> The Initiate actually sacrifices a subtle portion of his own presence
> in the Inner World to the god, and part of the god manifests as the Feat.
> et cetera ...
John :
> I read this just after popping off a 'What is Glorantha Like' post that I
> suspect came close to advocating just this.
Yes, very close indeed.
> How would you describe heroforming then?
... * theist * heroforming ...
As a more deliberate, easier, and more locally effective (but ultimately less powerful) Sacrifice of the Self to the Hero.
A form of High Sacrifice.
By giving up a larger portion of Free Will and Inner World Presence to the Hero, the Hero gains the ability to Manifest in the Inner World, in the body of the Initiate.
The magical procedure is broadly similar to the "Become One" Secret of a Great Deity, but a Hero is not fully transcendent (if that makes sense ?), and is a _much_ smaller entity, and can therefore Manifest in a Form much closer to its "full" Essence than a god can.
Furthermore, the Heroform itself will have a further link to a god (viz. HPG and "Ultimate" / Otherworlds discussion in GDs passim), and it can then use the Free Will and Inner World Presence Sacrificed by the Initiate to Manifest further magical portions of that god (Feats and Affinities etc).
Special Feats & Affinities that are available to Initiates from the Hero but without any need for a Heroform Manifestation are transcendent parts of the god that are Manifest in the Hero's god-portion, and are therefore available to the Initiates in the Inner World as divine powers.
This is a theistic explanation of these manifestations, and sorcerors, animists, mystics, dragons, GLs, etc would each have their own understanding of this kind of magic.
HPG is the true key to understanding Gloranthan Magic, as always ... <g>
Julian Lord
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