Now Brimstone also appended the label of the "philosophers" of magic to the Sorcerers, but I would content that we should save that label or categorization for mystics. The Clerics are, of course, the Theologians. Clerics recieve their power through divine revelation and initiation into the various cults of the true dieties.
Now here is the million dollar question. Does the spiritual enlightenment of the mystics depend on "Truth"? (notice it's a capital T). Is mysticism dependent on some esoteric understanding and enlightenment the way clerical magic requires an understanding of the gods and the enlightenment of true faith?
For example, could a mystic take hallucinagenic mushrooms and concieve of a false diety of games and athletics, and through the worship of this false diety gain mystical powers? If not, can a mystic have a belief system which could draw upon an archetype (a mystic with the strength domain gaining his mystical power from a philosophy of strength)? Could that philosophy of strength, be intertwined with the worship of a false diety yet still grant mystical powers?
Is Mysticism a new religion itself? (We have had the example comparing it to Buddhism and HoOS to Christianity.)
For example, is the only way to learn mysticism from the Citadel of Light and any daughter traditions (ie. the Skull Knights who infiltrated the Citadel of Light and learned mysticism). In that case can any other religion pick up these core teachings and apply it to their own? Could you have mystics of true dieties (who pick one of their god's domains as theirs) or of false dieties?
Does devotion to a true or false religion at all disrupt the core understandings of mysticism? (After the conversion of the Knights of the Skull to mysticism, the Knights of Takhisis become the Knights of Nereka).
If so this would have a great impact on what particular flavour the mystics are, how cohesive they are, who divergent their practice is, and such. For example... if:
1) Mystics are a new religion they would take on the flavour of the Bene Geserit of Dune. Esoteric but non-religious, with their own organization and traditions.
2) Mystics are required to have a spiritual understanding of something only, then they could serve as clerics of false gods, or the heads of spiritual and philosophical movements. They would also work for those followers of the god who do not recieve direct divine revelation. In such a case these devout followers of the true gods would choose on their diety's domains. This would work for Mishakalite mystics at the Citadel of Light for example.
3) Mystics draw upon mysticism just because they have learned how. These would not only allow for all the options in #2, but would allow for anyone who learns this magic, like they would learn sorcery, to cast spells of this type.
To use a religious example, in Orthodox Judaism the Torah is the perfect and inchangable law that comes from directly God. In mystical sects of Judaism of which I have not the cultural background in training to comment on authorially (yet may write sci-fi books based on it) the Torah contains secret knowledge of the universe that may lead one to a divine state.
This is Wizardry or Clericism at base, depending how religious you view High magic. The clerics rely on the power of their gods and the fundamental truths given to them by the Disks of Mishkahal along with perhaps other revealed teachings from prophets divinely chosen by the gods.
It is magic that is born from the Torbril and the god's own understanding of the universe.
Mysticism on the other hand, Takhasis' arrogant pretensions to providing it (we know its not true), and Sorcery are basically born from human being's own attempts to understand the cosmos vs. what the gods have chosen to reveal. The Buddah being a god sent from Heaven interpretations aside, he is the man who deduced the way to break the cycles of existence set by the gods and form a new destiny for mankind.
Raistlin Majere was a renegade because he had the ethics of a Sorcerer/Mystic more than he had the ethics of a Wizard of High Sorcery. He worshipped not Nuitari and his revelations about the universe but the very laws and secrets of the universe themselves.
Mystics can be deluded and foolish...ascribing their own power to the Dragon Overlords (creating "templars") or Paladin and Mishakahal so they think they are the new Kingpriests or themselves (*I* AM A GOD!) or some imaginary divinity.
The ambient energies of Chaos though allowed mystics to peer behind that screen though and discover some of the laws the gods have been dolling out but NOT through them bt themselves.
A mystic can revere a god, much as a fighter can revere a god. Yet their power is all their own. The Citadel Mystics revere Mishakal. After the War of Souls, many found that they had full faith in Mishakal, and became clerics. Yet others found that they merely respected Mishakal, and that their faith was in their own healing power.
