The suggestion is that he *may*, not *will*.
Outlawry is an extreme sanction - it is a death sentence - the question is "*when* will he die?". If the entire clan is of a like mind, an execution may (*may*) happen immediately. 90% of the time it won't.
> Even though he/she's technically and legally no longer a relative,
> killing a relative is still the greatest inexcusable crime for the
> Heortlings.
He is *in all ways* no longer kin. Killing an outlaw is *not* kinslaying.
You may still have feelings for your ex-brother (and most people probably do), but you (and the community) will not suffer the chaos-summoning effects of kinstrife if you kill him. There are rituals of outlawry that magically, as well as legally, sever the offender from his kin. The outlaw is cut off from the worship of the Storm Tribe - which may not mean much to a Humakti, Lhankor Mhy, Chalana Arroy, etc., who have worship outside of the Storm Pantheon, but a worshipper of Orlanth or Ernalda will be cut off entirely from their Otherside.
Full Outlawry is *not* something to contemplate lightly - whatever the offender did was so bad that you might as well kill him as let him go. For lesser punishments there are fines and banishment if you want to keep the offender as a member of the clan (just hurt him a little - either by making him pay restitution, or denying him family and friends - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" and all that). Don't mistake Full Outlawry by a clan with banishment or the "political" outlawry imposed by the tribe.
The range of punishments goes something like:
Give the offender a stern talking to.
Fine him.
Banish him for a specific period of time. Once that time is over, he's
free to come back, all sins forgiven. He still has access to his gods, and
is still kin - outside the tula. He just can't set foot back on the tula
without becoming a full outlaw.
Full Outlawry - he's a dead man (figuratively, and probably literally in a
short period of time).
Full outlawry *is* a death sentence - and there are safeguards and processes to go through just as there are in American states that have the death penalty. There is political manueverng pro and con, impassioned speeches, etc. But there are no lynch mobs until after the sentence is pronounced and the rituals performed - he's still kin until then.
Not only that, but red handed slaughter is much harder
> psychologically than many roleplayers seem to think.
Thats why there are Humakti. And Violence is Always an Option.
> If the accused is an unrepentant chaos cultist, then the chief may ask
> for a humakti to follow the outlaw and slay him/her, but this will not
> happen in front of the chiefs hall.
It might - public disposal of a communal problem. Also, you might not want to send a dabgerous criminal out into the world - especially if you have him restrained and powerless right here and now.
> Usually the clan will have mixed feelings and much sadness (something
> happened to cause the outlawry too remember), and will just want to
> forget all about the outlaw. Outside the clans lands, he/she will be
> somebody else's problem.
Certainly, but remember that the outlaw has broken a tenet so dear to the clan that they have no choice but to cut him off from Family, Friends, and Gods. It's quite likely that the mood of the clan will be "Killin's too good fer him".
RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad
R. Sabatini, Scaramouche
Powered by hypermail