I find myself contemplating the idea of subjective auras. So for example where you find Aesir you might have the standard magus detecting a faerie aura but Merinita mages or followers of Norse traditions would detect a magic aura. this could work well for dominion as well, where an intolerant crusader would detect an Islamic based aura as infernal, and the Jihadist would detect a Christian based one as infernal, and use the realm interaction charts according to how the affected perceive them...
Hi,
Perhaps I have not sufficiently communicated that I overall, I very much like what AM5 has done with the Realms. Yes, creative and useful.
But un-intuitive deviation from a commonly accepted definition is usually very good, in the sense that redefining Unlimited to mean "limited to 10GB" is very good, or redefining 10 to mean 4, or "if" to mean "while," or bananas to mean "animals that are cute and furry," or "free" to mean "you have to pay for another item, then pay a processing fee, a shipping fee, and we reserve the right to give you another item," or "stable condition" to mean "dead." Sometimes tweaking a word and investigating alternative perspectives is useful and enlightening, but it is always confusing, at least until the new cult member absorbs the new vocabulary and "gets it."
In this case, I would say that both are true. Sometimes that's the price one must pay, as when one learns that the standard English semantics of "or" is technically incorrect.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
For a long time, I have been a fan of "micro-Auras," because any Aura derives from specific circumstances. Saying that the deep Sahara has a Magic or Faerie Aura characterizes the place less well, I believe, than giving it an Aura that crushes anything that mitigates heat or promotes water, and trivializes evaporation, dehydration and heat.
I have similarly been a fan of "micro-sponsors," in the sense that my Sense Holiness/Unholiness might not work the same as yours.... based on the source of the virtue.
I even like the idea that there are different ways of perceiving the world. But I really, really dislike the idea that it is personal belief that drives all this. I greatly prefer the exact opposite: Using your example, a well-intentioned Crusader becomes intolerant of Islam because his SH/U tells him "infernal" rather than "intolerant guy gets an intolerant version of SH/U." My version creates vastly more interesting situations, I think, more similar to the real world, more conducive to great tragedy as well-intentioned people gird themselves to commit atrocity in the name of what they really believe to be the greater good, and even more conducive to powerful stories of enlightenment, as such people have to overcome their perceptions to see another truth.
But....
As for Auras associated with the Aesir, I could definitely see that these places should boost Rune Magic... but both for game balance and (more importantly) for verisimilitude, if one does this then Rune Magic ought to be penalized in places it does not belong, such as an Olympian Aura.
In a sense, I like to see Aura/Power interactions as a kind of correspondence: If something "belongs" it is enhanced, but if it out of place, it is penalized. I think this should be especially true of non-Magic Auras (faerie, divine and infernal: the Realms that are closely associated with a mythology, very much including the Aesir.)
Anyway,
Ken
A book that sheds some light one these things is The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It is not an easy read but does show how various tales spawn arch-type heroes and stories. I think I read it about the same time that RoP:F came out and thought it fit well.
To lock into a set description for fairytales does RoP:F a disservice. Campbell's book shows that a lot of the tales are very similar across the ages. Given that if you think of Faeries as simply telling a story to get attention rather than focus on the Tinkerbell aspect then a lot opens up that the SG can do. After RoP:F came out I realized that every single adventure in Ars could be a "faerie tale". A noble that challenges a Covenant's land rights. A master criminal/highwayman that plagues an area.
The real tripping points are the realms and their interactions.
I honestly don't mind establishing the Titanomachy as a setting element, even if it's not Medieval Europe. Mythic Europe is always going to have some differences from our history - even in ArM5, there are some historical characters who have been explicitly declared infernalists (or where their infernalism is, at least, available as a story hook - and of course, deciding what heresies of Christianity are Divine and which are Infernal is even messier than Magic/Faerie distinctions!). And as you get farther from commoners, Mythic Europe will have weirder underpinnings.
So I'm okay with Odin being, ultimately, a Faerie being who exists to interact with humans*. But he needs to be able to use something akin to RM, as well as being able to open it to humans. Hence my suggestion above to allow Faeries to meddle with Magic powers under the right circumstances (and vice versa) - while Odin is a creature of story, part of his story involves teaching the secrets of Magic to humanity.
*I'm gonna have to get LotN before I make a call on Mercury. My gut feeling is that there is a Daimonic Mercury, which may have once been a faerie. May need to write up a fanon article on the related cosmology.
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