Interesting theory. IMO the difference is that much of the damage in the Wastes was caused by Genert draining the land in his effort to withstand Chaos. Eiritha did the same in Prax where Storm Bull had fallen down, creating the Dead Place. Genert's Wastes aren't quite that bad in most places.
Likewise the Nargan was created by an invasion of skyfire rather than chaotic shattering. Both places returned to the (extremely sorry) state they had before the Greater Darkness.
> Joerg, we are talking about circumstances in which large numbers of
> ghosts were made. Such circumstances can only occur in places of
> widespread destruction. Thus they will be found at the Dawn in the
> Wastelands and the Nargan., not Seshnela. Later on, Dorastor and
> Kralorela qualify.
>>> A few haunted ruins does not create the hordes of evil ghosts that give rise to the cannibal cult solution, any ghosts can be resolved through conventional methods. What is required is large loss of life from a particularly bad calamity.
When I say lost civilization, I'm thinking in the scale of Tenochtitlan and neighboring cities rather than a single temple town. Enough raw material for a horde of ghosts.
>> The Pendali lands (hunting range) were all of Seshnela,
> I didn't say the Pendali Hunting Lands, did I? I said the Pendali Lands, If they didn't live where there were hordes of angry ghosts then there is no reason for them to develop a cannibal cult to control them.
Unless they were pushed into such a place as a consequence of the displacement wars fought by the Malkioni of Seshnela.
> What matters is the total number of ghosts. Any religion can handle a hunted ruin no matter how insane with grief its ghosts are.
E.g. sealing it up.
> A whole land of such ghosts is something else, requiring a cannibal cult solution.
You make it look like the Cannibal Cult is the only available solution. A Trickster capturing the ghosts (madmen, raving monsters, whatever) often works just as well, like Jannisor's creation of the Mad Sultanate, sacrificing a smaller portion of land to cleanse a much larger region.
> In Kralorela, this is at least tens of thousands and can arguably be a significant fraction of any kralori who died during ShangHsa's reign.
We don't disagree about the numbers, only about the sources.
>> but quite often all that is required to unleash a plague of ghosts is to slash a single seal warding them in.
> We are not talking about unleashing a plague of ghosts. We are talking about a land where ghosts are found in such large numbers that they threaten to overwhelm the living. If all that was necessary was to contain ghostly hordes was a magical seal then I think Kralorela would have done it long ago. Instead their method is toleration of the Cannibal Cult!
I wouldn't expect the Kralori Cannibal Cult to resemble the Praxian one very much - different ghosts, different motivations, different environment (much easier access to prey in Kralorela, which is teeming with unsuspecting humans).
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