| "It is possible to achieve a glimpse of the Mystic Essence without
having been properly prepared. Under extraordinary conditions this
can result in the unintentional replacement of the belief system with the
Mystical. Such a state is called illumination.
"In the Lunar Empire some people accidentally achieve this state through practice of the all-inclusive Lunar Mysteries. The individual usually undergoes mental, physical, and/or moral degeneration due to the shock." "Very few unprepared individuals last long under this mixture of terror and opportunity. Some seize the moment and become heroes, most die, and a rare few become dark masters who must be opposed." HeroWars, Roleplaying in Glorantha |
(Note: I am using the HeroWars convention of describing the GM as "she" and the player as "he".)
Characters in the Lions of Rhugandy campaign can aquire the mental ability of Nysalorian Riddles. Through the contemplation of Nysalorian Riddles a character can gain the magical ability of Illumination. The Nysalorian Riddles ability describes the knowledge of certain paradoxes which help a person become Illuminated. If the character becomes Illuminated, the Illumination ability rating starts at the base for a new HeroWars ability (13). The Illumination ability is then pitted against the character's other abilities to gain benefits as appropriate.
What is Illumination?
In the mystic traditions, the principal goal of students is to become
enlightened. Enlightenment is discribed variously as becomming one
with the the universe, or transcending it, depending on the student's mystical
liniage. This process can be discribed as an attempt to refute the student's
fundamental world view, and reveal the true nature of reality. Students
of the mystic traditions train diligently for the moment of enlightenment,
and are emotionally and philosophically prepared. The experience
is typically one of bliss and transcendent wisdom. Without that preparation,
the experience can be truly devastating.
Nysalorian Illumination is a sudden and shocking experience. It undermines the character's previous belief system (and empowers him to ignore it), offering nothing as a replacement. It does not reveal what is, only what is not. Frequently, Illuminates degenerate into nihilism. "Everything is relative, and ultimately isn't even real, so nothing matters - I can do what I please!" The Illuminate has lost his footing in the world. It is difficult for him to think in the old way, so he is prone to mistakes and verbal slips that seem crass or downright blasphemous to non-Illuminates.
The insight is also deeply disturbing to the Illuminate, who tends to seek a replacement spiritual "safety blanket". If lucky, the Illuminate will find a genuine mystical tradition and achieve balance. Otherwise, the Illuminate will latch onto the first thing that comes along promising to provide stable ground. The Illuminate tends to become a fanatic - nothing matters but this new Way. Some Illuminates will hang onto a bad idea to the death, while others will abandon belief after belief regardless of its merit. They have a spiritual hunger that is impossible to satisfy. Either way, the Illuminate can't help but twist any new doctrine to meet personal needs. At a deep and often unconscious level, they have a contempt for rules, traditions, and social conventions. Thus you have the Illuminated "healers" that secretly inflicted disease on the people of Seshnela in order to win their trust.
Why does the Lunar Empire revere Illumination? They view it as a strong sign of mystical talent, and quickly recruit such individuals into the Lunar Mysteries. Safely on the Path, these people often go on to become Heroes of the Lunar Way. Despite the popular view outside the Empire, rogue Illuminates are not allowed within the Empire and are vigorously suppressed. Dangerous rogue Illuminates are tracked down and neutralized by agents of the Empire, and are disposed of as quietly as possible - along with any witnesses. The Lunar agents strive not only to protect the public from harm, but to preserve the reputation of mystical practice in general and Illumination in particular.
The Rules:
Basic Illumination occurs when the player wins an opposed contest between
the character's Illumination ability and the strength of his or
her current world view. In essence, the player is pitting his character
against itself. The character's current world view is represented
by a rating of 10W3. As in other HeroWars contests, Illumination
can be depicted as a simple or extended contest depending on narrative
requirements. Appropriate augmentation, bonuses, or penalties could
be applied as well. Any level of success (ie marginal) indicates
Illumination.
Example: Feloran learns a new Riddle from Master Vostus, and must enter an Illumination contest. Master Vostus assists him an augment of 6 points, and Feloran rolls his Mystically Talented ability for another 3pt augment. Feloran has a Nysalorian Riddles ability rating of 5W1 (now adjusted to 14W1). His single level of mastery in Nysalorian Riddles cancels one of his World View masteries, making the contest a 14W0 vs 10W2 - still pretty nasty. He chooses to burn a Hero Point for a bump, succeeds with a 13 that bunps to a critical. The GM rolls a 15, which fails but bumps to a critical because of the difference in masteries. The result is a tie, which means that Feloran succeeds due to his lower roll (13 vs 15). He has become Illuminated - if barely.Once Illuminated, a player may use his character's Illumination ability rating (as a mystical Refute ability) in a wide range of situations. Examples are breaking a social custom (resisted by the appropriate cultural ability), religious taboo (piety), or resisting a passion (love, hate, ect). Unfortunately, the GM may also call upon the player to enter such contest against his will.
