IMG (or at least, my current picture of it) that's certainly true of "specific magic". But not true of "common magic".
As it was explained to me at the convention, common magic represents the little bits and bobs of magic that your folk know in order to "just get by" or survive through life's normal difficulties. (i.e. "Crap! I'm out hunting and just walked into a downpour, and now I'm having difficulty finding good wood and lighting a fire. I'll use my Find Wood charm, and my Light Fire talent to augment my Roughing It In the Bush ability to help offset that larger resistance I know I'm going to face because of the deluge...")
It seems to me, then, that 'common magic' is exactly the same as the little charms, invocations, talismans, and superstitions that cultures have in our real world (throwing salt over your left shoulder, etc, etc), except in Glorantha, they *work*.
Gradually learning these would be part of the process of learning how to become a useful member of society; I can't quite buy that, in a world where magic really is an important tool to add to one's kitbag, it would suddenly get turned on like a tap at adulthood.
However, I can certainly believe that a God(dess) certainly wouldn't imbue a person with magic, or do magical things on their behalf, until they had properly become "known" to the God(dess), i.e. by the rite of adulthood folllowed on by initiation into the mysteries of that or this God(dess).
> Can't remember where the reference was, though :( And I'd be
> delighted to be proved wrong.
I wouldn't mind hearing the con argument, but I feel pretty strongly that my description is the way things "should work", so we may end up agreeing to disagree.
-- Viktor
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