wrote:
>
> > > A couple of weeks ago I started
> > >reading about Glorantha and learned that the God Learners ALSO
> > >study divinity, but perhaps not for the same reason as my PC.
> > >Which leadsto the question:
> > >
> > >Which book or two (any system, but preferably one available at
> > >lessthan fifty dollars on Amazon or eBay) will teach me most
> > >about the God Learners and what and how they are studying
> > >(*gods*,apparently)?
>
> OK, if you want to know what and how they are studying, I would go
> with the Stafford Library book "The Middle Sea Empire". This has
> much more material about what the God Learners are doing and why
> than any of the Mongoose stuff. However, it is purely a background
> book - anddoes not contain rulesy stuff or scenarios.
>
> > The God Learners are not trying to become divine but to manipulate
> > the gods to doing what they want.
>
> That's a bit of an oversimplifcation. The God Learners had
> substantial theological and philosophical underpinnings behind their
> explorations into the otherworlds. For example, the Emanationalists
> held that the gods and spirits of the pagans are but emanations of
> Makan (Erasanchula) that have been corrupted by the material world.
> They seek to return the wayward emanations to the Law through ritual
> and ceremony. Sometimes called the "We'll Fix Them" school or
> demonologists by critics.
>
> In constrast, the Reconstructionalists believed that the Runes are
> the essential "atoms of concepts" and can be combined to construct
> and manipulate the universe. They hold that the original Law of
> Makan was broken by Chaos and that it is their duty to Reconstruct
> the Law using their techniques. The Zistorites were an even more
> radical movementwithin Reconstructionalism.
>
> In both movements, God Learners studied and explored the otherworld
> in order to fix it according to what was written in the Abiding
> Book.
>
> Hope that helps -
>
> Jeff
>
Well, it's certainly *informative,* but rather after the fashion of a
French Crusading priest bashing in the head of an Egyptian Coptic
Christian and telling him that it was because the Copts call the BVM
"Christotokos" instead of "Theotokos," which makes them damnable
heretics who are better off dead than alive. (Thank goodness the
Pope's astronomer announced this week that there is probably life in
outer space and that it might not suffer from Original Sin, so it may
not require extermination for heresy. I added the last bit, but it
was implied. I wonder if "Unam sanctum" applies off-Earth, though,
and if it does, how far does it reach? To the Moon, certainly, I
would think.)
Ahem! I suppose, Jeff, that if I actually read "The Middle Sea
Empire" I would actually understand the distinctions which you have
drawn. Have you a link to the "Stafford Library"?
I'm in far better shape with "Jrustela" and "The Second Age," because
Amazon.com has recommended the former (which is in my shopping cart
already), and may have also recommended the latter, but memory fails
me on that item. Apropos of the price, they are, I think, imports to
the US, so their prices are fairly close to that $50 limit I have set.
At least we don't have to pay VAT on them!
Thank you both very, very much. This is an overwhelming topic, and I
feel slightly less whelmed now.