Humakti beliefs

From: Paul2.Harmaty <Paul2.Harmaty_at_aig.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 9:46:33 -0500


Brian McKinley stated a few issues back ...

>IMO a Humakti would welcome Death as long as it was a Death that followed the
>path of Humakt. ie a Humakti would not be happy at being killed if he was
going
>to slip in a dog turd in his garden and impale his head on the rake.

>Death is the ending that should come to all but dying properly is utterly
>important to the Humakti. This is one reason why they seek out conflicts and
>wars, do dangerous jobs and perform heroic tasks.

and on the other hand David Dunham reminds us ...  

>Greg Stafford likes to tell the story of how he offered his gaming group
>(presumably full of Humakti characters) the chance to go on a Humakti
>heroquest whose goal was to meet Humakt. Nobody took him up on it.
 

I've heard Greg tell this story and I took it to be a dig at players who want to worship a death
God to enhance their characters but don't fully appreciate all the implications. That being,
a worshipper of death should not fear Death.

I may have it wrong, but I doubt that any Humakt heroquest could result in a "bad" death. In
otherwords I agree with Mr.McKinley that the nature of your death is important and further
by serving Humakt faithfully, a "good" death is assured.

IMG all devout Humakti are assured that they won't be taken "before their time". They believe that
their God alone decides when you will die so that it is pointless to try to avoid death. It is because of
this freedom from the fear of death that they throw themselves into conflicts. "If it is Humakt's will, today is a good day to die."

This also helps the character sell the religion. A Humakti need never fear he will die in a "less"
than noble manner. They see this as a distinct advantage over fearing starvation or accidental
death. The fact that some Humakti may actually die by accident is then viewed as the will of Humakt,
but it causes reflection on what action the deceased took (or didn't take) that caused his death. The
usual rational is that he tried in some way to escape his appointed hour. Perhaps he was overly
cautious at a time when recklessness was required.

IMC only one player ever chose to be a Humakt initiate. She never asked or expected the other
characters to follow her into danger. However, since all the PCs were cousins, they usually did.
Her impulsiveness and utter disregard for danger was unnerving to her companions, but made
for colorful role-playing. "We're all doomed" whining was typical, sounding a lot like the marines in
Aliens. If the characters had not all been related (and kin-bound) they'd have probably let her seek
her own Doom. Which is probably what most "sane" people should do with most Humakti.   

Am I way off base on this? It worked well for me and provided MGF. How do other people view
the a Humakti's regard for his own life?



Dragons live forever, but not so little boys

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