"Jorganos",
Thank you. Very interesting and informative. I like the idea that the Ingareens' imperfect replication of Brithini ways causes them to age but keep on living -- it is engagingly creepy.
What is the "No God" creed -- is it a means by which outsiders (mostly less-than pious Esvulari?) try to copy Ingareen ways (which in turn copy Brithini ones), in order to live and work in Casinotown, or is there more to it than that? I hope I am not reading too much into your posting, but a "No God" creed sounds like it goes beyond outlawing the worship of gods and makes a virtue out of atheism (not a popular idea here, if past discussions about Richard Dawkins are anything to go by :) ).
It also makes me wonder how an atheist ruling class (and foreign workers expected to share their atheism), manages to co-exist with the veneration(?) of Our Lady of Credit?
Presumably devout Ingareens and their imitators wouldn't belong to a folk religion like this (it sounds very un-Brithini). Do only (mostly visiting?) gamblers venerate Our Lady of Credit, and a minority of locals do what they have to do in order to facilitate this cult for the tourists? If so, do they do so as a path to spiritual fulfilment or is it simply business?
That said an alternative to this prosaic explanation would be more interesting.
Whilst I am sure someone else can come up with something better, maybe the ultimate secret of this faith is the epiphany that 'the house always wins' (unless Belintar is in town). In that case, maybe only people who follow this cult for a while (and spend a lot of their money gambling in the casinos?), get to become devotees, who then moonopolise the better jobs in the casino?
Final thought -- surely a motto like 'the house always wins' would owe more to the Fate rune than the Luck rune?
Richard Hayes
From: jorganos <joe_at_CtDXkuukyjirHcCIbG0mnaQAg1HCa2iM_4uRskeD5-_CRozdhnbshdA7S1JD4-rt-F4MpyA.yahoo.invalid>
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 11 August 2011, 21:03
Subject: Re: Casinotown
- Richard Hayes <richard_hayes29_at_...> wrote:
> IIRC much of Godforgot is under the control of a Brithini Talar, whom I think was called Malaskan Philippe IV(?) in some old sources.
Talar Malaskan Philippe is the ruler of Arolanit. He came there in the company of Arkat.
God Forgot is ruled by the Ingareens, who attempt to maintain the Brithini standards of a lawful life. IMO these are incredibly ancient individuals, but also terribly aged ones.
> Is Casinotown ruled by these Brithini too, or is it an independent city-state? (It could also be somewhere in between the two I suppose).
Casino Town is the place where the God Forgot folk interact with the outside world. The proceedings of the Casino finance the Brithini life-style (which is not very productive or adequate in this age). There is also the long-standing debt the casino owes Belintar (the man who broke the bank) which right now might be put in escrow or be used to fix a few holes in their household plans (e.g. replacing resources plundered by Wolf Pirates).
I don't think that the Ingareens are much involved in the day-to-day activities of the Casino, except a few specialists who maintain the spells and mechanics of the games (and may have done so for the last one-and-a-half millennia) or who guard the place. Most interaction with visitors would be done by mortals under their command, quite likely Esvulari following the No God creed or other imitations of the Ingareens.
The Machine Wars must have been really stressful on these people...
I don't think there are a lot of Ingareens left in the islands. Most of the inhabitants would be Esvulari imitating Brithini life to some extent. IMO Leonardo the Scientist is a sorcerer of some power and superhuman age, but due to his mastery of the magics (and quite likely the results of some esoteric heroquesting in the realms of essence) rather than due to a pure Brithini life. (Note that mechanics at a level like Leonardo is practicing is sorcerous magic.)
Yahoo! Groups Links
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]