> > One that's appropriate for the religion and culture that originates
> > the magic. I don't think that Heortling Lhankor Mhy guys
> regard 'real'
> > cows as "illusiary' or 'temporary'. (But yes, that was the reason
> for
> > the scare-quotes, and the parenthetic qualifier.)
>
> I don't see Heortling culture as having such a hand-to-mouth
> philosophy, but perhaps I'm wrong.
I don't see how this follows from the above, unless you're saying that the options are strictly that: a) you believe that all creation is illusion, or b) you're a provincial hick.
> Every trick has a lesson, and a truth behind it. If Trickster's
> ilusory cows were just holograms, that deeper meaning would be
> weakend. The fact that they realy are cows shows that Trickster's
> lesson is real too.
I'm not saying they would be holograms (though frankly arriving at any systematic answer as to what this hypothetical exercise would necessarily produce, given that this is _Eurmal_ magic we're talking about...). I'm saying that "this thing that was sired by Big Bob on Daisy, has been here for two years, and will likely be here from several more is a 'real cow', and this thing here that didn't exist five minutes and will be gone in another five, notwithstanding whatever otherwise comprehsively bovine qualities it may have is an 'illusion'" is a magically feasible distinction (though very possibly immensely difficult), and for the Heortlings a culturally likely one. (Try chucking either through Mashunasan's Gate of Truth and they'll both bamf, mind you.)
> Illusion is the other side of Truth, not the opposite of it.
I'm not hearing the difference.
I wouldn't normally be the first one to be defending God Learner Rune Pairs to the death, certainly not as immutable universals, but there seems to me to be evidence that they do have meaning for the Heortlings. Their attitude to Truth and Illusion seems to me to be equally as dualistic as say their attitude to Life and Death.
Cheers,
Alex.
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