Exactly so, I think. =14They'd point out that these things had been 'in the world' for (by their reckoning) literally billions of years (well, if that's if their reckoning _is_ literal, at all), and are almost almosts parts of the pre-existing world 'warped' or 'tainted' by this allegedly 'chaos'. Mighty fine distinction you make there, paleface.
> These paradoxes do not disprove the philosphies that give rise to =
them,
> but are evidence that they are not complete.
When your theory is inconsistent, it's normally the time to start removing axioms, not adding more in. ;-)
It's not a 'cultural paradox', though; each set of beliefs is perfectly internally consistent. The problems really only kick in when one comes to combine them into a Global View, when they (sometimes) start to push the envelope as to what can be rationalised as 'different take on same thing'.
> Again, I'm stung by ignorance. I'm afraid I've no idea who or what
> Oorsu Sara is or was.
Mentioned in a Myth of the Month, quite a few back. (Unless I was hallucinating back then, which, like violence, is Always An Option.) Basically he's a big nutter of a demonic type Antigod, goes around creating untold mayhem. He's brought to heel by one mystic, who teaches him some profound mystical insights. Which he then later abuses by annihilating large chunks of the world.
> >The Orlanthi
> >believe, correctly, that what lies outside the 'created world' is
> >raw, seething, undiluted Chaos. East Islanders believe, correctly,
> >that what lies outside the 'created world' is the transcendent.
> And neither of them mean 'outside the created world' in a physical
> sense.
The Orlanthi do, in that it _used_ to be case that Chaos was 'physically outside' of the 'cosmos', until some careless bastard let it in. Now one has to make finer-grained distinctions, which may often come down to "Sure looks chaotic to me!" In the mystical case.... hrm. Poses more questions than it answers. at least for me...
> To the easterner, whether or not chaos is anti-creation and is
> destroying the world is only of passing interest. He wants to
> transcend the world anyway. It's is of some interest because chaos
> could potentialy destroy him before he achieves transcendence, but
> that's only qualitatively different from any other factor that could
> prevent his personal transcendence. Yes, chaos is bad. Maybe it's =
worse
> than other forces that might prevent his transcendence but not destroy
> him, but without transcendence nothing is worthwhile anyway.
I don't think they really have this perception of chaos. Firstly, it's not really a distinct concept for them, at leats not one that corresponds strongly to what the Orlanthi would say was Chaos, they don't have much trouble with/experience of 'Orlanthi-documented' chaos, though Andins and Huan To seem not unlikely candidates, in we were to summon an unbiased third part Storm Berserk (!) to testify. While being eaten or having your empire by such things is by no means a pleasant experience, they don't see Chaos as a spirital threat or cosmic menace in the way the 'Monomythic cultures' do. (It's not perceived as being about to eat your soul or destroy the world, in other words.)
> This is one reason why I think the Lunars don't care so much about
> chaos either. If you can transcend the created world and achieve
> eternal bliss, who cares what happens to everything else? It becomes
> a non-problem. To the orlanthi though, for whom the created world
> is everything there is, chaos is the worst thing possible.
I think the Lunar Resolution is a little different yet, but I can only stab around wildly for it. The Lunars do have more experience of chaos _qua_ Chaos, if only because the Orlanthi keep yakking on about it. Their transcenence of the world (Illumination) is not, apparrently, comparable to the 'classic' mysticism of the east. Witness that fact that one can be Illuminated, and go on living a life that not just manifest, but involves bacchanalia, fornication, and spell-chucking, which would be Not The Done Thing in other circles.
I think the Lunar Way sees the transcendent as containing both what would be called by the Orlanthi 'Chaos', and that which would not. (For example, Nysalor is a non-Chaotic transcendent entity, the Crimson Bat would be a Chaotic transcendent entity, each manifest in the world.) The recognise that Chaos has destructive aspects, which can be used, and creative aspects which can be used for good. They don't make simple moral judgements about 'chaotics' -- the ogre child of someone's earlier example isn't so much an Evil Manifestation of chaos, as a victim of it for whom we should feel little but compassion. Even a slavering brro can be seen as such a victim, since chaos has inflicted on him a truly miserable condition. The Orlanthi would cure both by some swift hack'n'slash, the Goddess wish only to Heal.
Slainte,
Alex.
"And we have 100,000 troops that are going to help us do it."
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