Re: Elder Races

From: David Cake <dave_at_...>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:34:25 +0800

On 18/01/2013, at 5:26 AM, boztakang <daniel.mccluskey_at_...> wrote:

>
> --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, Nick Eden wrote:

>> 
>> Aren't Zorak Zorani required to eat relatives?  Mainly enlo of course.
>> 

>
> It is a common gease of Karrg Sons - so it's the "good boys" doing this - not uncouth rebellious types.
>
> He still isn't allowed to KILL a relative (trollkin aside) to meet (meat?) this requirement, so he needs to be somewhere where relatives are likely to die of other causes (basically, near home) One does not want Her best and most useful menfolk wandering off willy-nilly on "adventures" and whatnot!
>
> Though potentially very confusing to humans, I think the distinction between "eating a relative" and cannibalism would be blindingly obvious to trolls.

	I don't think the difference between eating a relative and cannibalism IS obvious to trolls, at all, because they are, in fact, the same thing. Troll funeral rites aren't just ritualised symbolic cannibalism, but actual serious cannibalism, in which you may (if it is a small funeral) end up with quite  substantial meal. 
	In fact, troll funeral rites are pretty much a text book example of how endo-cannibalism works in human societies that practice it. Pretending that it isn't is just semantic games, of the 'I'm going to redefine what this word means because it sounds icky' variety. 
	
	I think the difference between eating a body as part of a reverential ceremony that you believe aids the deceased, and murdering someone in order to eat them because you are hungry, is blindingly obvious to trolls though, in just the same way as the difference between being given a gift and mugging passers by is blindingly obvious. 
	Cheers
		David