> So I don't think that mysticism will
> have to do what you're asking it to do,
> either. Instead I think it'll just have
> some relationship to enlightenment
> ability rating, and some rules for what
> magic this allows you to do (which I
> think would be from a special
> non-otherworld otherworld). Doesn't
> seem particularly hard to me.
>
> Never say never.
YGWV, of course.
My understanding of mysticism is that any attachment to the real world is an obstacle to mystal transcendance, so by definition, a player hero out there kicking butt (or otherwise involved in the world) is not a mystic.
Of course this does not rule out new rules subsystems that, say, model a kung-fu character that also has mystical leanings. And, I suspect that these systems, if ever produced by Issaries, would use new combinations of existing rules systems, as we have heard will happen in the Lunar handbook.
And your comment about "a special non-otherworld otherworld" offers me the opportunity to re-iterate one of my pet theories:
The mystical otherworld is the mundane world.
The three other magic systems have a pre-history that starts with every one, mortal and immortal in the one "place" but, at the Dawn, the immortals and mortals are separated into the mundane and the otherworlds. Now different groups have different theories about the change - my understanding is that the Darra Happans think that they stayed in one place and their gods withdrew, whereas the Heortlings seem to think that both their gods and themselves stayed in the same place but the place changed leaving both separate. And other groups have different theories. But the mystics are believed to withdraw from all worlds, to a non-place (or to a place that is everything).
As the Gods War progressed, the three otherworlds were wrecked to the point that they could only continue if frozen/static. The mortals could not survive or grow in state and had no place left to go but the mystical otherworld, which was left relatively (or nearly completely) undamaged. And the mystics, because of their attachment to unrealisation, had no particular use for their otherworld as an otherworld. Further support for my theory is that the myths of the "mystical east" are much more inclusive of the three other magic systems than any of the other systems are of each other or of mysticism.
So an implication of this could be that the true magic of mystics is common magic, which, of course, they avoid as it entangles in the world.
Actually, I think the reality is much more complex. The powers that mystics can get, but must not accept, are offered in HeroQuest Challenges of the mystics resist entanglement vs the power of a god, essence or spirit. If the mystic wins the challenge, they have the choice of accepting the power as a power or getting a small increase on their resist entanglement ability. Imagine the wierdness of being the hero facing this kind of challenge as the representative of the entity - if the hero wins, they get a chance at some kind of enlightenment and if they lose, then often nothing happens. I've not reall though this through yet.
And this is where my Glorantha varies :-)
regards,
Charles
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