Here's my two cents. Mind you, this is merely opinion, not gospel . . . hrm, no joke intended. --- RulingNations@aol.com wrote: > I'd like some opinions on the following: > > There is little sense of community or common cause among the gods of > Celandra. In their own little sections of the Dreaming each is > supreme > and independent, and that carries over into their dealings with each > other in the world. Each cult is highly independent, and, while > temporary alliances and distinct boundaries do exist, each cult > competes > with all others trying to make itself supreme and the only cult. This > creates the situation where we have cults dedicated to single deities > in > an area dominant over many small cults. Thus, we cannot speak of the > "pantheons" in the sense of related gods. The "gods of Parglug" are > NOT > a related set of gods, but simply those gods worshipped individually > by > the people who call themselves Parglug. I would disagree here. The cults of the various gods are, in general, not out to become the One True Church, and the reason lies in one of the basic Laws of the Universe. The gods and their priests use Authority magic, not Material Essence. The Mages of Mir use both Authority and Essence magic, but rarely if ever draw on Authority directly from a god; they see the necessary sacrifices and requirements for dealing with a god to be too difficult. When the Mir draw on Authority magic, they usually do their bargaining with what we would call spirits, angels, daemons(in the classical Greek sense), devils, or oni, beings which are several steps down the pyramid from the gods. In any event, a god cannot give its priests and/or worshippers the power to affect things that the god has no authority over. Using Lucia as an example, her priests and priestesses may create light(which may be used to temporarily blind enemies), detect intentional falsehoods, compel a person to speak truthfully, recall any information after a mere glance, heal mental illnesses, and punish wrongdoers in a just manner(often by forcing the wrongdoer to confront his or her long-buried conscience). However, Lucians can not use their light to burn(Lucia has no Authority over heat or fire); can not heal the body; and possess no power over plants, animals, water, earth, air, or anything else, for that matter. A cult of a single god cannot convincingly claim to be the One True Church when its patron has no Authority over large areas of the Universe. Why, then, one may ask, do the gods not try to take one another's Authority, leading to consolidation, and a single religion. The answer lies in the history of the Eerith and the Abomination Alatta. For a priest to use his god's Authority to perform magic requires the god's consent, which is usually contingent on the priest's adherence to certain rules. The taking of Authority without consent, the stealing or usurpation of Authority, never ends well for the thief. The gods are jealous of their Authority; while each god tends to be very focused on their areas of Authority, they will always unite against a Being who tries to take Authority from one of their number. How does this affect the relations between cults on Celandra? Ironically, some of the worst strife is between cults who worship the same Being, but under different names or with different doctrine, but this sort of behavior is purely human. Cults whose patrons cover areas that are in opposition to each other tend not to get along. Demerhaze and Lucia are a classic example. Some cults are close in relationship; the farmers who worship Arrumanthus also worship Marmdal, who can send drought or flood if ignored, but can also send good weather if asked nicely. Worship of one deity does not exclude the worship of all other deities, only certain others. Many cultures have religions with pantheons of gods, such as the Kasovians and the Cedonians. However, the relationships between the gods in those pantheons are not necessarily reflective of the true state of affairs in the Dreaming. Most of the gods recognize the fact that they need each other and that involuntary consolidation is Not A Good Thing For Anyone. > HOWEVER, (and a big however it is), there are two factors currently > in > operation to reverse this attitude. First, upon the continent of > Qaiyore, there is a strong current towards monotheism. Historically, > every god would like to have itself seen as "the one true god." > However > the end of this tendency can be seen in a belief which ends up > cutting > out _all_ of the gods of the Dreaming in favor of a philosophical or > impersonal unity. (And eventually identifying all the gods as > demonic, > though _that_ trend has barely started.) I disagree. Monotheism is not a natural belief system or mode of thought for settled agricultural societies such as those found in the MidSea. It is, however, almost universal that pastoral nomads in tribal societies(like the Sinari) are monotheist, calling all other gods than their tribal god as "demons". To someone from Cedonia or Torphan or Tanimbar, the notion of a single god is bizarre. A mage from Mir who has worked with the Dreaming would go one step farther, and call the notion of Monotheism illogical. And the Vra'al and Eerith, who are from the Dreaming, would probably not understand the concept, or at least not to any depth. Also, there's no need for a god who is a purely philosophic concept when the real gods provide proof of their existence. > Second is the fact that powers from _outside_ Celandra's dreaming > have > begun to appear. (Juuso identified Feroze as being such an entity.) > Many > of these outsiders are both organized and hostile, and must be met > with > organization if the entities are to maintain their dominance. No argument with that. > These two factors combine to create a situation where the deities > need > to change past practices. Those who can cooperate and find common > ground > will survive, while those who continue to act on their own will fall > from power. True, but as I said, in my opinion, the gods already know that cooperation is a good thing. While each Being may be supreme on their home ground in the Dreaming, the nature of Authority and the Rules that the Creator and Shaper imposed on Celandra prevent any one Being from becoming supreme there. Andrew. > (So, what do people think?) > > Jefferson (Exquaestio) > http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
