Re: Mythic!

From: Steve Lieb <styopa_at_...>
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 09:58:08 -0800


> A question: I read the first paragraphes of the Magic Chapter. I
quote (by
> hearth) "The Gloranthans' way to describe the use of magic is to
derive it
> from the Other Side through the various cult(ural) myths any G
society has".
> Suppose two people, belonging to altogether different cultures (such
as a
> Malkioni and a Praxian) travel to the Other Side. Do they see and
meet the
> same opponents/allies? They travel together, allied, I stress, but
they have
> not the same kind of magic and/or the same vision about the Real
Gloranthan
> World (let alone the Other Side).

Hi Gian,
IMO there's three possibilities:
1) & 2) either the Malkioni or the Praxian are "leading' the HQ, in which case the "mythic" view presented would be that of the leader. That's assuming that you'd even ALLOW a Praxian to "support" a Malkioni HQ - IMG, I'd say probably not. I would rule that the mythic view of another would be SO disorienting that the 'visitor' would be useless and possibly taint the HQ enough to cause it to fail.

3) if both are great heroes and are venturing simultaneously into the "other side" at the same place for the same reason, I'd rule that they do indeed have entirely different views - the Praxian might find himself riding his tribal totem across Prax, with no sign of the Malkioni, and the Malkioni might find himself in a land of nodes and powers, with no sign of the Praxian. This isn't to say that they might not encounter the SAME OPPOSITION, just that it would appear totally different to each of them. Let's say they enocounter some sort of guardian to be defeated - the Praxian sees a giant, the Malkioni sees an enemy knight garbed in black. If they fight it simultaneously, they may get hints that the other is helping, like the Praxian seeing an unknown berserker coming to his aid, the Malkioni seeing a crossbowman sending quarrel after quarrel into his foe. So their experience is the same, their interpretations entirely individual.

Interesting question tho.

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