Gotha. They're their own thing, Common Magic Keywords.
>Note that the only skills
>she teaches are either part of a homeland keyword (History of Esrolia) or
>part of a generic religious keyword (Worship, Mythology).
Right...and....? Are you saying that you get it automatically with the Esrolia Keyword or not? I'm guessing yes, but then....
>Some occupations (Specifically, Musicians/entertainers and Thiefs) have
>Pan-Gloranthan (or, at least, Pan-what we've bothered to enumerate
>Gloranthan). A player deciding to take either Lanbril or Donander counts
>that as his "Specialized Magic", Yes.
Really? I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but that seems contradictory. Why is Imarja not specialized magic, but Lanbril or Donandar are? What's the rationale? I'm more interested in the why than the specifics of which is which.
>Vai Madar Sa is a CM religion because he's a crazy mixed up diety. Neither
>fully God, nor fully Spirit, nor fully Essence, nor fully human. I suspect
>(though don't know), that the Eastern systems are like this, with CM
>religions rather than "Theistic", "Animistic" or "Wizardry". Count VMS as a
>"Specialized Magic" keyword.
OK, now there's a rationale that I can sink my teeth into. Something like, when a common magic religion seems to otherwise emulate the other specialized religions in certain ways, then it counts as Specialized Magic for this purpose? See, I'm trying to find universal factors. Even in Glorantha (much less in my situation) if I create another Homeland Keyword, with another religion, what common magic religions should merit their own keyword? Which of these would count against the Specialized Magic limit?
>Finally there is the 7 Moms. This is an organ of the expansionist Lunar
>empire. Looking at the list of abilities given, this looks like a Regional
>CM Religion like Imarja. It was also specifically crafted by the Lunars to
>be an entry point to the Lunar Religion. I'd treat it like Imarja: not a
>specialized Religion choice.
OK, so as Common Magic comes with the homeland, and it doesn't count against the Specialized Magic limit, therefore, it's free if the player wants it...right?
>Lanbril and Donander are the only two gods (that we know of) that have this
>style of cross-cultural worship. They are outside of any cultural norms,
>and
>are always considered a bit "off" in the eyes of "normal folk". Every
>Homeland has its own Thief god(s), and its own Musician god(s) (spirits,
>essences... ). Players should be lightly penalized socially for taking
>them: "what's the matter, Skovara ain't good enough for you?" They are
>basically an outsider, not taking part of "our normal religious
>observences". On the other hand, being the meta-deities of their craft,
>the
>Regional dieties are "part" of them - all Gods (Spirits, Essences) of Music
>are part of Donander, and can provide magic to the hero (subject to those
>social penalties - a local cult might not *want* to teach you their magic,
>even though you're "fully qualified" - I suggest some sort of gift to the
>cult...)
OK, I knew that from the book. Is it, again, the fact that they mechanically look like the theist gods of other countries that makes them count as "specialized" for this purpose?
>The Common Magic religions mentioned in the Homeland descriptions should be
>treated like Imarja - they aren't going to teach anything outside of the
>normal "Homeland Keyword" ability list, at best they might teach one minor
>ability. They are inextricably intertwined in the Homeland keyword.
OK, to dig a bit deeper, then, I assume that any abilities that are gained from a common magic religion keyword start at the level of the keyword in question. So, do they have their own level, or do they use the Common Magic Keyword level? For example, if I have an ability from Seven Sisters, does that get a keyword rating itself, or do I just use my Common Magic keyword rating to cover that ability? What about Donandar and Lanbril? Do they get a separate Keyword rating?
Hmm. On a larger question, is my Homeland Keyword supposed to cover all of my religion keywords as well (that would explain a lot)? I've been under the assumption that they all have their own ratings. Yeah, at start it doesn't matter. But if I raise my Homeland Keyword up through advanced experience, does it affect all of the associated religions? Or do they have their own ratings?
Mike
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