Get your own Free Home PageUntil the Modern Era, people in the west assumed that the state of their nation, the fate of humanity (Graeco-Roman culture), and basic quality of life were directly related to how people SERVED.
During ancient times in Greece, the present notion of religion did not exist. Rather, people viewed things much differently. Instead of religion, [salvation / elevation / depreciation of the soul through adherance to beliefs, often involving the supernatural] the Greeks had threskeia or service. What this involved was simply house keeping for the gods.
Many Greek Philosophers had a problem with this, however, and asked
"If the gods are all powerful then why do they need us to serve them?"and the answer they devised was
"It is not the gods who need to be served, but rather it is us who need to serve."
[Aside: Think of how this can be re-worked into the nature of
powers in AD&D.
The Ancient Greeks did not believe in their
gods, they KNEW they existed and often acted upon their
whims.
The Greeks thought that the gods were Theos, however one
could
not say that Theos was God.
Physical / spiritual incarnations
of a god were daimons. And these daimons were also Theos.
Daimons would influence your actions.
In some cases they
were
considered the same as the scientific notion of forces.]
The Ancient Romans did not have the notion of religion that most people today also carry. They divided the concerns of the supernatural into a few different parts, such as ritual invocations, cultus (care taking), and superstitio (standing above.. looming over..).
They did not believe in gods and daemons, but rather knew they existed
and acted upon them.
This sort of Knowledge in the supernatural did
not
fall apart until after Christianity managed to gain a strong foothold.
Modern religions like Christianity and Islam are based on belief, and
not an implicit knowledge of the universe. The Romans and Greeks
could
provide logical arguments why their gods existed (well they tried),
but their arguments did not work against the newer religions.
However, one could also rationally argue against the Greek and Roman
gods, and this caused a major problem.
[In terms of PlaneScape... The question is whether the spiritual reality reflects the physical reality, or is it the other way round, or a combination of the two feeding off of each other.
Is it possible that the Guvners could have the power to
rationalise powers out of existence, and is it possible that the older
gods, the ones people simply knew existed and so had no reason to
preform an abstract action of belief in, have no need for followers...
Like Hyperion... and the other Greek Titans?
This would imply that there are TWO types of powers... Those
created from beliefs and those who are BIOLOGICALLY
occurring.
One group requires services, and the other group simply
requires that you serve them.]
© 1996 D. Goehrig
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