slipping away and that bearded man staring at me so intensely?">>
Unless there's some reference somewhere I've missed to suggest he actually doesn't believe in magic as well as being an atheist, he'd just assume that such magic doesn't come from gods. Which is, of course, supposed to be the case with sorcery anyway. If it does say somewhere that he doesn't believe in magic, then, no I don't know how he manages to do so in the face of the evidence.
<< If he chooses to not believe in gods, and hence deny the existence of
spirit and rune magic, doesn't that make him insane?>>
I think it probably would if that's true. As opposed to the Malkioni, who don't beleive that spirit and rune magic comes from gods, (since there is only one God and He doesn't operate like that) but don't deny its basic existence.
<< Of course he could simply be a genius, and choose to deny the gods even
though he knows that in some form they exist, and have a measure of effect on
the world. Maybe he thinks they are jumped up spirits for instance.>>
Which in essence is the Malkioni view.
<< And with sorcery perhaps he believes it to be an inferior science: "Yes of
course it exists, I've seen it work, but its a primitive manipulation, much
less noble than the pursuit of real science. Mark my words, real mechanical
science is where its at,
thats the future. All this magical nonsense will be gone in a few
centuries. But this mechanical science will always exist!">>
Seems not unreasonable. Of course, there's no inherent reason he can't use both, like the Mostali do - unless its specifically stated otherwise somewhere.
<< (What's at Talar Hold?)>>
Talars? And their servants, presumably. According to the Genertela Players Book, Talars can't use magic, and are atheists. Now, the God Forgotten aren't 'real' Brithini (since they age), so that may not be true of them, although I could well believe it is. If Leonardo doesn't use magic, being a Talar would be one possible explanation for that. But, of course, Talars do believe that magic *exists*, as it would be kind of difficult for them to deal with their Zzaburi much if they didn't :-)
Mind you, inventing stuff doesn't seem a very Brithini thing to do, to say the least, so it would be more likely he's an ex-Talar.
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #553
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