>>I believe that the Teshnans are very wordly in their believes,
>>especially if they have to master the First Teaching.
>>
>>
>
>Teshnans that have yet to master the First Teaching are
>spiritually unfit to handle wealth and so are kept poor. This
>impels them to study the Teachings of Chal better.
>
>
Yes, this is what I found out, too. There might be a difference between
people of the First Caste. A Farmer gets enough food to fed himself and
his family, but a Craftsman needs supplies, and most of all a Merchant
needs some goods. So it is more difficult to tell what is necessary for
them and what is surplus they've to give away. The Voices Merchant says,
that he's giving a lot of presents to people higher castes, so maybe
they don't bother him for "owning" too much. So people in cities might
usually "own" more - by keeping the superiors pleased - and look down on
the rural folk.
That way the life of a Merchant is very tricky. Find the narrow path between owning too much, and let the priests take away your surplus, or having not enough to gain some luxuries.
>Now it's possible that good Teshnans are kept back from
>promotion while questionable Teshnans are promoted.
>But the way to get promoted is to suck up to your
>examiners rather than outright bribery.
>
>
I wanted to refer wit 'bribery' to the presents the merchant in the
Voices gives away to people of higher castes. He pleases them and so he
might become promoted more quickly than his neighbour. This is what
sucking up means? So maybe I meant the same ...
But wouldn't there be some arguing about promoting people who give you presents. Might this be an argue between the cults of Somash an Zitro Argon?
>It depends on what you mean by near future. Personally
>I'm waiting for ILH-2 as a guideline to what the Teshnans
>might be able to do.
>
>
This means, we can draw some analogies between the Solar Pantheon and
the Teshnan, right?
>>There
>>was Mysticism in the HeroWars book. Do you mean that we've
>>to add Mysticism to the Teshnan religion, or that the Common
>>Magic Pantheon is only the first stage of a pure Mysticism
>>religion?
>>
>>
>
>There's no such thing as a pure Mysticism religion. What I mean
>is that the Teshnans can use the common magic religion to
>obtain a mystical insight. [...]
>
>
Ah, ok. Thanks for the example it helps me a lot. Also what you said
about Common Magic in the other thread was very helpful, great! :-)
>Now the picture is more complicated as Vai Madar Sa is actually
>a Vithelan Diety rather than a Teshnan one and the Teshnan
>cults would work differently.
>
>
Are there other influences in the Teshnos Pantheon? As they are very
tolerant against other religions they seem to suck up nice customs or
forms of worhsipping from other Pantheons as it helps their Enlightenment.
>>Are the fire realms for Somash worshippers only, or do you think the
>>Otherworlds of all gods are within the Fire Realms?
>>
>>
>
>All the Five Gods are Fire Gods and so the Fire Realms encompass
>their otherworlds and not just the Somash otherworld.
>
>
>
What else is known about this Pantheon or these five gods? In fairy
tales and myths from India and other countries in this region gods often
become men to interact with people or are forced to become men. So is
this also happening or has happened in Teshnos? HeroQuests might by
inspired by the deeds of a god in human form ...
>>Maybe it became his way, when the path to Enlightement was reduced
>>to a single path - the path of Chal. Chals was - as far as I remeber - also
>>a Somashi, and the Somashi rule Teshnos in fact. They interpret the
>>thoughts of Vessel of Light and distribute the orders thorughout the land.
>>All other temples must listen to what they say.
>>
>>
>
>Chal is not a Somashi, but the founder of a religion which includes
>Somash. The Somashi do not rule Teshnos - they are one of the
>Five Priesthoods of Teshnos. While their temples do much of the
>governance of Teshnos, their duty is to support the other temples
>of Teshnos rather than tell them what to do.
>
>The Vessel of Light's thoughts are interpreted by a Council of Five,
>that is composed of each of the Five Gods' greatest priests. Hence
>Garusharp only has one voice among five in the Council (not that
>in matters much because decisions are reached by consensus).
>
>Yes, HeroQuest voices does present the Somashi as being
>dominant but that is only because the article is written from
>a Somashi viewpoint in the same way that the Seshnegi
>article is written from a Knightly Point of View. If the speaker
>happened to be a devotee of Solf then his description of
>Teshnan society would look much different as would a
>Seshnegi article written from a Wizardly Point of View.
>
>
>
I agree, that the Somashi don't order other cults directly. But until
another cult receieve word from the Vessel of Light or the Council of
Five it has passed through one or more Somashis hands an minds. So it
might be interpreted by the Somashi and its true meaning (if one can
deduce it from the words of the vessel) maybe altered. What if a local
Somashi doesn't understand or agree with the words from the Vessel and
think about keeping it secret. As they control a lot of the
communication that might be happening more than once. It's not the
standard behaviour but a tool that is used when necessary.
If we take the numbers of the Zitr into account it is very difficult for them to have knowledge of everything what happens. Additionally it's their last period in this world (if I'm right, there seem some differences in the number of Teachings and the number of castes in both main rulebook and the Voices, too. I can point them out in detail if you like), or - at least - they're very Enlightened and on might say that they're sitting in an ivory tower not concerning the world outside any more. This might lead to a difference between the ruling caste (with only a handful of people) and the rest of the population. I mean, there's the ideal of the Teshnan society, favored by the Zitrs and the "real" society, the ideal laws bended for practical and personal purpose - like a merchant, that is secureing a little bit of wealth for its own, sending presents to the priest, so they don't take it away.
Some questions about the zitrs. In the Voices it is said, that they identifiy your life flame. In the Zin Letters the priests (2nd Caste) have the feat of identifying your life flame. As there are only a handful of Zitrs it seems very difficult for them to identifiy all new born babies. Is this a task of the priests instead or are not all babies identified? You stated implicitly (if I understand you right) that every caste is looking in the appropriate lower caste for new members ...
Greetings,
Alexander
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