Reasons people fear Humakti:
1. With a lot of war gods the thing that makes them stand out is
their deviation from the norm. Storm Bulls in Prax are rightly feared
because they do not follow tribal taboos, ditto Uroxi. ("They are
wild and crazy guys who might do anything at anytime", thank you
Steve Martin!)
Humakti are more subtle perhaps but are still very much outside the
social set-up. This means they are feared as those who are different
are often feared; but also that they are unpredictable as they are
operating by a different set of rules. It may well be 'fine' for
Humakti to murder whole villages.
2. Peter metcalfe notes the loss of humanity of a Humakti, which I think is a very good point. Humakti are psycho's of the cold calculating kind, but worse even than that they have embraced death, the absolute antithesis of what ay right thinking person/society is about. This alters them significantly. I think it's important to understand that though they function alongside normal Orlanthi society, they can't ever really be fully part of it.
3.Finally the depth of their involvement with death is significant as Jeff notes. There should be an air of it about them. Miscarriages, the sick getting worse (perhaps, though the relationship with disease needs thinking through?), plants dying (ditto relationship with plants?), etc. Perhaps it's impossible for people to conceive in a house where a Humakti lives? When a Humakti walks into a room, everyone there should get the "someone walked over my grave" feeling. And that grave could quite possibly be imminent. I watched "The Usual Suspects" last night, and the story of Kaiser Sauze killing his own family to demonstrate his will kind of seems appropriate. There might be a situation for a Humakti where that was entirely accpetable and even necessary. He/she wouldn't even flinch.
Mitch
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