On 15 Nov 2004 at 16:17, Mike Holmes wrote:
> But here's the thing (and I think what's really been bugging me all along
> about the whole mixing thing). If it's not possible for an initiate or
> similar to get animist magic, then what's the impediment against
> concentration? The touted line for why one might not concentrate is so that
> you maintain your ability to spread out to the other realms of magic. But if
> it's turns out that that only means that you can't take any common magic
> outside of your selected realm, if you're already precluded from taking any
> abilities at all outside of your realm, then that's almost no limitation at
> all. Why not instead just have one set of costs, and just say that people at
> higher than the intro levels just had to take all their common magic from
> the "right" realm?
I've been reading Storm Tribe and this question occurred to me.
What is Concentration? I mean, in Gloranthan parlance, what is it? Yes, it is a bookkeeping thing because they don't know Hero Points exist, but things like Masters of Luck and Death imply that people do recognize something as concentration. (Ronos Allwinds write up implies that the followes of Beltinar don't know why their magic isn't easier to learn if you concentrate, which means there is some kind of understanding that concentration is something you do.) Selfrock also seems to imply some understanding of what is going on.
So what is it to Gloranthans?
I mean, the only religion we know in good detail is Sartarian Heortling, which is primarily theist. It knows spirits exist, and has some strong interaction with them. It even seems to have gods that have "concentrated". Look at Lhankor Mhy, who apparently chose to become a God to be of more use to Orlanth. And Yinkin, who renounced his part-spirit nature to become fully god. Urox is both.
So it really seems they ARE aware of some sort of thing we represent mechanically as concentration, some sort of pledging yourself to only one of the otherworlds that makes magic of that otherworld easier, but what do they call it, what do they understand it to be?
LC
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