In message <481C274C.40603_at_ujc4QTOhLxbeyUp3rLHGckM8mfjjVaUALfmP9KCzn218EErcL_I_Fy5JzKyTlCxWOwSIX9RnRyW6xEoQqnOBXhfwNu6L.yahoo.invalid> Stephen McGinness writes:
>One of the things I love about Glorantha is the richness of the various
>magic systems and world views. I also loved the list of diseases in
>RQII that helps players to immerse in the world. It isn't TB or AIDS
>but instead purely Gloranthan terms.
>
>My problem came when I took my Sartarite theists to Prax and among the
>animists for a broo hunt.
>
>Now as heroes they have come across broo before and their disease
>effects but I hadn't put any real thought into it - I had disease rules
>and used them. It was when I brought them among animists who spoke of
>disease spirits and the need to drive those spirits from the bodies of
>the afflicted. The theists did not see disease in that way.
>
>Are diseases different in Prax? Are they the same and present
>differently to different people - like mystics in reverse? :-)
>
>I'm not sure I need a 'right' answer but I would like one that people
>think would be most fun to play...
Disease spirits are associated with Mallia who is a Great Spirit
rather than a Goddess. It's possible there is a god or goddess
of disease but nothing has been published about one. More likely
are some essences of disease.
However the practices of dealing with disease spirits are different
between cultures. An animist would, as you suggest, drive the spirits
out of the host body. A theist healer would reenact their goddess's
actions which would have the same effect as would a monotheist's
prayers to their saint.
So the perceptions are different but the results are the same.
--
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/