>b) Does anyone but me see a similarity between the Brithini and the Dwarfs?
>Both cultures feature castes with no inter-caste mobility;
Slightly untrue for the mostali - they can progress into the Diamond caste.
>they are
>immortal as long as they obey their caste strictures;
Heretics are immortal too.
>they practice
>sorcery; they are xenophobic; and they worship deities which they cannot
>contact in any way.
I don't think this last bit is true. They worship a god but the theistic observers cannot see any evidence of it.
>Is there some common origin here, or are these
>similarities mere coincidence?
In the God Learner sense (or at least what Greg once said - he may have changed his mind since), they are both religions of the sorcerous perspective. The key difference between them is that the Malkioni believe that the World was originally energy and became matter. The Mostali believe that the World was originally matter and became energy.
>Theory #1: They're divergent members of the same race.
No. Dwarves are clearly inferior to humans. The original mostali _might_ be another of the western tribes.
>Theory #2: The Invisible God IS Mostal, and vice versa; neither god is what
>its worshippers claim it to be.
In pretty much the same way as Urox and Storm Bull are the same god.
--Peter Metcalfe
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