"nichughes2001" <nicolas.h_at_...> wrote:
>
> "parental_unit_2"
> <parental_unit_2_at_> wrote:
> >
> > --- "Roderick and Ellen Robertson"
> > <rjremr_at_> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > Err, charlatans *do* exist in Glorantha, with no need for
> > > an Otherworld being (chaotic or otherwise) to feed energy to.
> >
> > Real magic is visible in Glorantha, so how can charlatans keep up
> > appearances? This isn't like Earth, where placebo effects plus
> > the brain's ingrown blind spot for statistics keeps all manner
> > of quacks rolling indefinitely.
>
>
> A little bit of unfamiliar common magic, a lot of fast-talking, an
> offer that is too good to be true. Not so different really.
Some other possible contributors, off the top of my head, subject to
correction:
- In Glorantha, the placebo effects may be more pronounced. A
charlatan comes to the stead and says "Give me ten pigskins for my
ritual and I'll make the drought end." The steaders fall for it--but
now you have an entire steadful of people who *believe* that Big
Magic is going to end the drought. That belief alone might be enough
to have an effect.
- (Related) The charlatan may be getting magical power from the
people he's fooled. He tells them that they're worshipping Big Juju,
but there is no Big Juju--instead, all that magical worship energy
is going to the charlatan himself. And maybe he can use that energy
to do some magic--heal the sick, smite the unbeliever, that kind of
thing--and thus perpetuate the scam.