In a message dated 1/6/04 12:56:14 PM Mountain Standard Time, dfsolley@comcast.net writes: >>>The eerith cannot currently sense the workings of the espiri, though >>>they can, of course, perceive the _results_ of those workings. I have >>>to wonder whether they can sense the use of any sort of divine >>>authority and if they can learn to do so. >> >>I wouldn't be so sure about this -- if they have their own ability to >>sense Authority Magic (and as you see, they consider almost all magic >>to be Authority-based, although possibly through intermediaries who >>handle the details, like Obeah and Elementals), then your Espiri >>should be perceptible, just as the Mirrish Mages were. Whether or not >>it's worth the effort for them to understand what a single Espiri >>wants to do is another question. Whether it's of Divine origin or >>'mere' Essence, they still /appear/ to sense it. (Juuso?) >> >>I will admit to a little concern about 'suddenly' investing a group >>with an immunity that Mir hasn't been able to invent, let alone make >>workable. > >The only thing they cannot 'see' are the wyrms proper and even then >only when one is fully grown. The Dragon issue I'll leave to Jusso to >elaborate on for reasons he understands. If it lives, if it breathes, >if it is upon the land--the Eerith know of it (they may even be of it). Ah, but that's the whole thing. The power of the espiri _isn't part of the world-sea._ Feroze grants the espiri power from "beyond" the world-sea. This isn't to say that they can't _learn_ to perceive espiri power, after all it is received by people who are part of the world-sea, but it is something they'd need to figure out, not something automatic. Of course this is actually somewhat irrelevant as quaestae will assume the Eerith can perceive the power unless deliberately told otherwise. >The imbalance of the race compared to game play is one of the reasons I >chose to use them and move them into a semi-NPS status. > >>>Most of the gods on Qaiyore seem to invest a great deal of power in a >>>few individuals. Feroze operates in the opposite manner, investing a >>>little power in a far larger number of individuals. From what I can >>>tell the overall power involved is pretty much the same. > >>My impression, once again, is that this is more the kind of story you >>hear. People talk about the Avatars, and you rarely hear about the >>legions of 'ordinary' priests who act to better the lot of all people. >>I can't judge power levels (and will admit to an innate distrust of >>that, anyway: Gods are qualitatively different from mortals, IMO, and >>judging them by mortal standards reduces them to the shallow beings >>depicted on 'Xena'. What I saw in _Speakers and Kings_ was several places where minor spell-priests might have been mentioned, but weren't. Admittedly not being mentioned doesn't mean they weren't there. On the other hand, when priestly powers did make an appearance they were far beyond the power level I'd give to any espiri or rohain. Put together these imply that Exquaestio's powers are spread over more individuals, but are lesser in capacity. Certainly both strategies are viable. I was just remarking on the contrast. >>I'd love to hear Juuso's opinion about this; a game of 'which god can >>get the most power' is very different from what I've been trying to >>play, but interesting... Not what I was getting at. I was talking about the ways the gods _spent_ their power. >Qai history definitely follows the precepts of the monomyth--the one >individual who changes all things. This was part of the original Aria >game design and it has carried over into Qai. I was going to say that this wasn't what I thought the game was about, but then I realized this is _exactly_ the way Exquaestio was established. In this case the individual was Feroze, a deity who found a psychosocial leverage point and acted upon it. Exquaestio's actions are a matter of exploring the ramifications of that action.>>>Rohain have an authority over spirit similar to a mortal's normal >>>authority over matter. This means that they can hurt and potentially >>>kill spirits (including eerith). The eerith would have discovered >>>this no later than the last game year. I wonder what they think of >>>it. >> >>These are interesting ideas. My impression has been that no 'normal' >>magic has been able to touch Eerith, so once again that's a remarkably >>useful design. I'd expect it to need some modification to make it fit >>logically with the idea that nobody else has matched it (i.e. perhaps >>they can -- but none of those who wrote about Eerith ever mentioned >>it). Of course, as I said, I'm going off of what I recall from reading >>back in September, or so. I'll add that my tendency in almost any 'new >>power' discussion is towards minimizing the power (different, not >>stronger). > >"Killing" Eerith is either impossible or fairly easy depending on your >definition. The V'raal were able to bind Eerith to items. Dioya >'killed' an Eerith in single combat. The Onagir have (unexercised) >considerable authority over the Eerith. This will take a bit of explanation. So bear with me for a bit please. Each of the three divisions in the Ministry of Inquiry is multilayered and has many purposes. The major purpose of the rohain is protection and defense. Not in a passive 'wall against the foe' sort of way, but in the way 'the best defense is a good offense.' The powers given to rohain are intended to permit them to defend against the otherwise undefendable, in a magical world, such as Celandra, balancing humans against a hostile paranature, or, rather, those aspects of paranature which are hostile. This doesn't include human magic for the same reason that rohain don't gain healing abilities; such things are available elsewhere. It does allow rohain to defeat the abilities of paranatural creatures that aren't human. Thus it is the _essential nature_ of the rohain to be able to damage the paranaturally invulnerable, including spirits like the eerith. However, capability and performance are two different things. A man with a spear may have the _capability_ of killing a tiger, but in a fight I'd still bet on the tiger. However, the reason I made this comment was the fact that this ability seems to be unique to rohain on Celandra. What would the eerith make of such a realization? (What would an intelligent tiger or elephant make of the realization that those newly invented pointy sticks could damage it?) >>>Also, have the eerith assigned an advisor to Exquaestio? If so, what >>>is the form of that contact? >> >>I think it goes the other way. You have to ask for one. The Ka'Shari, >>for example, haven't made any effort to do so, although they may. I'd >>expect the contact to appear human. > >Exactly so. In point of fact, many Eerith advisors actually are human >(ex-Shanari or refugees). Ah. Of course. >Telling which are which is nigh unto impossible and they switch around >alot. As far as I know, Exquaestio has not requested an advisor. No they haven't. However, since most (if not all) of the Free Cities have one, how would a missionary go about approaching an eerith advisor in one of those places? How do such advisors operate? Jefferson (Exquaestio) http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
