> But there are exceptions too. The romans never really controlled
> parts of the pyrennes or brittany, ...
Clearly there are factors like geography that also confer competitive advantages. No argument there.
> Even when it comes to the heroes, the Aeolings are generally more
> focussed. A devotee raising all three affinities and his piety
> spends 10HP per +1, for which an orderly of St. Elim (or whatever the
> Elmal analogue is called) could raise 4 spells and his piety by +1.
Remember that the devotee can raise individual feats the same way the orderly can raise individual spells, but the devotee can get a +1 increase for 1 HP, half the cost for the Aeoling orderly.
The only advantage the Aeoling orderly has over the Orlanth devotee is that the Aeoling didn't have to spend the roughly 20HP that were required to devote. Of course, against orderlies using "correctly applied" worship, the Aeoling doesn't have even that advantage.
> All considered, I expect that that Aeoling are slowly converting
> Heortlings becuase of their more effecient magic
They might be converting the Heortlings thanks to superior material technology, but not thanks to magic costs for the reasons explained above. And again, the Aeoling homeland of Esvular doesn't have a similar material competitive advantage over many of its other neighbors, because they are equally civilized.
> As for the magic, there are a tremendous number of variables here.
> Is getting +2 from a variety of common magic abilities more useful
> than having a fighting chance of improvising feats?
There are some cultures that can do both, because their native common magic abilities include feats, which they don't have to give up when they concentrate. Not the case for the Heortlings.
> I don't think there is a clear cut way to rate one system as better
> than another in this regard.
I'm agree that there's no clear-cut superiority of Theism vs. Wizardry vs. Animism. But the concentration/misapplied worship rules plus the homeland descriptions put some homelands at a significant magical disadvantage with regard to some of their neighbors. And in some cases (e.g. Esvular), those homelands have no other countervailing advantages.
Not that this is bad, it just struck me as odd. It also is apparently a somewhat new development in Glorantha, since the concentration/misapplied worship rules and the HeroQuest homeland descriptions are both relatively recent. I'm wondering whether those who designed the rules and the homelands had thought the issue through, or just decided it wasn't worth considering.
Rob
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