Not quite. Those "correct worship" people don't live in cities with populations far beyond those manageable by the theist cults available in the region (Safelster mostly). Arranging with the peasants' theist background (which works fine on that level of society) while keeping the greater truths in mind for the aristocracy and the cities seems to be the mainstream reaction to the contact between Theyalans and Malkioni. (At least I know of no instance where theist rulers control Malkioni peasants.)
There are larger cities in theist territory, but everybody will agree that these are far from "Orlanthi" or "orlanthing". Cities generally bring about deviations from the pure theist ways.
> It can't really have escaped their attention that most of their
> magic is weaker, so in some sense they must be aware that their
> worship style is 'wrong', from an objective-magical-results-obtained
> POV.
Maybe it is a fact of life that powerful individual magic and city life
don't combine well. Esrolia works because the female magic there is
society-oriented. Orlanthi magics often are individual-oriented, or
restricted to small groups which can form a consensus.
> Clearly they think there's some benefit to doing it this way,
> however, or they wouldn't bother. What that benefit is, I
> admit I'm unclear about.
Malkionism seems to support the idea of a state, a stable society. This is some sort of magic which doesn't manifest as spells. The Belt Barbarians have Ginna Jar to achieve similar results on a smaller level, but this powerful mystic unity is fragile.
Dara Happan theism does seem to work on a different premise, but direct contact with Malkionism doesn't happen.
Peter:
> Most Stygians would be aware that their ways are different
> from more Orthodox Malkioni and they know that in the past
> such things were not done.
Different: Yes, and proud of it. Wrong: No way.
We seem to agree on this.
> There are the God Forgotten to tell them their perfidy and the
> truth of their words would be given extra force since the Opening
> with renewed contacts with the West. The Aeolians will certainly
> be bewildered by this.
The God Forgotten have come there because they did it wrong, and still haven't got it right.
Renewed contact with the West did indeed shatter much of the Aeolians' self-imagery, and led to a schism between Malkioni-friendly "acceptors" and Orlanthi-friendly "rebels". Not that these currents weren't there earlier.
A church with a schism simply is more interesting than a monolithic block.
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