Humakt parallels in the RW (possibly):
The French Foreign Legion (to forget: Separation) Hezbollah (Death for Freedom (in their eyes)) William Wallace, as in Braveheart (similar to above: Death for
Freedom)
Knights Templar (Death in the cause of God (probably a different
God, say Orlanth))
Whoever had Death before Dishonour as their motto
Carlos the Jackal (Death for Money)
The Branch Dravidians (Waco) (Death in the service of a leader)
Serial Killers/Psychopaths (Death for the feelings it brings)
Armed Police Officers(Death for the Greater Good: surgical killing)
If I think of more I'll post them.
Any of these is possible with Humakt, but as some have said before I think it depends on the hierarchy of your temple more than any one true way. Death and Truth have so many different meanings, and the emphasis can vary so much, that any interpretation is justifiable. The True Death. The Dead Truth. The Death of Truth. The Truth of Death. The Honourable Death. Death. Truth through Death/war.
This can lead to an endless variety of Humakt cults around Glorantha:
Berserks seeking a 'good death' in battle
Honourable warriors bound by oaths of allegiance
Zen artists seeking the perfection of the way of the Sword
Mercenary soldiers
Enforcers of the law of their particular city/country/clan
Guerrilla fighters seeking to overthrow a tyrannical 'evil Empire'
Sexual deviants who like the feeling of 'slipping it in' and the
death rattle
Bitter, introverted vengeance-seekers (like what's-his-name
in TOTRM14, although he was chucked out of his hierarchy)
And so on and so forth. We have, really, only one source for the Humakt Cult, and that is Sartar-based. Would that be relevant in Dorastor, or the Wastelands, or Carmania, or Esrolia, let alone Pamaltela or the West? Do these other places then have their own Death Gods, or are they all masks of Humakt? Is there one Death, or a variety of cultural ones, and if there are a variety, can Humakt not have different appearances, too, like Trickster (surely death is at least as universal as Trickster)?
Of course, in the context of Onslaught, he operates largely within one society, which has its own mores and laws, and Humakti in this society seem to be separate but bound within it. Onslaught would therefore have to be either supported or tolerated by his hierarchy, and so by Humakt itself (how do you sex a God?).
My problem, and the reason I wrote the gripping Hard-On story, was that Onslaught was not an incidence in isolation. Combine him with dead-hand Deville and his bunch of unkillable odd-balls, and you have an indication of the way someone's mind works. I have nothing against the stories (and quite enjoyed them, but sometimes I've seen Baywatch), but in their totality you have a group of unstoppable, unkillable characters, who can do things like kill anyone they don't like, recruit large bodies of seasoned troops, destroy whole temples (that is what a Black Fang base is) and walk away whistling a happy tune. And why, if Onslaught is so tied to death etc., are he and his allied spirit still using healing?
Esrolia:
Esrolia is Life and Fertility, and so gives power to those who give Life. Even for Death to protect Life.
David Henderson (just to confuse those who use only first names still further)
PS: call me childish, but I enjoyed the image of Onslaught nutting lawyers (banging his head against the suers)!
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