Ali the Helering

15 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

what I meant is that choosing a god (among your cultural pantheon) because its utility Or because it is your god's profession is exactly the same

if it is the god's profession it is because the god is very good (if not the best) in the profession so it is useful for you, professional

I am afraid I have to disagree.  It is a matter of intentionality - am I doing this to benefit me, or because it is the appropriate thing to do?

It is made of iron, so I would expect no Darkness Rune.....

27 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

I m not sure that carpenters will follow the god of carpenters if it is known that this god is unable to work wood (so unable to bless wood workers).

I really don't see how such a being could become that god

An implicit problem with RPG religions is that we tend to approach them from the point of view of utility - a cynical rather than faithful approach.  People in the ancient RW generally became members of the city and nation cults so that they indicated who they were, and so that they could uphold the social structures that defended them. Merchants don't worship Issaries/Etyries/Lokarnos for utility, but because they are the gods of their profession.

I don't think that there would be very many Raibanthi doors opened to someone asking "Have you heard the good news about Antirius?" or "Have you invited Krarsht into YOUR life?"  The Seven Mothers missionaries are more about societal change than they are about changing an individual's convictions.

Just now, scott-martin said:

It's like Vegas . . . since everything is flown in, everything in the world is available and it is of relatively high quality for the price point. The Ingillis have worked out a secret magical system where black cod from Feroda get sent back up to the docks and distributed to the fry stalls or turned into hand rolls if you know the right people and show up on the right day. I can't vouch for the chips though.

But.... the mushy peas?  What of the mushy peas?

I think that we are missing the krjalki element within this discussion.  Mr Potato Head or Solanum tuberosum pocharngum as the God Learners defined it. 🙃

I would see him as Death in potentia as opposed to Humakt in actus.

1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

I’m not sure anyone has bothered studying what happens to a rider when their mount loses a limb.

I can't help but imagine that they would be far less likely to be trapped under said mount if they aren't using stirrups, but I don't follow horse racing either!

2 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

I think we've generally strayed far enough from the OP topic, and discussion of Tolkien should be taken to a different thread at this point.

Sounds good to me, but I won't be bothering!  🙃

4 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

Is it not rather something people love to argue about? Adam Roberts (here) would seem to fall into the camp that finds against Tolkien, and some defences of Tolkien have it that his dwarfs were not always and were never in all ways to be read as Jews, for example Renée Vink (here — needs access to Muse).

Some people will argue about anything.  Roberts admits that his interpretations differ entirely from Tolkien's understandings, and Vink that she is reading back motivations into Tolkien's writings that are hers and not his.

This hardly encourages me to view either of them as authorities on the subject of his racial inspirations.

4 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

I am neither a fan nor a scholar — for me, LotR was unreadable — so I couldn’t comment, but some things are simple:

• No more Jewish dwarfs — enough already!
• “Positive” stereotypes are cringeworthy, too.
• The Jewish–Scottish switch fools no one. In the words of Arnold Brown, “I am Scottish and Jewish — two stereotypes for the price of one.”
• “Less anti-Semitic than Wagner” is not something to put on one’s CV.

I rather think that you are, in fact, commenting!

Tolkien's racial stereotyping, his colonialism, his imperialism, and his love for a non-existent pre-industrial idyll are all the result of his time and upbringing.  Regrettable, but so it was.

As for some things being simple, I think one can do no better than to turn to the towering genius H L Mencken, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

The adventure to the Dwarf to get a mechanical leg for your x.

Automated pogo-sticks, anyone?

Awww... still cute and deadly😀

6 hours ago, g33k said:

Default / generic / LOTR-style dwarves are programmed Scottish,

It is largely accepted that JRRT's dwarves were a pro-Jewish image, a countering of the Wagnerian negative images

Mark 13: 33

A fine woman of imagination and style 😢

5 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

About theology students?  Buncha nerds.  But that's hardly news.

 

You try and persuade a bunch of conservative evangelical fundamentalists to join together in reciting the 'wrong' Nicene Creed!

Some of us are truly ancient grognards and not getting any younger....  It was hysterical to play with other theology students when it first came out, so, any news?

19 minutes ago, Darius West said:

I have always assumed Mostali were really Flat Effect deadpan, technical, numerical, monotone.   

Characterisation is futile

On 4/22/2023 at 12:25 PM, Erol of Backford said:

Since we are so programed to think of dwarves as real world Irish or Scottish

Personally I have always gone with the Borg.

10 hours ago, Jeff said:

Ho ho. If I follow this approach, I'd say that Dara Happa has been the dominant hegemonic power in Peloria for about 11 out of the last 14 centuries. 

Or, at least, that is the story as they tell it in the here and now.  GRoY and FS indicate massive internal strife and divisions at various stages, even with both of those documents emerging as propogandist imperial doctrine.

'Dominant' is a bit difficult to justify given the power of Spolism, Draconism, Nysalor, Sheng Seleris, Rinliddi, the Hyalorings, and the strife within the Tripolis and between city and countryside, as well as a new Celestial but markedly non-Solar (in her present form) God-of-Rule to name but some of the issues they have faced and are facing.  I think 'most prominent' is as far as one could realistically go.

31 minutes ago, MOB said:

An implicit reason here is that to enter for the Garhound Contest contestants must be an initiate of one of Ernalda's Husband Protector deities, and children at eight years old typically are not initiates. 

Yes, but that is why I noted that he was exceptional.

1 hour ago, AndreJarosch said:

The problem is not the age, but where he lived in 1604. By that time he was still living in the Starfire Ridges in Sartar. 
He had to flee to Prax (and the River of Cradles) after his inititiation, which is clearly later than 1604. 

Aah - thanks and sorry for misundertanding, but.... which of the many Argraths?  That could seriously complicate matters, wouldn't you say?

On 1/5/2024 at 9:44 AM, MOB said:

Yes, obviously typo for 1614. Any future reprinting of Sun County will certainly show that correction.

UNICEF state that, while on the decrease, male child marriages occur at one-sixth the rate of female.  There is no implicit reason why Argrath (an exceptional figured in any case) should not have been married at 8. 

57 minutes ago, soltakss said:

The local pigs used to root around the houses, looking for goodies. The toilets were just holes in a small room in the hut, with the waste falling on the ground below the huts. Sometimes, the pigs got a bit eager. "What is the weirdest sexual experience you have ever had?" "Well, I was having a crap and this big, long tongue comes through the hole and ..."

My parents were missionaries back in the 60s in Myanmar.  He described one missionary who was sent back to the UK because he couldn't cope with fighting off wild pigs eager for food while his trousers were round his ankles.🤣

3 hours ago, Bohemond said:

Speaking as a professional historian--every author of a document believes that the story they have to tell is the story of the good guys. Even the Nazis were convinced that they were the good guys and that the atrocities they were committed were necessary to improve their society. Even when an author is flat out lying, they always think they have a good reason to lie--serving some higher cause or obscuring the blot on the record of their hero or whatever. What Greg did was to take that to a mythic level, so that every pantheon valorizes itself and vilifies its enemies. 

Speaking as a professional mythologian - yep!  Greg's genius was presenting rival religions in an arrogant and self-righteous manner, totally unlike the faiths of the Real World.

😇😁🤣