Re: Humakti and Heortlings law?

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_...>
Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 12:50:14 -0500


At 4:49 PM +0000 5/7/02, jeffkyer wrote:
> > Right. Which is why I can't imagine many "loose" Humakti
>> wandering around -- would you let one onto your tula? Once they are
>> "severed," they are no longer kin, and the clan has no reason to
>keep
>> them around if they aren't willing to "sheathe" themselves quickly.
>I
>
>I suspect they might join mercenary warbands? I suppose, when a
>Humakti becomes initiated, he may have some plans. But I could see a
>humakti wandering for several years before finding a 'home' and
>joining it.

        I suppose.... It does raise the question of who hires these mercenary warbands, however. It doesn't seem to be the sort of thing clans would do very often, especially for Humakti. Why hire a bunch of deadly killers when all you want to do is spank the neighbors? Of course, if you want to really kill off the neighbors, that's a different situation, but does that happen often enough to support mercenaries? Humakti shrines and temples might be gathering places for loose Humakti waiting for a chance to sign on with a Chief or King who needs more weaponthanes, but this isn't the same thing as warbands for hire.

        Tarsh and maybe Esrolia would be markets, but I would think the mercenaries would gather there, not hang around in Sartar. Kings like H. Ironfist need mercenaries, but they don't seem to be that common (or the sort of people Humakti would work for).

        On top of all this, only about 1% of the population (approximately 6 per clan) initiates to Humakt and, since the life expectancy of Humakti has to be below that of Barntari, Issariesi, etc, the actual population of Humakti might be somewhat lower than that. There can't be enough loose Humakti to make too many mercenary units....

> > can't imagine that they are welcome in the cities, either. I suppose
>> people are leery of ticking Humakt off by persecuting his followers,
>> and I suppose there is a certain amount of "I wander as a religious
>> duty, let me stay the night" (excellent for those _Yojimbo_ inspired
>> plots) action, but there can't be a large population of itinerant
>> killers wandering uncontested through Sartar, can there?
>
>I suspect they may die in 'tragic gardening accidents' on the QT.
>Afterall, Orlanthi are masters of ambush and if a Humakti with _no_
>societal protection acts like he owns your stead, well, he only has
>his own resources to draw upon.

        That was my impression, too....

Peter Larsen

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