Re Initiates and Devotion

From: Ian Borchardt <iborchar_at_vqzmwr8fj0dHGDueznxUL8mI1iYz-SVVzB4S3aYsUrcQbMoADYni6r4feBpsK-cJHBu>
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:43:47 +0930

MGDV. The emphasis in my Glorantha is on community rather than the individual. In this sense heroes tend to be aberrant - they are more likely to function outside the community as individuals, and thus accumulate personal power.

I tend to follow more of an economic model with regard to devotion. The time commitment for devotion usually means that the clan/community must actively support the devotee, as the devotee has insufficient time to spare to support themselves. In fact the clan/community specialists are expected to become devotees by the community/clan in order to have better access to the appropriate magics to support their role in the community/clan. The more specialists the clan/community can support, the more powerful the clan/community.

The ability to support these specialists comes from the 30% tithe in resources imposed on initiates of the cult. Thus the maximum number of specialists that could be supported becomes 1 in 4. However in practice this rarely rises above 1 in 6, and is far more likely to be the mystically-significant 1 in 7.

Of course devotees will be spread throughout the various cults of the community/clan, not just the "society cult" (in the case of Heortlings this is Orlanth Allfather).

A "community" that has active support from outside can support a larger number of specialists. The obvious example of this is a Humakti regiment. Thus you are more likely to encounter a Humakti devotee within a regiment. This is fair, since the Humakti within the regiment have chosen to specialise in war.

There is also considerable reluctance on the part of a community to lose specialists, or to support specialists of little worth to the community. Without community support the character is limited in the number of hero points they can channel into the appropriate abilities, as the mundane requirements of survival outweigh the mystical requirements of magical advancement. [a supported devotee is expected to channel 60% of their hero points into the object of their devotion, and can go as high as 90% of their hero points; an unsupported devotee is generally limited to channelling 30% of their hero points to the object of their devotion (the same as an initiate), unless the cult is not supported by the community, in which case they are generally limited to spending 10% of their hero points on mystical advancement (the same as a communal worshipper)].

-- 
Ian Borchardt    (iborchar_at_BcznReGMomRCPri7LR3ZnAqeFX82Z7YiXCRYVYx_XUhiiglG4bDryrd_fZQbHtB7siFNxSsIlSVw.yahoo.invalid)
Philosoph, Fool, and Magician
"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
  And with strange Ians, even death may die."