Well, I was thinking of Dimensional less in terms of its usage, but of its psychological meaning. As I see it, the sphere of binding world together and tearing them apart is also the sphere of bonds between individuals. Originally this meant emotional intimacy with our loved ones (I'd say that Love is something that requires all spheres to work together), but (like the spheres of all the evil gods) has been corrupted. It now has to do with defining the worth of individuals in relation to others instead of valuing their intrinsic worth. It shows disrespect for the soul of others, and for one's own. It is about objectifying people by viewing them as means instead of ends unto themselves, and dehumanizing yourself by identifying purely by how you relate to others. It is the sphere that makes men view ruling over others as desirable and the sphere of unhealthy codependent relationships. It made Kyorlin value not his own life when his wife betrayed him, and made him view her as irreconcilably ruined by the taint of infidelity. It is the sphere that made Kyorlin seek to bind her eternally to him, until he learned the hard way that "Love's strongest bonds are those that loosest bind." It is the foolish binds that tie us to ephemeral things that must pass that leads to regret, depression, and and Emotional
Pain (Remember, Ceridwen is the Lady of Pain, and her archangel the Mistress of Pain). The sphere embodies the confusion of self with things of the physical world, so in Buddhist terminology it represents all that keeps us from Enlightenment.
Ceridwen is not really the goddess or source of magic, she merely taught Kyorlin how to use the power he intrinsically had as a son of Nemed. Some men had already figured out how to do this on their own, but to a much lesser extent. She taught it to him as a way to use him as a tool, and to encourage him to use others. The only real connection between Ceridwen and Magic now is that it involves forcing you will upon creation instead of working together with the gods to bring about changes
I also think of it as the concept of Us vs. Them. It is the tendency to seperate ourselves and our interests from those we view as different, and to cling to only those most like us. This is the concept that first lead to the conflict of the Godswar, and is directly responsible for the fall of Mammon, Esus, Aeron, and Camulos, and the corruption present even in the good gods. It lead to the drawing of the battle lines between good and evil, and also led to some gods thinking that the war was none of their concern. It even seems instrumental in the corruption of Agares. I get the feeling that Ceridwen and Agares must have fallen at the same time, and then together lured the others to join their cause.
Although the sphere directly opposed to Dimensional is Force (Balance, the reaching of agreements together rather than unilaterally using others as tools), Dagda's nature of Neutrality would prevent him from being her opposition. I believe that that role would fall to Sirona and Lugus. (Amathoan might have helped too, as a defining characteristic of Cardith Lora/Eurabatres is a complete lack of favoritism, which is part of Ceridwen's aspect.)
Sirona's sphere of universal compassion is probably the opposed to Ceridwen's sphere on disrespect for persons, but frankly she has been very busy trying to fulfill the original purposes of Agares (Hope), Camulos (Peace), Esus (Trust), Mammon (looking out for the good of all), and Danalin (serenity) too, and is overworked. (The Fall of Agares could also be seen as him abandoning his old love for Sirona for a new love for Ceridwen, for a position of power instead of for the good of all. Although Sirona is not the type to hold a grudge, the conflict between Sirona and Ceriwen seems awfully personal, and I'm sure Ceridwen sees it that way.)
The way I see it, Lugus and the Empyrean should really oppose Ceridwen
even more than they oppose Esus, because they would have uncovered that her sphere is the root of Esus's corruption. The Empyrean emphasizes the equality between kings and peasants, and between great empires and weak tribes. They look within for truth and to find intrinsic worth. They seek mediation, not domination.
It does bother me a bit that the Empyrean hero is a summoner, which seems to involve using a bit of Dimensional magic to bring in creatures from the outer planes.
Aye - it's an odd relationship as I understand it. Bhall fell, leaving opportunity for Mulcarn to enter creation, but it was Sucellus who entered to oppose him (being broken and scattered in the process).
It's also suggested that Nature opposes on the
Mana chart.
===
I think the basic principle is that the opposing spheres were not necessarily the Good/Evil pairs of angels that kept each other in check. Bhall would have kept Mulcarn in check, but her sphere was opposed to Water/Danalin.
I've just been looking for any relevant quotes on this, but haven't found much yet. Might be one for Magister or Kael to comment on.
The conflicts between each god are the result from the natural conflicts between their spheres. Gods' natures have lead them to have natural allies and enemies that do not necessarily align with the distinctions between good, neutral, and evil that Men have drawn. Of course, all the evil gods are aligned with Agares, but they have their own preferences too. While the mana chart may show what sphere is most opposed to each sphere, these are far from the only animosities between the gods. Their chaotic natures make Bhall, Camulos, and Tali more likely to agree with each other; calm natures make Danalin, Sucellus, and Sirona great friends; the love of knowledge and understanding bring together Oghma, Lugus, Sirona, and Danalin; the love of nature bring together Sucellus, Cernunnos, and Amathaon; the love of tradition would bring together Kilmorph and Mulcarn, but their views of Agares lead to some conflict; selflessness makes Sirona most opposed to Aeron, but also leads to much conflict with Mammon, Camulos, and Junil.
Some gods' natures make them opposed to fighting at all, and some gods have taken the same side of the godswar as their opposite. When this is the case, it it necessary for a slightly-less-opposite diety to take the lead against them. Mulcarn's element is a harsh, complete stasis, or even a reactionary desire to oppose all change and take the world back in an opposing direction, towards some nostalgic past. The opposite of this is is a calm acceptance and embracing of gradual change and maturation, as represented by Sucellus/Cernunnos's sphere of Growth. However, the calming nature of this precept meant that Sucellus was a pacifist, not a tough fighter like his opposite. He chose to stay out of the godswar until absolutely necessary, and was probably forced by the other gods to get involved to stop Mulcan later on. As such, Bhall was the natural choice to oppose Mulcarn openly. They were not exact opposites, as they were both very harsh, unyielding characters. Bhall's sphere is passionate, emotional, quick throwing off of the status quo to bring about instant change. The opposite was the serene, sensitive emotional acceptance of how things are which exemplified Danalin, However, Danalin's nature (like Sucellus's) lead him to avoid all conflict. Besides, even if it hadn't been such a pacifist, both he and his opposite had sided with The One against Agares, so there would be little point in fighting.
awsome
IDEA: can you have negative affinity? ie having fire mana makes your ice golems weaker?
I believe that you can, but that it would only effect the damage type in which the resources gives affinity, and can't go beneath 0. That means that Negative Fire affinity would only reduce the Frostling's fire strength, which it would be very strange for ti to have to begin with.
I've been pushing for some time to change the way Affinity is handles, so that the affinity type is not declared in the resource files but in the Promotion/Unit file where each instance of affinity is given. That would allow different units/promotion to give different types of affinity for the same resource, and would allow Fire mana to give negative Cold affinity and Ice mana to give Negative Fire affinity.
Code:
<BonusAffinities>
<BonusAffinity>
<BonusType>BONUS_MANA_AIR</BonusType>
<DamageType>DAMAGE_LIGHTNING</DamageType>
<iAffinity>1</iAffinity>
</BonusAffinity>
</BonusAffinities>
What I'd like even more would be if typed affinity were broken up into offensive and defensive strengths, like normal damage types, and if ranged attacks could have damage types and affinity too.