>An Odaylan who tried to steal the qualities of the
>great stag would be doing what most evil people do;
>trying to gain power or knowledge without regard to
>those around him or her, or to the culture's rules.
>It's not necessarily Chaotic, as has been pointed out.
It may even be chaotic in some cases but not others. Canibalism is practiced by followers of both Maran Gor and Cacodemon. One is chaotic, the other isn't.
>It should get your god on your back, at least as soon
>as the god realises it. That's where I think things
>get interesting metaphysically. This wretch tried to
>take a shortcut to what he wanted (in this example
>better abilities to hunt elk, or to possess the
>strength and swiftness of the elk), and in so doing
>broke his god's rules, and damaged the stag's spirit
>by preventing it from rejoining Odayla or being
>reincarnated. What invokes the spirit of retribution?
> Does the god realise the contravention spontaneously,
>or does it take the stag's spirit, or another
>Odaylan's prayer, to bring it to Odayla's attention?
>When noticed, is it enough for the hunter to make
>whatever restitution or outward act of contrition is
>necessary, and follow the rules thereafter, or does
>the repentance have to be soul-deep? How much does
>one's chosen god know your inner heart?
>
>My take on the latter is that the closer you have
>bound yourself to your god on the old lay member,
>initiate, Rune level scale, the more ability your god
>has to know your real feelings. Do others agree with
>this? Likewise, is it the outward acts of worship
>that are more important to the god, or trying to act
>with the spirit of the god? Does this vary from god
>to god?
Last time this discussion came up I ended up agreeing with the argument that the gods don't really understand mortals. So it's by their actions that the gods judge their human followers. Those actions fall into three catagories. Those that emulate the god (positive), those that offend the god (negative) and the rest which the god neither understands nor cares about.
Remember the gods are architypes, Odalya knows and understands nothing about childcare. A disciple of Odalya knows and understands something of it even while they refuse the ties which a family would bring.
As far as how much the god knows about an individual's actions, that's a matter of how much the person draws the god's attention to themselves. An initiate may only draw the gods attention on holy days and during sacred time. A devotee probably every day but not continually. A disciple pretty much all the time. Of course specific actions and attempts to gain the god's attention are on top of that.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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