Example: "Feloran, secretly Illuminated, is participating in a cult ritual. He has been fasting for several days, consuming nothing but water. Sitting on the alter is an offering bowl full of apples. He knows snacking on an apple would be a bad idea, but..." The GM asks the player to enter an opposed contest between his piety (17 with a penalty of 3 for hunger) and his Illumination ability. He chooses to augment his piety with his Strong Will ability (1W). Gritting his teeth, he picks up the dice...Occasionally, an Illuminate will decide that his dilemma stems from an incomplete or weak Illumnination experience. Further steps up the ladder of Illumination are possible, and a dedicated Illuminate will sometimes strive to pass these barriers and find Ultimate Truth. Unfortunately, the path of Illumination does not reveal Truth - it only refutes that which is not Truth. Thus, achieving deeper levels of Illumination only compounds the Illuminate's problem while granting him increased power over the mundane world.
The second level of Illumination (barrier rating 10W6) allows the character
to actually affect the world (as mystic Strikes) - teleporting,
walking through walls, and so forth, depending on the character's most
deeply held desire. Unfortunately, the Illuminate is also virtually
consumed by the negative aspects of his mystical insight. His negative
power weakens the fabric of the world, and often becomes the focal point
for Chaos and evil. If he doesn't quickly find a genuine mystical
path, he will become a fiend that must be tracked down and destroyed.
The final level of Illumination (barrier rating 10W9) removes the character
from play. The Illuminate has refuted the world completely, and becomes
consumed by despair and mystical craving. The character has become
a living nexus of Chaos and must be opposed at all cost.
| Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 21:21:05 +1300
From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph@bigfoot.com> Subject: Illumination Ian Thomson: >I'm interested in anyone's knowledge of how to incorporate Illumination into HW I've already posted the below to the HW-rules list. Some additional comments have been inserted based on responses therein. Becoming illuminated is pretty much like the old way - through the study of Paradoxes formulated as cryptic riddles. Hence I would suggest that illuminates have a skill called Nysaloran Riddles that denotes their knowledge of various Nysaloran Paradoxes. There are other paths to mystical awareness in the Empire that are known as Illumination, in particular the Lunar Mysteries and the White Sun Lords (Yelmic mysticism). But these are much closer to traditional mystical paths or worship of enlightened deities, than the HW description of Illumination. Most people in the Empire would (IMO) see Nysaloran Riddles as a road to mystical consciousness. Even Lunars see nothing wrong in doing so because they know that their goddess was illuminated and that studying Riddles would make help them reach their destination much quicker. Think of it as a fringe practice on the outskirts of normal religion or even as a self-help course. Unless one is a proclaimed Riddler, illuminates and wannabes look like other Pelorians from all walks of life with their extra-curricular activities known to their friends or perhaps not even them. There is a cult known as the Order of Day which is regarded as the official vessel of Nysaloran wisdom. Although its adherents ask riddles in the market square. I believe it uses this as a hook to get people involved on its own mystical practices rather than making illuminates while the Sun shines. The Lunar religious authorities are complicit in this for they believe that Nysaloran Riddles are too dangerous for most people. To delve further into this, I'll suppose I will have to explain my understanding of various concepts of the HW mysticism rules. What the rules call a Counter is actually equivalent to the realized Buddha nature or Awakened Draconic Self. What is described as being the secret of the Taraltara cult is actually the equivalent of Nirvana and the mystic achieves this through repeated refutation of the world. Orthodox mystics can get into Nirvana/Vithalash/Summerland Heaven/etc alone by their Counter since it is thorough, while the manifest mystics are forced to acknowledge the world because their counter is at some level incomplete. To achieve their version of Nirvana, Manifest Mystics have to acknowledge the mystical reality of the world in some way as a crutch to help them into Nirvana. This appears in the HW rules as a Strike. What this actually is (IMO) is a Cosmic Truth that affirms the World's (and other people's) existence. An example of the Truth behind a strike might be "Everybody has Cosmic Dragon Nature". While a Strike is meant to be used as a constructive engagement with the world, it can be used to manifest mystical reality upon the unprepared and so appear to the vulgar as a magical tool for kicking the shit out of people. Illumination is described in the rules as an unintentional replacement of one's belief system with the mystical. What I think the situation is that illumination is a profound Cosmic Truth/Strike that has become divorced from any stabilizing Mystical Philosophy/Counter. Becoming Illuminated is probably a contest between one's riddle knowledge and the cosmos (the barrier might be 2W or something) resolved at appropriate times (in RQ3, this was during the sacred time but it could happen on other occasions). Success means that you gain an illumination 'strike' and can improve it. As a result of being illuminated, you achieve the realization that everybody is wrong. Real mystics view illuminates as cursed because they don't know how to refute these lies to find Nirvana. Instead the illuminates have a desire to find something... anything! that will stabilize their insight or else become insane. In HW terms, stabilization will mean they have to find or develop some sort of philosophy/counter. One could learn this from the Lunar Mysteries or the Order of Day but those philosophies will not mesh very well (IMO) with the Illumination and there still is some risk of derangement. The best philosophy was, of course, Nysalor's but he's gone. Although the Lunars say they are Illuminates, their sevenfold path is structured that