RE: Thief gods and thieves

From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_ensemblestudios.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 14:32:15 -0600


Jeff Richards
>the Orlanthi concept of "crime" is rather different from our conception
of "crime".

        This is a very important point, and one that is easily forgotten by us moderns. The Orlanthi do _not_ have any kind of Hammurabi legal code, and their approach to crime is extremely different.

        "Career criminals" in the modern sense don't really exist for the Orlanthi. If someone is really bad, he might get disowned, outlawed, and become a bandit, but you don't have professional burglars, horse thieves, or second-story men. Well, maybe horse thieves, but that's an activity the whole family can enjoy.

        Of course, in urban areas, the basic Orlanthi social system begins to break down -- clans and tribes don't function really well in these kinds of conditions, and so some kind of tradition-based law, enforced by religious leaders, wise men, and family heads partially replaces the old-timey subjective rural justice.

Erik Nolander
>Why not have Lanbril as the Theyalan thief god, and instead have local
sub-cults in each city?

        You could, I suppose, but I suspect that the vast majority of Orlanthi thieves just worship Orlanth. Lanbril is a very specialized and, may I add, a very unusual type of deity.


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