[UA] Modern Gods (was Re: Euphemistic Names)

[David M Jacobs]

At 02:42 PM 9/04/02 +0000, John C wrote:

>But to return to Gaiman, I found that _American Gods_ got me thinking 
>about an alternate magic system for UA.  Anyone out there familiar with 
>GURPS Vodoo?  Steal the system from that (long story short: Adepts call 
>upon the Loa to "ride" them, and work magic through them), make some 
>changes to make it fit into the UA rules, and have the players calling 
>upon Gaiman's "New Gods".

IIRC, UA is littered with references to various "possession cults"; in 
return for supernatural favours, they allow demons to possess them for some 
period of time.  These "possessees" are fairly close to les Chevaux of 
Voudoun.  An adept might tell you that you've been possessed by an 
artistic, lustful lost soul, but a houngan will tell you that you've been 
ridden by Erzulie.  Same idea, different names.

The difference between channelling and allowing yourself to be ridden is 
that in the former case, you have conscious control of the powers that you 
wield.  In the latter case, you could suddenly find yourself miles from 
home, wearing someone else's underwear and not remembering how you got 
there.  (Sorta puts the whole "alien abduction" thing into a new 
perspective, huh?)

>There something about the idea of rituals designed to call upon the God of 
>Cars that really amuses me.

One thing that's always intrigued me is the concept of a God of Solipsism, 
ie, a god that doesn't even acknowledge that you exist.

To put it into UA terms, perhaps the Order of St Cecil's biggest secret is 
that the Creator is insensate and solipsistic (much as the Gnostics 
suspected); furthermore, He's only one god in a vast pantheon.  Were this 
to become widely known, not only would monotheism as we know it fall apart, 
but prayer and ritual would be proven spiritually pointless, merely a means 
to control the masses.

Magick aside, there'd be few forces as nasty and unpredictable as millions 
of pissed-off Catholics.  #%o)



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick


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