Caste is terribly important for the Brithini and for those who want to use old school Zzaburi grimoires. If you don't use the Brithini caste system, then there are likely a lot of spells that Zzabur created that you can't use. But that doesn't mean people couldn't figure out how to create the same effect with a different spell - it just means that those millenia worth of Brithini intellectual endeavors are of limited use.
> And pointless, because it doesn't solve the problem - the issue of
> 'why don't zzaburi overthrow the talars?' then becomes 'why don't the
> clever zzaburi cleverly redefine the caste rules to enable them to
> overthrow the talars?' - and given that zzaburi have done so at least
> once (Valkaro) it is clearly possible, which just gets us back to the
> starting point.
Let's be more precise in our terminology. Why don't the Brithini Zzaburi overthrow the Talars? Then they wouldn't be Zzaburi anymore, simple as that. Everyone understands that.
Hrestol's revelations come after an era of tragedy. The material world corrupted and lesser men died (the Brithini view), or the ancient laws failed in the Darkness (the Hrestoli view). Hrestol contacted the Great Intellect, a deeper source of truth than the Brithini Reason, and allowed us all to become Men of All and enabled men to properly use sorcery again even if they did not obey strict caste restrictions. The Brithini naturally thought this was a monstrous error but for mortal men this was salvation.
One by-product of this is it creates a confusion between zzaburi (sorcery specialist) and zzaburi (the caste). Hrestoli believed it was possible to be a zzaburi (sorcery specialist) without keeping the restrictions of zzaburi (the caste). The Brithini disagree. Many ancient Brithini spells contained restrictions like: "this spell enables the zzaburi to enhance the Death nature of a weapon wielded by a horali." If the local community doesn't have a restricted group of sorcery specialists that follow enough of the caste restrictions to meet the ancient Brithini definition of zzaburi, they can't use the spell. If they don't have a group of military specialists that can meet the definition of horali, they don't have anyone they can cast the spell for. Have fun trying to figure out by trial and error what works.
The other option is to write new spells based on a superior understanding of the mechanics of Glorantha. That's what many Hrestoli communities did. Their thinkers (who were often the ruling group - those wacky Hrestoli!) explored the material structure of Glorantha and how it fits together AND taught their followers what they had learned. Sometimes this produced horrific errors, like the Vampire Kings of Tanisor. Sometimes it produced amazing results, like the God Learners.
The God Learner era grimoires are remarkable for their scientific approach. The best likely read like something from Aristotle. They were detailed, logical, and covered a remarkable amount of ground (as much as could be expected from about 500 years of remarkable intellectual ferment). Of course, most of that knowledge was lost in the horrendous downfall of the MSE, the destruction of the God Learners' centers of learning, and the general reaction against anything God Learn for the last 600 years.
So how does this all help me in my Western games? First, it means that it is really up to the players and the Narrator whether the wizard's grimoire requires strict adherence to caste or not. If it does, the wizard better belong to a Rokari or other Brithini wannabe community (or at least act like it). It not, then maybe it is an Old or New Hrestoli grimoire, or maybe one of those rare (and usually forbidden) God Learner or Autarchy grimoires.
Run with the roleplaying consequences of the nature of the grimoire. There are plenty of plot twists that can come from a character needing to follow strict caste restrictions if his magic is going to work. Similarly, there are plenty of plots twists that can develop if the character's main grimoire is something considered abjectly evil by just about every Western society.
> In addition, I think the whole idea of a bonus for correct
> application undermines the whole idea of sorcery being very specific
> and exact. It should work, or not. A sorcery spell should be 'bless
> weapon' or 'bless horali weapon' not 'bless weapon but that works
> particulary well if the weapon happens to be held by a horal'.
Yes that is correct.
Jeff
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