Re: Quick Summary of Gloranthan Cultures Part Two: Westerners

From: David Cake <dave_at_RO3JHbuOhdaV9ZTGhfBknlrCfun6WfuaxRquS9SXUtRneSvPUR_vAhzeydbzl06R4ts5i0E>
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 02:59:23 +0800

On 09/12/2011, at 2:37 AM, Jeff wrote:

> David -
>

>> 	I very much like the idea of Western magic being something like Kabbala, something like Neo-Platonism. Of course this does mean that their wizards actually are quite a bit like Medieval wizards, or at least Renaissance ones, who tended to mix all this stuff in with the general syncretic mess of stuff they favoured. 

>
> Or like Plotinus and classical Neo-Platonists. Or like actual Kabbalists, who were nothing like the silly Christian Kabbalists of the Renaissance.

	True enough. 
	But Malkionism is a many-splendored thing. Ideas don't fit well with one version of Malkionism might fit well with another.
	I personally think a lot of the messy, highly syncretic (and confused) ideas of Renaissance (and evern 20th C Esotericism) ideas at least suggest the sort of 'you can fit a round peg into a square hole with a big enough hammer' feel of late God Learnerism/Malioneranism, for example. 

	
>> 	I really like the Kabbala element there - the runes aren't the same as sephiroth, but there are inspirational parallels. 

>
> Yes. BTW, the Middle-Sea Empire book Greg and I did is filled with those sorts of parallels.

Indeed. Got it, love it!

>

>> 	Jonatings - I am fairly sure I am not alone in not alone in not understanding what the relevant details are in a culture that is described as being like medieval Lithuania, but NOT like Medieval Russia. I was under the impression that Lithuania and Russia are not just physically close, but culturally fairly similar. Could you elucidate the differences that you are getting at here?

>
> Sorry - that's probably a byproduct of the combination of living in Berlin (Baltic history is a lot more relevant here than in the UK, the States, or Australia), and that my gaming group includes an archeologist who specializes in pre-medieval Lithuania for the Neus Museum. As I said, those are my internal notes and have references that might not be readily understandable.
>
> But here's the thing - the Lithuanian ruling class did not convert to Christianity until the end of the Medieval period (14th century) and the peasants maintained their traditional pre-Christian polytheistic religion well into the 16th century (there was no persecution of pagan priests until the Counter-Reformation).
        

        I thought the Teutonic Knights were rampaging around Lithuania persecuting any pagans they could get their hands on quite a bit earlier than that? But I get the point - both Lithuania and Jonatela maintain pagan practices for far longer than their 'contempories' and have a pagan peasantry with a ruling class monotheist veneer.

> So what you ended up with throughout the Medieval period was a ruling class either pagan or superficially Christian, advised by Catholic and Orthodox priests, and with a pagan peasantry. That's not Russia.
        

        Mostly, I was just wondering if there were major cultural differences other than the religious makeup of Jonating society.

        Cheers

                David