Re: How rare is it to know the secret of a god?

From: ttrotsky2 <TTrotsky_at_9etpZyNWM1kaKfPbtJHrAFs-9dCTE5YHdm1zH4ytgKNuq2qLqiaKUDPxGjT5Zsmkec9>
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:22:49 -0000


Olli Kantola:
>
> The wizardly folk seem to have no secrets to speak of.

This always struck me as rather odd. Now, one can see the rationale - since orderlies, adepts, and liturgists are all at roughly the 30% level of dedication, they don't have sufficient connection with the entities they worship to learn Secrets. By contrast, theists have devotees, and animists have shamans. For the great majority of wizardly cults, there is no equivalent of that level, hence no Secrets. (Sorcery cults may or may not be an exception to this, since they have magi, who *are* at the devotee level).

But that answer doesn't really satisfy me. It just pushes things back to 'why aren't there devotee-equivalents in the wizardly cults?' I don't have any difficulty seeing how a follower of Gerlant, say, could lead a Templar-like lifestyle that adds up to a 50% time commitment. Even less so for Xemelan nuns or the like.

OTOH, given the nature of Western society, it *is* hard to see how this might be the case for, say, the patron saint of coopers. Wizardry isn't about emulation in the same way that theism is. A hypothetical 50% orderly would have to live at least a quasi-monastic lifestyle - fine for holy knights, healers, and scholars, perhaps, but its not going to work for merchants, entertainers, etc.

At any rate, they don't seem to exist for the holy knights, either. Which is kind of a pity, IMO. But there you are.

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

------------------------------------------------------
Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/


           

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