>> Yes, I'd agree. When an entire culture is based around
>> one magic system, that system will cover every major
>> aspect of their lives. No gaps.
>
>
>
>Except I don't think that ever happens, does it? Even the Orlanthi in
>Sartar, who are about as theistic as you get, have spirits involved.
>
>
I don't think the Orlanthi are 'as theist as you can get', though. The
Dara Happans were often cited in the past as a culture much more purely
theist than the Heortlings - although I don't know how meaningful that
would be these days. But I get the impression that all the spirit beings
they know of in their mythology are hostile, unlike Kolat's involvement
with Orlanth. It depends what you mean by 'base around' I guess - there
are cultures that can't do anything with spirits except chase them
away/beat them up, but i agree that it's unlikely that are many that
deny the things exist at all (the evidence being fairly irrefutable).
>The fact is that the whole 3 world system is odd to me in some ways. I
>know Greg has said that there is a point to it and concentration and the
>Hero Wars are involved, so I'm trusting when we get something like ILH2
>and a better explanation of concentration we'll understand it all a bit
>more.
>
>
One gets the impression that it'll be quite a bit later than that. Not
that I've seen ILH-2 to know for sure!
>But from a gaming point of view, it seems to just introduce problems.
>There seems to be no line dividing what is a spirit or a god or an
>essence. To read Yinkin's myth, it seems that all beasts except cats are
>spirits, but I don't know if that is true.
>
Most actual creatures are, as you say, a bit of everything. In terms of
animal 'gods' we know that some are theist, and others animist, etc.
Yinkin certainly isn't the only theist one.
>Everything else seems to be
>potentially any of them. So other than how you worship it (and whether
>you get penalties if you do it while concentrated) how can you tell what
>it "really" is?
>
You could go look for it in the relevant other world, I guess. And even
that might could get you misleading results (as with the Aeolians). But
then, if Gloranthans could tell for certain whether something was god or
spirit, they would know when they were practising Misapplied Worship,
which we know that they don't (as a rule).
>Misapplied worship seems a penalty for no good reason on people.
>Especially since it seems really easy to avoid for the most part, as we
>are doing with Inora/The White Princess, except for bits that are
>canonically specified to be misapplied worship.
>
>Then there are "common magic religions" like Lanbril, which seem to
>transcend these things. (Although why Thievery is transcendental and
>Death is not escapes me.)
>
>
I'm not sure that 'transcendental' gives quite the right impression
here. Thievery is mundane, and not particularly sacred (as religions
go), so, like other things in the mortal world it is 'made of up of
everything' and hence a Common Religion. It's not so much that it
transcends otherworld stuff, as it doesn't get high enough for that to
be relevant.
>SO from a gaming point of view, I ignore most of it. I don't believe in
>misapplied worship, I think all religions are heavily mixed and
>concentration is actually cutting yourself off from a bit of your own
>pantheon, since some of it is mixed as well. And I will happily
>find/create any entity that allows a player to do what they need for
>their character. Since I can't figure it out, I ignore the parts that
>get in the way of gaming.
>
This seems, IMO, an eminently sensible approach.
-- Trotsky Gamer and Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------ Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
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