Davin Dunham wrote:
> What they DON'T know is whether someone is a devotee by the
> HeroQuest rules. The devoted person described above may be "only"
> an initiate by the rules.
I agree. However, I don't think that your typical orlanthi godi would say or know that this person needs to spend 30% of his time and energy to a god and that person would have to spend 60% to his religious commitments. IMO he could say that someone is closer to his god than the next guy.
If someone has had his skin tattooed with the runes of his god, has taken a few vows and is constantly sacrifising to Orlanth he'd know that he's devoted allright. I guess he would also know that when someone is closer to the gods, then the gods pay more attention to him, so he'd know that a holier person could attract spirits of reprisal more easily.
Simon Hibbs wrote:
> An Illuminate is aware of the Al and therefore knows that pacifism
> for life and total devotion to death are false choices. A person
> could be a Humakti in one life and the reincarnate and become a
> Chalana Arroy priest because such choices only have meaning in the
> context of a single moral life. However Illuminates are freed from
> such limitations and can see the cycle of life and death in the
> round. They are merely fragments of the All, masks that are part of
> transient personality and not the Great Self that include all
> potentials.
Cool, however the magic in theism is something you are, it's being like your god, doing things the way he did and sacrifising to him. So even if you have confronted the All and have a personal understanding of reincarnation and cyclism, you don't get the magic without the commitment.
IMO this is a feature of theism, not lunar illumination. The magic flows through the character by being and doing. So a lunar illuminate could talk the talk, but walking the walk is what powers the magic. . .
On the other hand, a lunar illuminate doesn't have to worry about spirits of reprisal, so IMO they could lapse on their worship and duties without any other repecussions than losing the magic due to not practicing it. It may be that they could switch between gods by honestly being pacifist Chalana Arroy -things for one season and murderous things in the next Season. It could also be that many would not be able to maintain a Devotee-status at all.
Gee, this is getting digesty very fast. . . Sorry. ^^
Olli Kantola
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
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