Re: Disease questions

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_QzfFBfHjBhE4SkDTPFVVNa1a__-KEKvMqJFIBKVfwt1OacAynLpxMOROarSUBIjYIwntp>
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:47:15 -0800


>>>But a shaman would presumably have a much harder time
>>> with an essential or daimonic illness.
>>
>>
>>Yes, the Alien World modifier would apply here.
>
> This means that a typical Ernaldan healer is going to be at a
> significant disadvantage compared to a typical Kolating shaman
> in dealing with disease spirits which appear to be the commonest
> cause of diseases.

While we've really only seen Disease *Spirits* in published material, figure that there are close analogs to those spirits in the other Otherworlds. So there are Disease Essences, and Disease Daimones (plus the "mixed" Hell-Demon diseasess, plus chaos diseasess that are "different" and always get that Otherworld modifier, plus...).

That Beginning Shaman may get lucky and face a spirit, or he and the devotee might both be unlucky and face an essence. In that case the shaman will be less effective than the devotee, because of her experience.

Every culture (except really strange ones) are going to have some magic to defeat the local "common" diseases no matter their magical bent - the Church may not like it that the old witchywoman is dispensing potions and doing a better job defeating the diseases than their wizards can, but she's a local with the right magic, and they aint. She *will* be there, somewhere, available to the locals. (Non-western cultures will have less stigma attached to a "wierd" healer. There will probably always be a stigma, but it will be less in the non-strict-Church cultures).

RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad R. Sabatini, Scaramouche            

Powered by hypermail