Pulp Fantasy Divinations

[Whitewings]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Divination by Tarot is much more recent, well into the Early Modern.

I looked into the history of Tarot divination, and the earliest references come from slightly pre-Revolutionary France. Cartomancy in general goes back to Europe in the 14th century.

[Donny Brook]

There's capnomancy.

[Anthony]

Pretty much any phenomenon that's complicated enough that the average mark can't easily do it for themselves is suitable for divination purposes, but for pulp, I'd pick something that's dramatic and fits the overall motif of the setting. My default would probably be some form of pyromancy, as with the right alchemical preparations being burnt that gets you clouds of smoke, strangely colored flames, flashes of light, and so on.

[RGTraynor]

Eh, if I was creating Ancient Egypt-like pulp fantasy divinatory methods, I'd go for something really sketchy. How long it took a dying person to pass, how to interpret the dying utterances, the positions the limbs/fingers wound up in, that sort of thing. With extra merit given to divinations that stemmed from people who died naturally/unnaturally.

[DeadParrot]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Divination by Tarot is much more recent, well into the Early Modern.

On Earth perhaps. In OP's setting, Astrology/Divination works. Possible that competitive pressures lead to the development of Tarot and several other divination methods on timelines somewhat different from real history Earth.

Fantasy/alternative history settings don't have to conform perfectly to Earth TL timelines.

Is astrology freely available or heavily regulated as a state military secret? (being able to predict enemy actions before they happen could be a huge advantage and one a leader might not want to share.)

Or do religious institutions control it? If this, maybe the institutions keep the process secret to preserve their profit stream.

[martinl]

I'm a big fan of the sacred chickens myself.

[Whitewings]

Originally Posted by DeadParrot

Is astrology freely available or heavily regulated as a state military secret? (being able to predict enemy actions before they happen could be a huge advantage and one a leader might not want to share.)

Astrology used to be a deep secret, back before agriculture and trade, when mathematics was still at the counting, adding and subtracting stage. It was first developed to actual utility in the Egypt-analogue nation, then independently in the vaguely Persia-like nation and the sort-of Nordic areas. Attempts to keep it secret worked, for a time, but that time has long since passed.

Originally Posted by DeadParrot

Or do religious institutions control it? If this, maybe the institutions keep the process secret to preserve their profit stream.

Most priests can perform divinations, but only by using methods granted by their main patron; mages can practice astrology, but not Path magic rites, which includes non-astrological divination methods. As I see it, priests dedicated to specific deities are only found in larger populations; smaller places have what I call all-shrines, and most of their priests don't have sufficient favour with any single deity to have Power Investiture, and thus the ability to work miracles (use Path magic).

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by DeadParrot

Is astrology freely available or heavily regulated as a state military secret?

Historically, it wasn’t the possible military applications that peopke seemed to worry about, it was predicting the fates of rulers. Especially their possible deaths. Even talking about a monarch’s possible death date was considered treasonous.

(Of course, this isn’t entirely crazy. Once you start thinking about when the Queen may die, you may be tempted to expedite the probabilities, and some of those discussions were doubtless just cover for skeevy plotting. “We’re just talking about hypotheticals” isn’t a defence that flies with rationally paranoid monarchs.)

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Historically, it wasn’t the possible military applications that peopke seemed to worry about, it was predicting the fates of rulers. Especially their possible deaths. Even talking about a monarch’s possible death date was considered treasonous.

(Of course, this isn’t entirely crazy. Once you start thinking about when the Queen may die, you may be tempted to expedite the probabilities, and some of those discussions were doubtless just cover for skeevy plotting. “We’re just talking about hypotheticals” isn’t a defence that flies with rationally paranoid monarchs.)

There was the whole "naming calls" thing as well - just like you don't say "bear" in case one should appear...

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

(Of course, this isn’t entirely crazy. Once you start thinking about when the Queen may die, you may be tempted to expedite the probabilities, and some of those discussions were doubtless just cover for skeevy plotting. “We’re just talking about hypotheticals” isn’t a defence that flies with rationally paranoid monarchs.)

Never mind rationally paranoid monarchs who need easy scapegoats -- and doing so heretically and blasphemously to boot! -- instead of far more highly placed nobles.