RE: (TFT) TFT, numbers and crunchy bits. What a campaign says.

[David Michael Grouchy II <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>]

> Quoting David Michael Grouchy II <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>:
> > And every culture has a god of theivery or trickery but none have a god
of
> > weaponry. A god of war maybe (Strategist), but not a god of all weaponry.
> > Excepting possibly some strange passages in the old testament.

> From: raito@raito.com
>
> Giobhniu is often credited as a god of weaponry, equyally often as the
> smith who makes the weaponry (as opposed to a smith in general).
>
> I seem to recall a Hindu god accredited as such in Stone's Glossary,
> but I'd have to look that up.
>
> It's kind of a stretch to classify a shinto fox kami with a capital-G
> God. Otherwise, shinto does not have a god of theivery.
>
> Neither does Christianity, or many of the modern monotheistic religions.
>
> Neil Gilmore


Neil,
Your knowledge in this exceeds mine.  Where I would see pretty straight
forward cases of the god of weaponsmiths, I have to slow down and reconsider.
I originally meant all weaponry in the sense of each weapon being an entire
culture unto itself.  Thus by very definition being from different cultures,
like boomerang, naginata, or bola, they could not be from the same mythos.

But as I look into your specific examples I find that Vishvakarman is more
than just a weapon smith.  Apparently he was also the god of engineering, and
Architecture.  Further that the Hindus felt him to be the principal architect
of the entire universe.  A very notable exception.

As to the cultural exception of gods of theivery, during my years in the east
I found that deception is highly valued, and what would be narrowly defined as
theft in the west would be given much more lattitude as just being more wise
than one's target.  And that, yes, tricksters were highly respected, even
worshipped.  Even Kung-fu itself is considered one of the arts of deception.
It was in that sense that I meant theft.  As a talent availiable in TFT.  To
use a purely western renaissance figure to illustrate I quote Picasso.  "Good
artists borrow, great artists steal."


David Michael Grouchy II


As to christianity I was alluding to this.

"See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and
forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer
to work havoc;
no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue
that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this
is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.
-Isaiah 54:16 - 17
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