Re: Re: Praxian Magical Societies

From: Greg Stafford <Greg_at_...>
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 09:13:44 -0700

YGWV donald_at_... wrote:
>
>
>
> I think a guardian is more then a 'mere personification' of shared
> identity. It has an existance and identity of its own. It gains
> power from the members of the community and repays them with magic.
> A community will select a guardian which is appropriate to their
> objectives. I am uncertain how much a guardian can change as a
> community changes, probably not much. In which case the community
> will be likely to select a new guardian if their needs change.
> Maybe retiring the old one to an honoured but not worshipped much
> role.
>
> --
>

It might be any of those: a collective identity of the group, a creature attracted to the group and awakened, an ancestor, or something constructed to hold everyone together.

They all share a common function which we, as outsiders, discern as working in the same mechanical manner. The fact that these are "all the same" at all is a function of the rules, not of the setting. Gloranthans don't collect all the possible "guardians" and "esprit de corps" and "collective wills" and "angels" and "demons" and "guiding principles" and "protecive spirits" and "community guides" and so on and on into one grouping like we do here.

The precise form of this being depends upon the social setting of the group doing it, and the circumstances of that moment of history. And the plot. :-)
and GM.
because, YGWV

-- 
    Greg Stafford
    President, Issaries. Inc.
    www.weareallus.com

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Enjoy without restraint, 
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