>>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).
Peter:
> The Otkorioni Henotheists (being correct worshippers) do have better
> magic. Furthermore virtually all Safelstran cities hire pagan warriors
> and rokari soldiers as mercenaries because their war magic is so much
> better than the average stygian as well as being less likely to corrupt
> the city from within and impose their own lies about Arkat. That these
> mercenaries have not sezied control of the cities they guard is a tribute
> to the power of the Hidden Masters.
IMO rather to a lack of cohesion between different mercenary companies - they can join to plunder a city (IMO an event not too uncommon in Safelster), but they'd be hard put to take permanent control, even if they might try.
>>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.
> I don't believe the Safelstran peasants are generally full-blown
> theists. Perhaps at the fringes and certainly in Otkorion,
> the peasants are pagans.
I don't think that Safelstran peasantry is theist as a rule, either, but apart from westernmost Safelster, I expect to find some theist element in the peasantry anywhere in the city-states. On the fringes, yes.
> IMO most Safelstran peasants are Stygian
> just like their elders and betters in the city because it offers
> them the chance of becoming one of the Hidden Masters.
Or Rokari, where Rokarism has taken a stronger hold (presumably the saint-worshipping variant rather than the iconoclasts), or more backward.
> In effect I believe Stygianism is a democraticizing faith that
> potentially allows all to become enlightened.
While I agree, there's always an element of hidebound ways among the peasantry not too interested in enlightenment. While sharing the same culture with the Stygians, they don't necessarily follow the same religion. (Much like Solar Orlanthi...)
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