After I sent my last e-mail, I did wonder if I should have sprinkled it with a few "you're supposed to laugh here" tags and an explanation of the real point behind the joke. Then I thought, no, everyone here will see beyond the little joke.
Sorry for not making the point clearer. Here's the serious version.
A Humakti dominated clan will do what it does best. It will probably exist on the boundaries of a serious threat to many clans - the Upland Marsh being the most obvious. (Although in my Glorantha the clans round there have all responded by being moderate obsessives with 30-50 Humakti each, rather than a single uber-obsessive clan.) Such a clan is a great benefit to its neighbours, and the surrounding clans will consider the Humakti to be enough kin to call upon in an emergency, especially after tribes have been established. The Humakti, on the other hand, will not fight someone they deem unworthy. It will be the task of the non-Humakti members of the clan to broker the deals that allow the Humakti to get what they want (to kill in an honourable cause) as well as what the rest of the clan needs (food). I can therefore see lots of deals happening along the lines of :
"Our clan is being attacked by zombies. Please help us." "We shall send the Humakti to deal with your problem. All we ask in return is two yearling cattle each season."
Or equally :
"Bring your clan to join our tribe. Your Humakti will protect all the clans and make us strong, in return the other clans will help feed you." "We shall join, if the other clans each give us seven cattle every season."
Now, at the time this seems a great deal, but the clans providing the cattle might come to resent paying for help delivered three generations ago. But who is going to tell the humakti that? Would you be the one to break your oath?
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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