>Is the idea still that the magic systems are ranged from primitive to
>sophisticated, and that the ultimate powerlevels of the magicians are
>connected to this?
That idea was an invention of the God Learners who had a vested interest in the matter seeing as they placed animism at the very bottom and theism beneath sorcery.
The Lunars have a different scheme which has a mortal world, a magical world (including theism, animism and sorcery) and finally a mystical world. The Vithelans have a similar scheme which considers the first two worlds equal and does or does not deny the existence of a third.
The Kralori and Teshnans will have yet another scheme that is embedded within their six worlds cosmology.
Which one is correct? All and none. There are multiple valid ways of ranking viewpoints but there is no acceptable objective method of ranking them.
>What I mean is that the spirits awailable from most practises seem to have
>a power range around 10 - 10w1. There's not much the animist can do about
>that, is there? 10w is quite useful, but it's not really earth-shattering
>heroic magic, now is it.
Obviously the interlocutor has forgotten about the Soul Winds of Nomad Gods.
>And at the far end we seem to have mysticism. So esoteric and specialized
>that most people even in the lands of the mystics don't really have
>anything to do with it. The mystic spends a _lot_ of time before learning
>any magic (three abilities to two masteries) and doesn't really gain much
>immediate power even then.
This sounds like its based on HeroQuest, which is no longer valid.
>This is the place that gives us Sheng Seleris. Possibly the most
>individually powerful (once)mortal in the history of Glorantha.
Sheng Seleris was a failed mystic and his methodology is scarcely any evidence that mysticism is the most advanced method.
>Civilization is what brings power to magic.
I find it hard to describe the Yellow Elves as civilized yet I can readily accept Shannon's proposal in Tradetalk that their magic is sorcerous.
--Peter Metcalfe
Powered by hypermail