David Hall replied:
>(Snip) But, yes, Humakt is apart from all the other gods. So his cult is apart.
>Thus, all worshippers of Humakt are set apart from the cultural norm - they
>all worship Death & War *together* as swordbrothers. It is not a cult for
>loners, it is a cult alone.
The cult is a group of people who have a common identity which is like any other fringe groups identity - it gives them pride in the face of tremendous social pressure from the majority who don't follow this line. However, Humakti are violent folk, they fight among themselves, sometimes to the death and are always testing one another - theirs is an uneasy togetherness and unlike Orlanth worshippers, they have no cult and social reason to be cooperative. Humakti give respect to ability but they can fight any member of their cult. Rank is not social with them, unlike most Orlanthi.
In the cult description, Humakt did everything alone - he _wandered_ the world and righted wrongs, killed bad guys and basically fought the whole time. Humakt was estranged from his kin as all Humakti are by their initiation ceremony.
I would go as far to say that the actual initiation ceremony itself involves leaving your clan - you can return but to be a full initiate, or Sword, you have to go on your quest - to metaphorically "find your blade" as Humakt did.
Here is my idea of Humakti procedure for intitiation:
(1). The would be initiate must prove their ability - Humakt won't accept those who have not the skills or will to emulate his way. Therefore a rigorous series of tests of endurance, skill, soul and strength are performed by the Sword.
(2). If they pass, then they are taught the first secrets of the cult, the initiates rituals and the great prayers.
(3). Then the Sword will take them before their clan - probably a full moot - and sever them from their people. They do this ritually of course. The initiate will ritually accuse the Chief (Orlanth) of letting expediency shape his honour, of letting life come before truth. The Clan as a whole will be derided for seeking survival before truth and for the theft of the Sword to further their own ends. The initiate will disown the Clan, his family and all obligation.
In return, the Clan will severe him from obligation to them, his family will remove him from the Bloodline and as he turns his back on them, they turn their back on him also. The Clan will give the initiate nothing, nor will his family
(4). At this point, when the severing ceremony is finished the initate is taken before the assembled Swordbrothers (from the tribe, the clan and the Swords following) for the final ceremony. He is told that he is alone, as we are all alone in the face of existance - the only certainty is Death. It comes to all and Humakt is its wielder.
To understand the lessons and myths they have been taught, the initate must take the solo path of Humakt, must be blooded in war and must survive alone, as the God did. This is a heroquest and is a matter of awesome courage for the initate - - they have just lost their Clan, family and friends and now are made to leave the only thing they have left - the cult.
They go out into the world and seek an understanding of Humakt - they wander the lands looking for struggle, for war, for a heroic deed to perform - often they don't return but most do and they have learnt that with the sureity of Death in them, they fear nothing. If they return the Sword and the Swordbrothers welcome them as full initiates - the gift and geases they recieve are based on their sojourn - if they saw that lying or poison were wrong, then they take those gifts, if they saw that secret murder is the antithesis of Humakt, then they take sense assassin.
If they go back to their clan to seek employment as a Huscarl, they are considered a stranger. Often Humakti seek employment in Clans other than their own because of the pain of seperation or because they had good cause to leave their clan.
For a Sword of Humakt a similar but more complicated ritual is performed - they
are meant to follow the same path but theirs must be more heroic still. To be a
hero of Humakt the path that is followed must be incredible and be filled with
great deeds.
There are many Humakti who don't seek anything other than initation and they
form the bulk of the Huscarls but there are those Humakti, the true fanatics,
who seek the deeper mysteries, who seek to align themselves closely with their
God and these men are the true loners.
>Just 'cos one god embodies a principle or cultural role doesn't mean his
>worshippers also embody those principles in the singular rather than
>plural. C'mon!
It depends on the God. Orlanth has singualr roles and there are some Orlanthi (adventurous) who follow that aspect but most do not, they follow the social aspects of Orlanth and this is why Orlanthi is a Greater God like Yelm, Shargash or Kyger Litor. Humakti have only the one aspect to follow and his path is singular - though Humakt fought as a Huscarl, it was as a loner that he achieved his greater deeds. To HumaKti the progression in the cult might look like this:
(1). Swordbrother - Huscarl (2). Sword (tribal champion) (3). Lesser hero (worshipped in a local area for a great deed but generally notfollowed)
(4). Swordbrother - Wanderer (a rare thing this but it does happen) (5). Sword (independant - not linked to clan but relatively static in society) (6). Sword (wanderer - goes where there is war and is beholden to noone) (7). Greater hero - worshipped accross the cult for incredible deeds that shapedits way.
Therefore Humakti can be in society and mostly are but its not the cult ideal because hardly anyone can live up to so hard an ideal in any society.
Martin Laurie
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