Greg also wrote: "They are often men who have been resurrected". Huh? Doesn't Humakht hate this?
I think Greg meant that it was being dead and then being resurrected that triggered their obsession with Death as a mythic and mystic force and not just a fact of life that you shouldn't dwell on. There after the thought of being resurrected again appals them and they join Humakt.
And why do Heortlings put up with these psychopaths? There can't be too many of them, why not just kill them? Geez, the poor Heortlings already have to accept those obnoxious tricksters, they also have to tolerate psychopathic killers? Unless the Humakti are amazingly useful in battle, which maybe I'm not "getting", I don't see their purpose.
As to whether Humakti are extreme and what exactly the Gloranthan definition of normal is, all I'd add is that damn few of us in the real world have ever been in the military much less seen action, much less actually killed anyone at range never mind hand-to-hand, yet in Glorantha that experience is not too unusual for a great many ordinary Heortlings to whom the fyrd is a way of life. With Death a starkly present part of life, seen and smelled up close the 'dead-man-walking' that is a Humakti may not be something totally beyond the ken of ordinary people. For sure, enough to send a shiver down everyone's spines but relatable to. The ability to be that person is a valuable skill in a world so full of dangers.
For what it's worth, it has been noted by those who follow such things that the berserkers of the Norsemen survived up to forty engagements in their war career. Ordinary Viking raiders typically only survived twelve. It would appear that NOT caring whether you live or die increases your survival chances! Not to say that this is the rational behind the Humakti way of fighting (I'm assuming that something like Berserk is still part of Humakti magic).
Regards,
Harry
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