Joerg and others have pointed out: > However, the origin of the cult of Humakt is via the birth of Arkat Humaktsson.
Isn't it just a teensy bit possible that Arkat is only metaphorically "the son" of Humakt?
> Is procreation? {a gift from the ancient gods of life] Mostali do it
(reluctantly).
I believe some old Gloranthan source said that procreation is a gift from Uleria. Supposedly, it is very universal, as Uleria is a very generous goddess. Even Mostali live, and therefore procreate. But are Humakti alive? Maybe so - maybe their status varies at different times in their lives.
JB>Perhaps: Children sired by or born to worshippers of these (sub)cults
become
tools of death.
I think this would require a special ritual. Children are the very embodiment of life. They even smell new.
JB>But seriously, Death is not the opposite of Fertility, but its
logical
partner. Death creates Fertility. Best in Dragon Pass - the bloodier the
battles, the better next year's harvest.
This is a Gloranthan truth - and is quite prevalent in Peloria, land of balance, illumination, and opposites attreacting. The Earth Goddesses of DP also know this secret, but I don't think the storm cults of DP have much embraced it. Humakt, particularly, seems to reject it. Humakt allows no Resurrection, and is the god of severance and ending, NOT of cycles. If any Death god in Glorantha is the antithesis of life and antifertility, it is Humakt. Yes - some death gods are associated with fertility, but Humakt is not.
BTW - I think Yanafal Tarnils has no big fertility loss. He has been healed by the Goddess. He has been made whole. (In game terms, he also allows Resurrection, and does not have as strong a tie w/ Sever Spirit as Humakt.)
Someone asked why we should care what one group of people knows of what the other believes - that is, why should Sartarites care what Lunars believe?
Two reasons: know your enemy, and MGF.
In our last Alkoth game, Yulpana, a noble woman and Lunar initiate, asked the handsome Imperial Army officer who had escorted her to the circus what he thought of the the beliefs of the Southern Barbarians. Now, this officer had just returned from ten years of warring against the Sartarites and Praxians. He was quite intelligent, classically educated in the Yelmic tradition, and had even learned the barbarians' language to better understand them. He replied:
"They are a courageous people, and cunning. But they are completely lacking in justice. They devote all their thoughts to defining justice anew for every situation, and to arguing the results among themselves. This makes them disorganized and vulnerable. They live is a sorrowful state of savagery."
Meanwhile, the crowd around them watched the young woman and the sakkar* in the ring below, and howled for blood.
*(a sakkar is a sabre-tooted tiger indigenous to Peloria, an animal which symbolizes fear to the Dara Happans.)
I have always enjoyed the great ironies found in the contradictions between cultures.
Pam
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