In response to my speculations on the rareness of Humakti Heros, David,
holder of the Dunham rune, wrote:
>Several people have proposed that Humakt (or Humath, or Humkt) was one of
>the Lightbringers in Ralian mythology. (I haven't made up my mind, but it's
>not at all unreasonable, especially because I think no Ralian Humathi
>severs his kinship ties. If it's not true in East Ralios, it's probably
>true in Lankst.)
Now that you mention it, I think I've seen several speculative Lightbringer lists that include Humakt (or Humath or Thumper), and I guess from a mythological point of view no, it's not unreasonable at all; and if Humakt were a Ralian Lightbringer, then I would certainly agree that Ralian Humakti temples would be more likely to produce heroquesters (though in the "imitative" fashion, following in the pattern of the Lightbringer quest, and perhaps only as one part of the Lightbringer circle? -- i.e., only at the behest of an Orlanthi heroquester?). OTOH, as a matter of "game balance", for lack of a better term, I would tend to get a bit nervous about making Humakt a Lightbringer. As Humakt often seems to be the path of choice of "powergamers" (my apologies to Humakt fans) -- along with the illuminated Black Fang/Krarshti/Daka Fal shaman path, of course -- I tend to think of Humakt's kinless/solitary nature (and the limits this places on heroquesting options, IMO) as a price for combat prowess.
As well, I often tend to think of heroquesting as being shaped to some extent on the death/resurrection pattern, or at least on the death or "near-death" experience which opens access to the Other World, and allows for the return with knowledge. Though there are plenty of RW mythological examples, it's actually the scenes in John Boorman's _Excalibur_ that first come to mind, in which Sir Galahad (hmm; is that right?) is first hung from a tree, and then later drowns in a river; these death/near-death experiences open the path to the Holy Grail, not the physical search/quest undertaken by the knights (_Excalibur_ is IMO possibly the best heroquest movie ever made, with the possible exception of the _Wizard of Oz_, in addition to having some really good armor; any other suggestions for good heroquest movies, or has that question been posed before?). In fact, I've often thought that a couple of heroquests should exist which are only possible after a character has been killed (is there an rpg out there with the tag line "death is only the beginning"?), and that at the least having gone through the death/resurrection cycle should give heroquesters both insight and advantage; Humakti, for whom death is a one-way ticket, strike me as being limited in this regard, so when combined with their "marginal" role in society at large, I guess I tend to think of them as being poor candidates for heroquesting (unlike YTs, particularly within the encouraging framework of the Goddess). Just my opinion, of course.
Tom Zunder threw out:
>Why would women, dedicated to fertility and life sully their hands with
>the business of Death?
>
>Just a troll..
This may just be a troll, but I'll bite -- I would suggest that in earth-culture thinking, Life and Death are not opposites, but are part of the same cycle; life is meaningless without death, the natural end of all things (hence the unnaturalness of Vivamort), and death isn't really an end at all, but only a new beginning, in which life begins anew (just as dead crops and the blood of the Year Kings renew the earth, and the little death brings life into the world).
Just some thoughts,
Mark
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