Well, I don't! I think this is very much a matter that different Gloranthan cultures will (probably heatedly) disagree on, so I think having one definitive answer would be altogether less interesting. I believe it's already been Sandied that "civilised" butchers don't use a herder-type Peaceful Cut; similarly I think there's every reason to suspect that Hunters have a different "take" on the matter too.
> The Balazarings use a version of the Peaceful Cut, yet (most) are
> hunter/gatherers. I don't think Peaceful Cut requires a live animal,
> just an animal spirit that needs reassurance.
Ah, an RQ2 die-hard, mark me. ;-) The GoG version of PC is fairly live-animal specific, if I recall correctly, as it's done together with a Butchery test to slaughter the poor beastie. Besides, don't you know that Bazalar is Officially Blank? (Greg didn't, the time I mentioned it to him!) But I agree with you when you say:
> The Balazarings also hunt by chasing herds over cliffs. I imagine there
> are hefty rituals required afterwards, to prevent the locale being so
> full of angry spirits that no self respecting animal would go near
> them.
Or as Hugh McVicker suggests:
> Every Year at HHD we preform the major Peace Cut
> ritual to free all the spirits caught in agony since their death.
I'd just question whether it's useful to regard this as the same thing as Peaceful Cut, or more to the point, whether either type of culture, Herder or Hunter, sees them as being magically (never mind morally) interchangeable. It may be a considerable generalisation, but I suspect hunters, particularly the more primitive hunters, are more likely to go in for this sort of mass ritual. ("Dear God, can we have some more antelope, please. Regards, Zong and the Boys. P.S., that last one was a bit on the sharp side, steady on.") Cave Paintings, Sacred Time rites, yadda-yadda, as opposed to a per-animal individual spell, or worrying about one particular spirit, as opposed to the Collective Antelope.
The Entekosiad has some Hunter myths in it that allude to this sort of thing, though the details escape me for now. I believe it involves Greg's "everything dies -- bummer" aspect, though. ;-)
Slainte,
Alex.
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