Another example of a mystic would be someone who had a strong sense of justice. He may suddenly find that he has access to divine spells and the law domain, simply because he belief in justice is so strong.
Ferratus asks some interesting questions above.
1. Can mysticism be a religion?
It can, but that does not necessarily mean that it is. For example, you could have mystics who lead an almost monastic lifestyle, who would be looked at as having their own religion, even if a deity is not involved.
At the same time, we have the example of the mystic of justice above who doesn't go to worship, but instead has a strong belief in a concept.
2. Can a mystic gain powers from worshipping a false deity?
I think this depends on the circumstance. If it's a false deity where you have to give your all to the false deity, then no. You're not looking within, you're looking without.
If the false deity's teachings say to look within yourself, etc. or to follow a certain path (i.e. justice), then that's when a mystic is more likely to use belief in the fake deity to access their inner power.
3. Can a mystic take hallucinogenic drugs and gain power?
I would say so. Some primitive cultures may have shamanic traditions, and have "visions" through the use of hallucinogenic drugs. If their faith in those visions is strong enough, then a mystic (or shaman, as it may be) could harness his own inner power.
This is not a guarantee, though. I think the faith has to be there to begin with, otherwise the drugs just make you goofy.
4. Is the only way to learn mysticism from the Citadel of Light and any daughter traditions?
I would say not. Some people may just have had a natural connection to mysticism, and discovered innate talent, rather than being taught mysticism from someone.
Those are my thoughts on the issue. Hope that helps.
Goes around performing miracles, and teaching the wisdom of freedom from divine constraints, and shows people how to master their inner souls and all that. Those sympathetic to eastern philosophies can use this as a hero type, and those sympathetic to the west can villify him as a new age kook or someone trying to take worshippers away from the true gods.
Good times for all =)
Of course, i fully support the idea that a mystic can follow a god and still be a mystic. Why should the source of my power have anything to do with who i pray to?
Cheers,
Cam
"Truth" is not needed by mystics, only a belief in their own powers. Morhan Targonne, a mentalist, had not the slightest spiritual inclination and was wholly disinterested in "truth". He believed in himself and his own powers and was ultimately focused on materialism. Internal truth is always subjective, and so can be what the mystic chooses to believe.
Clerics are outwardly focused. Rather than seeking truth internally the look to a higher power for enlightenment. To them the joy is the communion with something greater than themselves and the knowledge that the truths they learn are ordained by those higher powers.
It is, however, inaccurate to make a clear division of mystics as "philosophers" and clerics as "theologians". Clerics of certain deities (Majere and Zivilyn for example) are far more interested in philosophy than in concrete theology. Druids of Habbaku, Chislev and even Zeboim often have worldviews that seem extremely abstract to people used to more organized religions.
Likewise, many mystics are more doctrinaire than others. Skull Knights and Citadel Mystics both have strong attachments to ideologies, albeit very different ones.
The mystic clearly possesses more freedom. A David Koresh style charismatic might be able to sway followers with a benevolent message even as they serve purely selfish ends. A cleric's ability to do the same depends on whether their god will permit it.
But clerics have an edge over mystics as well. Mystics are bound by the limits of their own powers. Clerics always have a chance that their god may offer more "direct" assistance. For example, mystics (and sorcerors) sought fruitlessly for ways to bypass the Silvanesti Shield to no avail, yet Mina was able to learn it's secret from Takhisis. It is an unrelaible edge, but a very powerful one when it comes into play.
However, I would accept the compromise of the of mystics drawing power into themselves, and through themselves in order to cast the spells. How is this different from sorcerers however? How is this different from clerics or wizards for that matter? A spellcaster is always the focal point of these energies, so necessarily he draws these energies into to himself.
