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On 3/23/07, Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_WTydRWXIPYpWAJriykVBfX_lVYfaf75J-WNMEnI8JGwOIQbE11zngRakpHYjFkw1oTnPSChnuC_JYBdi_M0kFt6y.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> In order to restore themselves to the Truth, they developed the dualistic
> doctrine and many other innovations (such as persecuting the Logicians).
I am under the impression that the contest with the Logicians occurred sometime after the apotheosis of Carmanos, but I don't have any hard evidence. Either way, the dualistic doctrine wasn't really developed so much as revealed by Carmanos the Prophet. It has gone through some changed since the Prophet's day, but its dualistic essence was there from the start.
> To get a sense of the Carmanian worldview, you could look up old
> persian inscriptions to see how they saw the cosmos as a struggle
> between Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, Truth and the Lie.
You could reduce this down to just Truth and the Lie, essentially. All that comes from Idovanus is Truth/Good and all that comes from GanEstoro (Gansatarus) is Lie/Evil. Evil is defined as that which opposes the will of Idovanus, the Good God.
The roll of Light and Dark has been the subject of much debate among Carmanians, as everyone here has rightly observed. That said, Carmanians are generally distrustful of the Dark since it so easily leads to the Lie. I think it now (905) falls into a similar category to sorcery - a dangerous and potentially corrupting natural power that should only be used with great care.
> I consider the importance of free will to be alien (or at least pointless)
> to the Carmanian worldview.
That depends on how you look at it. Carmanian Dualism is an ethical religion that depends on individuals to use their free will to choose Truth over the Lie. No supernatural force compels a Carmanian to act in accordance with the Truth. Life is a constant moral/ethical struggle within each individual.
> As for monasticism, the Magi are thought to be monastical in character.
But they are notable for being exceptions to the general rule. Greg has said that Carmanians generally hate asceticism.
> Why be so generous? They didn't support Idovanus in life so
> why should they be redeemed?
Zoroastrianism has the evil dead eventually being purified in rivers of molten metal, and then being reunited with the Good God in paradise (the world purified of all evil). I use this idea for the Carmanians in my game. As I think about it, one could say that since humans are the creation of Idovanus they must be essentially good, but can become spiritually polluted by GanEstoro. If this pollution is sufficiently purified then the individual can enter paradise. Purification rituals are a big deal in my Carmania.
> >These are in turn
> >assisted by a league of lesser principles, each "Worthy of Worship"
> >and each again a hypostasis of a moral or physical aspect of Creation.
>
> I would just say Servants of Idovanus here. There's no need for
> the Carmanians to give a theological justification for worshiping
> gods.
This is generally true, but I do like using the Zoroastrian idea that at least some of the most powerful deities are aspects of the holy mind of Idovanus. In my game this was a Carmanian co-opting of the Jernotian High Gods. Thus, Turos is the Power of Idovanus (the tool with which he shaped the world, or some such), Oria is the Plenty of Idovanus, etc.
> Once the house has
> determined what Caste you belong to, that's the end of it.
I thought the viziers determine caste, although this may have become something of a formality.
~Kevin McD
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