I can agree with you that this is not the way something like this should work. Having a quest change the perceptions and feelings of a tribe of people dozens or hundreds of miles away is too much to ask or expect.
On the other hand, if the ritual improved your ability to find common ground, persuade, cajole, and compromise so that value is clearly perceived by both groups, then the other party might be impressed that the desire for improved relations or trade was worth the risk you took, and they might come to the bargaining table in good faith.
Sure, there is the hint of emotional abuse, but only if value is not given for the value received. It is the miasma of fraudulent intent that makes a done deal feel rancid.
> Who would agree to deal with a trader whose powers
> to convince one knew to be magically enhanced?
Why are most trades and negotiations handled by the best people possible? So that their skills will offset those of the opposition. Why do rich people hire the most famous and influential lawyers? To try and get the most favorable result... and this is in the real world. In general, you can't refuse to deal, so you try to send the best person to balance the skill of their best person.
>------------------------------
>>Subject: Reincarnation Egg
>>Terra Incognita:
>> IMO, Eggs of dragon nest are recycled for many uses
>> of immature Dragonnewts
Yes, the egg lasts as long as it takes the 'newt to evolve.
>Nils Weinander
>That's a very neat idea! Considering Dragonnewts as mystics,
>is the egg a piece of the eternal, changeless transcendent
>world?
I have been swept up in the concept that the Dragon Egg is the actual creature and that the Dragonnewt is a projected viewpoint for the egg to perceive the world... like a conscious Dream Dragon. The egg gains knowledge, experience, and perspective on the world, improving it's mystic status until it transforms into the final dragon form. The number of 'newt bodies is unimportant, the time required is meaningless (especially if the egg could ingest nutrition), and the only reason to care about the death of an old body is to recover valuable properties and magics. Priceless image, totally YGMV.
>------------------------------
Bob Stancliff
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #498
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