>I don't recall reading anything about contacts between the Mostali
>and Brithini. From the outsider's perspective, they sure seem
>similar: they're both immortal sorcery-using (in RuneQuest),
>logic-endorsing caste-based cultures, right?
The simplest answer is that the Malkioni believe that the world was originally energy and degenerated into matter. The Mostali believe the world was originally matter and degenerated into energy.
If you want the fuller details, we are going to have to go back into mythic ages. The Vadeli were friends with the Mostali of the Magnetic Mountain (which AFAIK is now the Isle of Curustus in Jrustela) and appear to have been only known to them then. In their attempt to conquer the other nations of the west, the Vadeli allied with the Mostali (among others) whereupon the Mostali built the rest of the dwarvern strongholds known today (Slon, Nida etc).
Hence Brithini and other Malkioni would know the Mostali as being a detestable ally of the Vadeli.
>I suspect the Mostali see the Brithini as the most successful of
>imitatators, but like all humans they got the essential part wrong:
>they imitated the surface aspects of Mostali culture but missed the
>central importance of the JOB, of repairing the universe -- instead
>Brithini concentrate on THEMSELVES and EACH OTHER and have no real
>purpose.
This assumes that the (clay) Mostali can actually impute motivations to others which is IMO somewhat debatable. They would know how a human, an elf or a troll might act in a given situation with some accuracy but would not know (or care) why. A defective component that acts in such a way is good enough for them.
>The Brithini presumably think the Mostali are like themselves, only
>during the Great Darkness they lost their souls. (Of course Brithini
>don't have souls, but . . . )
The Brithini and Malkioni would reckon the original Mostali to be a race of eight Rune Beings (Gold, Silver, etc) that later fell victim to the Great Error. Their error can be readily seen in the stunted, ugly, hollow clay dwarves that they make today.
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