>> And anything bad that does happen is now her fault! The tribe gets
>> cursed for the kin-slaying (they think).
>
>Yup. I had forgotten about that originally, and it does complicate her
>decision. She now has to believe that the prophecized fate was actually
>going to be worse than the curse of kin-slaying that might fall on the
>clan. That's harder to justify without making this REALLY nasty. (Does
>kin-slaying curse a clan or a tribe? IIRC tribes are more than one
>clan, so maybe she thought she was saving the entire tribe? There has
>to be this sense of she is committing an atrocity with belief in the
>greater good.)
I've never been convinced that the biggest problem for the clan is the gods' retribution. IMG the problem is people take sides and because there's no legal resolution possible the killing escalates weakening the clan. So the outlawing of a kinslayer serves a social purpose - each member of the clan has to decide whether to support the clan or the outlaw and those who support the outlaw are themselves outlawed. In some cases that leads to the clan splitting into two but not I think here.
If you're looking for a really nasty fate for the clan you've got the Crimson Bat - that destroys the souls of it's victims which to the Orlanthi is far worse than even kinslaying. Of course while she believes that the child is going to bring that doom on the tribe, if it happens she will get the blame because kinslaying causes chaos.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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