| From: | chimerae@***.ie chimerae@***.ie |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Spirit of the land and it's people |
| Date: | Sun, 18 Jul 1999 20:02:24 +0100 |
> This is very different from an invasion of a region by people wholey not
> from that region and with no historical connection to it. This is still
> Europeans warring internally. So the land is not having it's kind
> displaced in the same way that could be said of the British invasion of
> Australia.
Are you trying to explain a Shadowrun phenomenon or is this a
personal theory? I assume it's the latter from reading the other
mails in the thread, but correct me if I'm wrong. This whole mail can
be seen as a big IMHO, and I just theorize, and do not necessarily
believe in this.
First there are no Europeans. Europe is the name of a continent and
even that is pushing it. It's like saying that the Americas are
culturally homogeneous. But enough about that, there's another mail
dealing with that.
First a few assumptions that form the basis of this discussion:
1. The Spirit of the Land (I think I abbreviate that to SoL) would be
all over the world.
2. The people living on that land can bond with it.
Items that are open for discussion/unclear/different depending on
your point of view:
1. The land forms a bond with the people that bond with it. The logic
behind this one could be that there is a form of symbiosis between
the two, that dissipates the more the people abuse the land and is
non existent if no one bonds with it. But it could also bond with the
people living on it without there being a two way bond. Why would it
need humans to initiate this bond? Or is the bond created over time
as the people on it live in harmony with it? Is the bond created by
worship (a very important point IMO) ?
2. There are multiple SoLs, each linked (formed by?) to a cultural
group bonded with it. Why would this be the case; is the
individuality of the SoL created by the bond? Are there geographical
boundaries between different SoLs and if so, would it be continental,
or based on smaller geographical features? Could this be like spirit
domains but on a bigger scale, could a hierarchical structure exist
that goes all the way up to the spirit of the whole world (universe)?
Okay now lets look at your examples:
a. Some groups of Native Americans bond with the land for a long
time, but get killed, or displaced by new groups of people (coming
from a different continent) who don't have a bond with the land nor
can they be bothered. In most scenarios the SoL would be annoyed.
b. The French Celts (grouped together for the sake of convenience)
where mostly conquered by the Romans (except for one small village...
:). The Romans didn't kill or displace the people, but they did
destroy druids where ever they could find them. So did this destroy
the Celts' bond with the SoL? Hard to say, possibly it destroyed over
time the means for the common Celt to bond wit the land because the
knowledge was gone. Would the SoL be angry? Again hard to say. It
could angry at the Celts for losing contact with it, or if it can
differentiate on that level at the Romans for killing its priest.
c. The crusade of the German Order against the pagan tribes living
around the Baltic sea wiped out a considerable percentage of the
indigenous population. The SoL would certainly lose contact with its
people there. Why would it not be as annoyed as the SoL of the Native
Americans? The fact that those knights came from the same continent,
and not too far away from its circle of influence? I personally fail
to see the logic there. Loss of contact would be a far more logical
reason than origins of invaders.
> This is why I say that places like Australia and the USA would have a lot
> of magical energy affoot in them. The land is disturbed there. It's native
> people have been removed. It's children are gone. What's replaced them is
> in no way similar to what it knows. It is angry.
When you look at the earth as a whole and throughout history groups
of people have been moving around/been wiped out forever. Why would
it matter much more because it happened in Australia and the USA? I
can imagine the SoL there being on the side of the indigenous
populations, simply because it could link to them and the others
treat the SoL with disrespect, but it would apply to far more places
than those two.
> The Carribean would have some of this as well. A little less anger though.
> The blacks who replaced the europeans who had replaced the natives are
> close in spirit to the natives and are not themselves the agressors
> responsibile. There would be energy there in the land seeking it's lost
> children, but not in anger at those who have come.
Right, it would just be selectively angry at the children of oh lets
say Spanish, English, Dutch, French and Portuguese ancestry. IMO the
SoL would not be angry there because some of the people who replaced
the natives created their own link to the SoL. Theoretical question:
what would the SoL do/feel when these people in their turn get
replaced? Following your scenario the whole earth would hate us,
because we can't sit still and keep moving, replacing, and killing.
Possibly it likes the animals a lot better than us...
Just some food for thought,
Martin Steffens
chimerae@***.ie
