Re: Mysticism and Dream Magic

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_mpA5oF8PNd1Kff0YXHOhfZI5zwHA1tuStQ7IAfLByEaN67PS22YEmoVAAsjr-vt26uP>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:08:38 +1300

At 05:11 p.m. 28/02/2008, you wrote:
>I've been reading a lot of Gloranthan material lately in preperation
>for a Heroquest game. I've seen some mentions of Dream Magic and
>Mysticism. I was just wondering what they actually were. I'm
>especially interested in Mysticism.

Mysticism is not magic. It is a quest for Cosmic Truth and only the failures get immense magical power. Many gloranthans use magic to augment their spiritual senses in their quest for Truth but they are inferior to the those who do not. The real mystics consider their lesser ilk to be misguided at best. I think it should be emphasized that the magic of the lesser mystics does not stem from their cosmic awareness but are spells, feats and charms to have been found to be useful in their search for Truth.

Dream magic is not mysticism. It is a magical tradition found in Vithela and has its good and bad points. Use of dream magic to uncover hidden spiritual truths is good, use of dream magic to affect the waking world is bad.

The only current rules for "mysticism" are in ILH-2. This is specifically concerned with the Lunars and of marginal utility for playing deciding how to play "mystics" (specifically lesser mystics) elsewhere, specifically the Draconists, the Vithelans and the fallen mystics.

--Peter Metcalfe