Joerg:
>Note that I said "around", not "in" Dragon Pass.
OK, but unless the survivors all decide to retire *in* Dragon Pass then there's no problem!
Devout Humakti from Sartar/Heortland will sing their Death Song on a good day to die. Maybe non-devout Humakti can leave the cult, break their swords, and take up farming. But given the dread oaths Humakti have to take before they join they should know better and be prepared for death. As I said before, it ain't the Boy Scouts they're joining, it's the god of Death.
(Note: having just seen the DS9 episode "To the Death", there are many aspects of the Jem 'Hadar that are close to my idea of good Humakti!)
>>But outsiders don't fit the profile.
>They fill the temples, though.
Except that, if they are Humakti, they will bring their own regimental temple with them. And who filled the local temple before they arrived? Was it waiting there just hoping a couple of thousand foreign mercs would turn up? IMO Sartar is not littered with large Humakti temples, most are small shrines connected to Orlanthi holy places. I think that there are only four to six large (i.e. well-used) Humakti temples in Sartar, at least two of which are wandering warband temples.
Joerg
>This goes back to the discussion between disparate monotheism
>within a polytheistic culture
Yes. The relationship between the gods and the worshippers in a pantheon is crucial. IMO at present the RQ rules don't support pantheistic worship. They're too hung up on the chinese menu approach of choosing a cult. But I suspect that will change with the new game.
Below is how I reckon it should or could work. It hopefully further illuminates my strident views on Humakti devotees.
IMO, in Sartar/Heortland, there are two levels or ways of worshipping Humakt: through membership of the pantheon, and as a devotee of the god within the pantheon.
The first is through the common membership of Orlanth and Ernalda. IMO all children in an Orlanthi clan are first of all initiated into Orlanth/Ernalda and become farmers/herders/craftspeople, etc. There's no direct route to Humakt, Chalana arroy, etc. (Note: this is the 85% rule for normal people.)
Through Orlanth & Ernalda you can access minor Humakti magic, minor Uroxi magics, etc., either sacrificing for it on the god's holy day or by setting up a specific big ritual to them. Now, normally this would only be done in a situation where the whole clan really needs those magics, i.e. for Humakt a big war or raid, and for Urox a chaos infestation. But these magics are limited, you don't get the full range of choice, and you don't have to follow all the strictures of the god (and even if you do it's only for a limited period).
It's a bit like the Spirit Cult rules, but not so predatory in nature.
The second level is to become a devotee of the god. To be initiated into Humakt or Urox, or whatever. You therefore give up being a farmer to devote yourself to all aspects of your chosen god. You take the oath, you sacrifice something to gain the magical benefits your god gives. This gives you full access to the gods magic (well, not quite full until you become a priest) but also means you have to follow all the strictures and taboos.
You then take up the role of your god within the pantheon. For Humakti the role of professional warriors and huscarls. For Uroxi wandering or hired berserks. For Chalana Arroy full-time healers. Often, this may mean that you have to leave the clan, to serve at a tribal or even kingdom level - not that these cults necessarily exist at those political levels.
Clear?
A similar situation also occurs in the cities of Sartar. These have been established for a short time and generally follow the Orlanthi pattern. Here the city craft guilds take the place of the clans, worshipping Orlanth the craftsman or subcults such as Wilm the Craftsman. The mayor of the city becomes the "tribal king", the Captain of militia "the Champion", and the full-time militiamen the Humakti devotees/huscarls, etc.
All in IMHO, of course.
Jim Bickmeyer:
>Infertile, blood thirsty, single-minded, shallow, killing machine.
or
>Alive, Honorable, Multi-faceted, Depth, Well Trained.
As long as you're not suggesting the former Humakti is a loner, he definitely is not. His Swordbrothers and his Sword are his life and his family. Also, he does know honour and he is well-trained. Even Sartarite Humakti have a code, it just includes celebacy.
(Note the change in my argument from infertile to celebate! Same effect, but more choice and consequences!)
I reckon you can have fun role-playing both. IMO it would be harder and more challenging to play the former, because of the celebacy and increased emphasis on Death. The latter is in more danger of lapsing into the archetypal PC, who does what he or she wants. But neither one is right or wrong.
If you want to make worshipping Death more acceptable then you can tack on to it honour, truth, chivalry, duelling codes, distaste for drawing blood while hacking someone apart, the Geneva convention, etc. But all you are really doing is wrapping up a rather nasty business in pretty paper with nice ribbons.
I reckon that the more primitive the culture the less pretty paper there is.
In a, sadly unpublished, 1992 draft of Greg Stafford's Glorantha: the Game the Orlanthi cultural norm for the personality trait Progenitive/Chaste is 75%, while the Humakti norm is 0%. But, that was five years ago...
All Hail the Reaching Storm!
David Hall
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