On 10 Aug 2004 at 19:22, Nick Eden wrote:
> The write up on the Issaries web site is somewhat out of date - a clue
> is that it's in the hw section of the site (but you have to be the
> type that worries about URLs to spot that).
I noticed. But there's enough overlap to allow some discussion I thought. Although I had forgotten Common Magic didn't exist in HW.
> In these days of HeroQuest the bulk of the think we think of as a cult
> of Pavis should be treated as Common Magic, and there is an update in
> the works to show things this way.
Makes sense to me.
> I am fairly convinced though that in addition to common magic for the
> populous there is also a full scale Cult of Pavis the Founder which is
> the one Fleeter Neem belongs to and is essentially the City Council
> with religious overtones.
>
> But still, that said, why should Pavis' magic work only in Pavis'
> city? Well that's how things are, how gods work. They have an area of
> expertise and are powerful within that field and weak outside. Pavis
> is not a cult about the founding of cities, Pavis is not a cult about
> traveling to a new land and making a new life, Pavis is not even about
> making peace with strangers, though Pavis the man did all these
> things.
>
> Pavis the god is the power of Pavis the City. Asking why Pavis has now
> power away from the city is like asking why the Mayor of London has no
> power of the New York subway system.
Don't buy that explanation. Not that a LOT of Pavis magic wouldn't work outside the city. Anything that's ABOUT the city (fortifying its walls, dealing with its spirits, etc) wouldn't work outside the city. But especially if it is common magic, lots of things should. If we learned to do this as Pavis did, it should still work. Now, it seems that if you make the Pavis religion a CM religion and Pavis the Founder is a Theist cult, that almost all the Pavis the Founder stuff is going to be VERY city specific, at which point its not going to work.
But if the feats are re-enactments of the acts of the gods on some level, then it doesn't matter where they were first done. Pavis Defends His City is a relevent myth to you no matter what city you're defending, even if all the power you can draw from it isn't available.
I can't see the magic just shutting off when you get too far away. I see the myths that power it being less directly applicable, less specific and powerful and reinforced, but not useless.
This is just IMHO, of course.
LC
Powered by hypermail