they achieve mystical consciousness with their balance intact - the same balance that has been disrupted by Nysaloran Illumination. Perhaps the best way for an Illuminate to achieve balance is to observe the spiritual bewilderment in other illuminates and realize that he's far from alone and that this is a true thing. He then begins to asks riddles of others so he could follow their searchings and draw comfort from it. Doesn't actually start him on the road to Nirvana but he's safe. As for other abilities, I assume that illuminates still have the capacity to join multiple cults and the like to learn their powers (but do not have to devote their attention for theistic cults etc) but they are prevented from learning the secrets (and vice versa, people who learn secrets cannot become illuminated via Nysaloran Riddles because they are already connected to the mystic realm - I'm basing this on the fourth paragraph of HW:RiG p166). IMO the classical illuminate abilities are obtainable from the illumination 'strike' rather than from any counter. I don't think it's a matter of simply joining a cult and unloading the freebie feats into your shopping cart without being unmasked by the temple authorities, but applying your illumination to the magical abilities or philosophical issues to see if it's true or not. Thus an illuminate might use his illumination to find out whether his cult's spirit of reprisal is something to be feared or not. If he wins (pitting his illumination against his fear of the spirit which is perhaps equal to the spirit's might), he will find out that he has lost all fear of it. (If he loses, he lose the usual points of his illumination HW:RiG p225). For a magical ability, the question might be whether the power truly comes from his god or not. These questions are tested through a period of personal meditation. I do not see the illuminate abilities as being teachable although a riddler could set another illuminate off on a train of thought to arrive at certain powers. There was a comment in a draft about how illuminates could do HQ challenges in the mundane world but it wasn't developed and I don't know the reasoning behind it - it might even be completely wrong. >Specifically I'd like advice on how to create Illuminated Lunar badguys for a couple of scenarios that I'm involved in It depends on whether you want them to be dark illuminates or just plain crazed. Bad mystics have destroyed their realized great self (IMO this is their philosophy/counter) for worldly power and this is something that an illuminate could stumble into, while crazed illuminates are more deranged than purposely evil (they can act rationally, they have just lost their moral balance such that they can no longer be certain whether it is still evil to eat babies). The difference between the two is this: Falling into the Dark Side is described in Cults of Terror as drawing the false conclusion that there is no difference between one's personal ethics and desires (it's not simply a matter of voicing this opinion, one has to truly believe it), while a crazed illuminate might still think there is such a difference but be deluded enough to think his actions are purposeful. Becoming a dark illuminate would require an illuminate to use his illumination against his unrealized Great Self in considering the question of his desires and ethics. There's no warning to the illuminate saying that this is a bad thing he's doing to himself and tragically he might become a dark master without ever comprehending the existence of Nirvana. IMO this struggle is not like other contests in which the illuminate considers a question and resolves it. It is much harder as the object of his attention is still inchoate and unrealized. However if an illuminate does not discover some meaningful philosophy to partially stabilize him, he will soon exhaust all other possibilities and begin to storm the walls of his own soul. You might consider giving Dark Illuminates a 'strike' (at the strength of his illumination) to reflect their realization of this false truth. It should be a manifestation of a deeply rooted desire of theirs and at the same time twisted enough to give people a scare. Hence if a Dark Illuminate wants to live forever, then he might have the ability to steal life from another. If he lusts after knowledge, then he could steal part of somebody else's skills and add a fraction of that onto his own. If wealth is desired, then he can cheat people in a trade. He could also like hurting people, but designing a twisted strike around that shouldn't be too hard. These strikes shouldn't be teachable to other dark illuminates as they are really manifestations of the dark illuminate's own desires. - --Peter Metcalfe |
| Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 00:18:09 GMT
From: mikec@room3b.demon.co.uk (Michael Cule) Subject: Illumination: another personal view. Ashley Munday gives us one view of Illumination > Forget all this mystical cock about Illumination (like it being some
transcendental watchamacallit). Think of Illumination as being the
Yes, but..... People need the structure and meaning that socially supported beliefs (even the most poisonous and ridiculous) give them. Find yourself discovering that the things you've believed all your life 'ain't necessarily so' and you'll like as not run for the cover of another set of beliefs just as poisonous and ridiculous. An Illuminate has become in the literal sense amoral. He no longer is confined by the mores of his culture. He has seen beyond them and knows them to be inadequate. If he does not find a code of his own that he can use to make his life make sense, if he cannot become an ethical being then he will most likely become a monster. I found this (in a Jerry Pournelle book) the other week and immediately thought of Gloranthan Illumination. It's about a pupil of Socrates. "When a man is freed from the bonds of dogma and custom, where will he run? He has gotten loose, of the soul, if you like the word, or from whatever keeps a man on two feet instead of on four. And now Kritias too is running on the mountain, with no more between him and his will than a wolf has." Or to quote the old Zen proverb: "He who acheives supreme Illumination is like an arrow flying straight to hell." - --
Actor And Genius
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