[UA] Demourgy: GM comments

[Peter Hindman]

   OK, as promised (if not requested), my own comments on this school,
plus notes on the eeeeeevil distortions I've wrought upon it.  I should
say up front that a lot of what I've done is strongly reminiscent of
Cryptomancy.  Bryant Durrell can testify that I'd already worked out most
of it months before PoMoMa came out, however.
   I am, unsurprisingly, strongly interested in comments, particularly on
the historical aspects of the school.

>                    Demourgy
> The Magic of Democracy and the People (Democracy-based
> magick)
>                by Sean Holland

>      History: Although some practitioners of Demourgy
> attempt to trace it back to classical Athens and early Republican
> Rome, this school is a child of the Enlightenment.

   The reality in my game is a lot more complicated.

   There indeed was a school of Democracy-magick in classical Athens,
which I'll refer to as proto-Demourgy.  It emerged during the golden age
of Greek philosophy.  (Now that I've read the writeup on Cryptomancy, I
see it as having arisen as a semi-secular counter to proto-Cryptomancy,
which at that point would already have been showing its age; at the same
time, it had roots in a mystery cult of Athena, so it shared antecedents
with Cryptomancy.)

   The proto-Demourgic tradition collapsed after Rome conquered Greece.
Like many other schools, it went 'underground' and metamorphosed back into
a mystery cult.  The next thousand-odd years of development are lost.  An
actual thread of master and student may have been maintained, but it seems
more likely that writings or ideas were lost and rediscovered more than
once.  We will discuss Demourgy as if it were persistent in some form or
other.  Just keep in mind that it probably wasn't.  Regardless, under the
pressure of the transformation, the 'tradition' shattered into two main
lines.  In the modern day, these are the American and European traditions,
but until recently they were the Northern and Southern traditions.

   The Southern Demourgist school descended from the proto-Demourges who
stayed close to the Mediterranean; the ones who kept the mystery-cult of
Athena alive and spread it to Rome, south France, and Spain.  It is likely
that Demourgy itself either was dead to this group, or at best very
different from its classical or modern forms.

   The Northern Demourgist school descended from the proto-Demourges who
went north.  It has a better claim to continuity; its strongholds during
the Dark Ages were Ireland and Iceland, where it found some support in
their pre-feudal social structures.  (The political structure of Dark Ages
Ireland, in particular, is quite interesting as a sort of democratic
anarchism that managed to have a system of laws and courts without a
central authority.)

   The Southern Demourgist school didn't re-appear until late in the
Renaissance; at this time, it was strongly involved with early Masonic
groups (which gives some support to the idea that its ties to the original
were mostly mythical).

   The Northern school was also involved with Masonic groups; by the 17th
century its center of power (insofar as it had any, which is to say it
didn't) was in Scotland, where it may have had some influence on the
emergence of Scotland's political philosophers in the next few centuries.
Likewise, the Southern school experienced a resurgence in France during
the Enlightenment.  The mutual Masonic connection may have led to some
exchange of knowledge, helping both schools.  However, the Northern school
faded away even as the Southern school experienced a resurgence...

>  The
> Demourgic tradition began in the late enlightenment in France
> and was invigorated by the success of the America Revolution. 

   Sean's writeup more or less accurately discusses the recent history of
the Southern Demourgists.

>      (Option One: Spain was the graveyard of Demourgy, since
> 1938 Demourgic Magick simply does not work any more.  This is
> the option used in the current campaign that I am playing a
> Demourgist in.)

   To annotate the above:  By the 20th century, Southern Demourgy was
firmly entwined with the political 'left'; their concept of Democracy was
a populist-socialist one, and almost all the Southern Demourgists left by
the '30s died fighting Franco.  The ones still alive found that the magic
stopped working one day in 1938.  Even more than most other schools, their
magic was dependent on the zeitgeist, because of their tie to the 'will of
the people'.  Sean's PC was initiated and trained by one of the last
living Demourgists, a shabby old lecturer at Oxford.

   It's also worth pointing out that there were two attempts to resurrect
the school:  during the Prague Spring uprising in the '50s, and during the
abortive Paris revolution of 1968.  The Prague Spring attempt was crushed
by outside forces (some whisper of Soviet political dukes, but this is
probably simple paranoia.)  The Paris attempt failed because the basic
issues had been problematized beyond the ability of most people to believe
in them strongly enough.  (Yes, it's another Cryptomancy parallel.)  (It's
possible that the attempt may have had something to do with the rise of
Situmancy, if anyone writes up such a school, however.)

   However, there's still the Northern school, and what happened after it
became the American school. This is where it gets nasty.

   The Northern school uprooted itself; by 1800, every Northern Demourgist
had moved to North America to take part in the 'noble experiment'.  Most
settled in the southern states, where the plantation system seemed to
offer a romantic opportunity to recreate the golden age of Athenian
democracy.

   There are two very important things to note here:

   1:  Democracy is a system of direct rule by the citizenry.  The idea
that the citizenry should constitite all adults is fairly recent; it was
usually restricted to 'all adult male landowners', 'all adult males of a
certain nation', or a similar variant.

   2:  The Athenians kept slaves.

