Sideyways Humakti

From: Alex Ferguson <alex_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 95 19:24:41 GMT


Martin agonises at some length over when and how a Humakt can commit suicide:
> Many Humakti, [...] consider suicide an acceptable practice, in the right
> circumstances. [non-lengthy list with lengthy qualifications]

This'd be the god of Death we're speaking of here? I don't think any Humakti would consider it "unacceptable", unless either the means were improper (such as the taking of poison), or ending one's life resulted in some evident failure of Honour or Duty (such as out of cowardice, or to avoid fulfilling an oath). After all, isn't Greg's Humakti quest which guarantees you'll meet the big H himself effectively a form of suicide? Obviously how suicide is viewed is coloured by cultural norms as well as cult attitudes, so suicides and survivors aren't necessarily exactly thrilled at the prospect.

> unlike the majority of people in Orlanthi culture

I'm not convinced the Orlanthi take such a view in general. It's not as if there's a special Orlanthi hell for suicides (as there is for perjurers, say), and I see no evidence that it's a crime or a sin. At the worst it may be something of an impiety, by usurping the hand of Fate.

> It is dishonorable to commit suicide for petty reasons, such
> as emotional depression. It is dishonorable to throw one's life
> away in meaningless battle.

This seems to leave slender margin for any "honourable" suicide under this heading. After all, if the battle isn't meaningless, why would taking part in it constitute suicide?

> The petty suicide destroys his
> reputation, and his spirit must make amends in a future life.

Which Humakti don't believe in, last time I checked (in common with other Orlanthi). This is a whole 'nother can of worms, of course. Which isn't going to stop me from opening it.

If you're a Good Little Theyalan during your life, you go to the afterlife handily provided by your cult. But what if you're not such a Good Little Theyalan? Three possibilities spring to mind:

  1. You go to the Near Enough Appropriate afterlife, but you don't have such a great time of it, due to the lack of esteem your misdeeds places you in.
  2. Soul Lost Property Office: you become a ghost, either lingering in the underworld or returning to the inner world, and probably eventually dissipate.
  3. Fire'n'brimstone. You're whisked off to some form of Hel(l), purgatory, or otherwise separate, specially laid-on fate.

I suspect all three are true to some extent, but in what relative scale is not absolutely clear. I'd guess most unworthy types will fall into 1) or 2), depending on just how impious and shiftless they were in life, with 3) being reserved for very specific categories of personage, those defying the most basic of cultural of values (consorting with chaos, betraying kin), or even more so, acting directly against their cultic precepts. (Murdering Arroyans, oath-breaking Humakti, Uroxi who bathe, etc.)

I wonder if Lunar missionaries preach the benefits of a belief in rebirth? "Screw up in this life, fix it in the next!"

Alex.


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