I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to associate the various spellcasters with planes of existance. Sorcerers draw upon the Inner Planes for their power. Wizards draw upon the Astral, Etheral, and Shadow Planes. Mystics draw upon the positive (healing, channeling, animism) and negative energy planes (spiritualism, mentalism, necromancy) while the Clerics draw upon the Outer Planes. Too late now I suppose, but it might have added back some of the flavour that the 5th Age team misses (elementalist and spiritualist energies) and allow people like me to see a role for each class that didn't trod on the others.
Anyway, to get back to canon, I'm going to put some new speculation for what this all means:
1) Mysticism does not depend on spiritual understanding, but in personal power of the individual. The example of Morhan Targonne proves this (Thanks Psionyx)
2) Mysticism seems to require some sort of practice or meditation, in which a person develops into a living archetype due to the domain he selects. (ie. A war domain mystic becomes a living incarnation of war, a death domain mystic becomes a living embodiment of death).
3) A Mystic can be a worshipper of a true or false god, but must still have an awareness that the power is his own. I could see this working two ways. In terms of the true gods, a mystic works by emulating a divine aspect.
In terms of the false gods, this could work a few different ways:
1) The mystic works to emulate the divine aspect of a diety which he believes is true. In my 5th Age version of the Seekers for example, the Seekers had a conception of a divinity which represented unchangeable and non-anthropomorphic concepts (Similar to what the Roman Epicureans claimed to view the gods). I could see a mystical cult in such a way revolving around the emulation of a totem (lion, dragon etc.) as well.
2) The mystic believes that he himself is the incarnation of a diety. This would be a charismatic figure as mentioned above. Of course, this would mean that he could not have mystic followers.
3) The mystic follows a cult based around a new philosophy or religious writings. So for example you have a mystic which blends philosophy and mysticism in a manner similar to the Citadel of Light. This could work as well for followers of the teachings of Valthonis. They don't worship him as a god, but they have taken his writings and teachings as a source of mystical revelation.
A correlation between the two could be drawn IMO.
Just my two steel
In the case of the gods, a mystic may find themselves drifting towards Epiphany and, without even trying, turning into a cleric if they give absolute reverence to a true deity.
In the case of a false deity they probably could not honestly place their faith in it and still retain their powers. Although I suppose that they might do so if they suffered from certain forms of insanity wherein the voice of their "god" is really just an internal voice from their own subconscious.
As for where the power comes from, that's a more complex question. It cannot be purely internal for the simple reason that it would have been discovered before now if it were. People on Krynn had to live through desperate centuries without divine magic after the Cataclysm, and as high as my opinion of Goldmoon is, I don't believe she could have stumbled across an inner source of divine power in just five years that eluded other equally desperate people for more than 350 years.
Perhaps mythical notions that all life is interconnected apply here? Maybe the power the mystic is drawing upon is not merely their own spiritual force, made accessible by the influence of Chaos on the world, but actually drawing on the collective spiritual force of the living people of Krynn?
Another option that I know advocates of mysticism will find highly unpalatable is that when Takhisis "bottled up" the world behind her necromantic barrier, that caused spiritual force that would normally flow upwards into the godly realms to instead accumulate around Krynn. After a few years (which would account for why mysticism did not appear right away) the ambient levels of bottled-up spiritual force rose to the point at which people could actually tap into it to cast spells. The part of this that would be unappealing is that it implies that the power will dissipate now that the barrier is gone.
Regardless I think mystic religions will most be similar to Buddhism or Taoism, or to Greek Platonic philosophies.
Perhaps mythical notions that all life is interconnected apply here? Maybe the power the mystic is drawing upon is not merely their own spiritual force, made accessible by the influence of Chaos on the world, but actually drawing on the collective spiritual force of the living people of Krynn?
Right. That's more or less what I'd said above, with the caveat that without Chaos, this spiritual force (for which the mystic becomes a node, or conduit) cannot be accessed to any great length. It surfaced in minor abilities such as elven telepathy or errant visions and glimpses of the future by mad or ill people (like Rosamun Majere) but otherwise was inaccessible until the Chaos War.
Cheers,
Cam
What about the various options I put forward? Are these the general consenus?