   American Demourgists were among the most enthusiastic proponents of the
plantation system.  Later, they became firebrand propagandists for the
notion of state's rights.

   In the modern day, the American Demourgists are pillars of the
community, keepers of tradition, militia organizers, and virulent white
supremacists.  They have never seen the 'lesser' races as deserving of
citizenship, and as long as they can sustain a racist polis, hidden in
American society, they can maintain their power.

>      Definitions (for the Demourgist School):
>      The People, the mass of humanity, voting and non, that
> make up a community.
>      Will of the People, as expressed by legitimate and fair
> elections.  The Demourgist may ignore the dictates of imperfect
> democracy in their plans (and for their Taboo).

   Sean's writeup is from a European Demourgist perspective.  The American
school has drifted in a different direction, and is more focused on
preserving, developing, and focussing the _identity_ of a given polis,
which can be more narrowly defined.

>      Demourgist Blast Style: Demourgists only have access to
> minor blast effects.  The Demourgist channels the strength of the
> people adding it to their own, sometimes this causes strange
> visuals as the images of the people the Demourgist is drawing
> strength from are momentarily overlaid on the caster.

   The American Demourgists have no blast; they do, however, have effects
that can inspire mob attacks on their chosen targets.  (For examples, look
at the history of the lynch mob in America.)

>      Stats
>      Generate a Minor Charge: Contribute to building or
> maintaining democracy in a small way.  Distribute pamphlets,
> vote in an election, collect signatures, discuss politics at length,
> inspire others to run for office, get fairly elected to a local
> political or union post.
>      Generate a Significant Charge: Make a major contribution
> to democracy.  Start a mass movement to support democracy,
> form a union, successful spearhead revision of laws to improve
> voter access, get fairly elected to a state or national post in
> government.
>      Generate a Major Charge: Bring democracy to those who
> have lived under tyranny (or other incredible contributions to
> democracy).

   These are pretty damned tough requirements for a charge, IMO; they also
don't quite seem right to me, but I don't have any good ideas right now.

   The American school has different requirements.  I'm not sure what they
are yet, but the person who convinced the Southern states to work the old
Confederate flag into their state flags after the passage of the Civil
Rights Act got a major.

>      Taboo: The Demourgist can never directly act against the
> people's will as expressed by legitimate democratic methods,
> even if it is leading to undemocratic ends.  If the people fairly and
> freely choose to elect a dictator, the Demourgist must stick with
> lawful political means to oppose that change (until the dictator
> abandons any pretexts of democracy).  If they do, they lose all
> charges.
>      Further, the Demourgist cannot allow corruption, vote
> fixing, one-party rule or other such perversions of the democratic
> process to exist unchallenged or they will lose their charges. 
> Their power ties them to a higher conception of democracy that
> must remain unsullied.  For a Demourgist to abandon the high
> road of democracy is to abandon their power.

   Interestingly, the American Demourgists have the same taboo; notice,
however, that their definition of 'the people' is quite different, which
changes the whole taboo substantially.

>      Demourgy Minor Formula Spells

>      Cestus Populi, Cestus Dei
>      Cost: 1 Minor Charge
>      Effect: This in the minor blast spell of the Demourgic
> school, by using this spell the Demourgist taps into the strength of
> the people and uses it to smite his opponent.  When the spell is
> active the character is drawing on strength of people and
> occasionally the image of the people drawn upon will be briefly
> overlaid on top of the caster (Rank 1 Unnatural check if
> witnessed).

   I need to point out to Sean that _any_ blast is already a Rank 5 check.

>      The blast has no range and must be combined with a
> normal hand to hand attack (though it cannot be split between
> multiple opponents).  The damage from the spell adds to that of
> the hand to hand attack and can provide some spectacular special
> effects (like tossing the target across the room).  At the GM
> discretion the spell may do extra damage against a target who is
> particularly hated by the people.  The spell must be successfully
> cast before the attack is rolled and the effect remains until
> discharged or until three rounds have passed.

   1 minor charge for a blast is way too little for this school, I think.
I'm thinking that it should be between 3 minor and 1 significant.
Suggestions?

>      Good Research
>      Cost: 2 Minor Charges
>      Effect: Functionally the same as the Cliomancy spell
> 'Trivia' (UA, p 84).

   The American school does not have access to this spell.

>      Demourgy Significant Formula Spells

>      Don't Just Stand There, Do Something!
>      Cost: 2 Significant Charges
>      Effect: This spell inspires a group of people who have no
> clear direction with the need to take action.  The Demourgist's
> roll is the minimum number (or the minimum percentage if less
> that a hundred people) who are inspired to take immediate action. 
> The Demourgist should provide this action either by example or
> speech or the first idea that comes to the group will be the one
> that they follow.  The action can be only of limited duration
> ("Defend the barricades!") and once inspired, the actions taken by
> the mob can quickly spiral out of the Demourgist's control.

   The American school can, by spending an extra significant charge,
directly inspire a mob to attack a single person.

>      Sic Semper Tyrannus
>      Cost: 4 Significant Charges

   The American school *does* have this spell, and used it in a very
well-known incident in 1864.  Sean is going to regret naming the spell the
way he did.



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