Pavis and other city cults

From: labrygon_at_...
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 07:43:31 EDT


I'm sure I am answering this in the wrong place. But it is rulesy relevant a bit.

> But if the Heortling rebellion in Sartar (ala the adventure books) is
> to go ahead then surely Pavis would be involved in it, because it has
> an extensive heortling component which logically would rise up at the
> same or shortly after. If this is to be co-ordinated (and the Pavis
> temple wants liberty as much as the orlanthi do)

There are a number of assumptions here. 1) that the Cult of Pavis would want to rise up against the Lunars - possible, they have made allies with the Heortlings. By "Cult" here I mean priests and initiates, the people, vox populi. I cannot see that they want it "as much as" those exiled Heortlings.

2) that Pavis, the divine being, himself would want to rise up against the Lunars. Seems unlikely to me, although I have reason to believe he favours independence from militaristic empire. OTOH, the last militaristic empire he had independence from was the Heortling infested Third Council.

3) that given either 1 or 2 they have the power to do anything about it. Lord Pavis became a god by his power over stone, as the Builder of the City, (with runes of Harmony, Stasis, Earth and Man) so his magic is tied to the physical city, IMO, whether he likes it or not. OTOH, we know, from Nomad Gods, that his spirit can wander the plains.

I think point 3 is worth discussing on a rules list and can be more generalised, the others are more story based in a sense and rely purely on Gloranthan esoteric history, and YGMV. I am in favour of flynnkd2's beer and pretzels style of game - do what you want - but agree with Peter that it doesn't make sense for Pavic magic to work anywhere but Pavis. It is really part of the City. The fun part, IMO, is making up some plausible fact that combines these contradicitons. Examples might include some sort of special device, huge piece of faceless statue, copies of the contracts with the elemental daimones, or some such that make Pavic magic plausible in a limited set of conditions. The elemental powers that Pavis negotiated with could be embodied in fetishes normally kept in the temple - perhaps the Daughter of Pavis agree to lend out these treasures, but it deprives the City of that elemental power while it is being used in a foreign country to defeatr a perfectly reasonable overlord while leaving the City vulnerable to the main enemy of Pavis - Storm Bull.

I do not believe in the general League of Friendly City Gods, but it seems to me a good citizen would have many abilities that made them good citizens in many cities and therefore good candidates for joining the cults. Now, whether one game-mechanics this by saying the ability rating can just be swapped is not the same as saying that the gods accept the worshippers the same or that there is any 'real' transfer. These numbers, we must remember, are abstractions that no one really knows. "It's not printed on it's anatomy" was a phrase our gaming group used to admonish someone who wanted to know how many hit points something had left.

Keith

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