Orlanthi Outlawry

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 01:03:01 +1300


Erik Sieurin:

Peter Michaels had written:

>> Someone who is a "bad" member of
>> a cult usually ends up being excommunicated from the cult. I
>> think that for Orlanthi ... but being declared Outlaw
>> always includes being excommunicated.

Erik agreed that Outlaws are excomunicatees:

>If "circumstances"...make you an outlaw, you have the choice - no divine
>support (remember, you killed your cousin Ed, and Orlanth do not like
>"kinstrife") in a world where "the relationship between man and myth
>is essential" - or becoming an Eurmali.

This I doubt very strongly. Outlawry is a _social_ punishment for social offenses. The obligations of kin are social customs and derive not from Orlanth, but from the Laws of King Heort (and Vingkot before him). From KoS p244 'Although sanctioned by the _blessing_of_Orlanth_, outlawry is a lonely ... way of life. An outlaw has been stripped of his obligatory connections to kin, chief and clan.'

Let us say Argrath has been outlawed because he acted dishonorably in fighting over the use of clan property and killed the Godi's son. The clan godi is likely to try and kill Argrath if he sees him without fear of social or religious sanction. But the Godi cannot excommunicate Argrath from Orlanth IMO for the crime is not henious enough. If Argrath travels elsewhere, he can regain his divine magic and get other religious aid from another foreign Godi depending on how kind-hearted the Godi is. And should Argrath find another clan that is willing to take him in, he can resume regular worship of Orlanth.

However if Argrath bushwacked the Tribal King as he was praying in the Sacred Grove and sold the Regal Body to a Vampire for necromantic purposes and then hightailed it with the money to the Local Lunar Temple, using the money to pay the initiation fee and blabbing the cultic secrets to the local Irrippi Ontor Sage, then I would say he would be excommunicated as well as outlawed.

All IMO.

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