FIRST
Patrik Sandberg, thank you for your kind words and for your =93Orlanthi
Holy Day 1617=94. I hope I can give it the reply it deserves before too
many more days have passed.
=
NEXT Tealophiles Unite! We have nothing to lose but cigar jokes...
THEN Why would anyone hunt heads (or related activities like taking scalps)?
Its obvious ain=92t it? Terr show yrrr a real man. Cause its the way we=92=
ve
always done it. To steal the fighting prowess of another warrior and
absorb it yourself, or to capture a spirit to guard your hearth or lodge
entrance. To honour your clan, and to demonstrate your superior humanity
as opposed to those not-quite-fully-human rivals cross the river. Or to
defile and express utter contempt for a fallen enemy.
Cultural co-determinates?? (Real world - not necessarily Glorantha). Off
the top of my head (so to speak) either high population density OR
severely strained resource base, relative lack of kinship ties with the
hunted group (no intermarrying), a communal based justice/vengeance
system as opposed to a centralised and abstract Rule of Law, and a
strong *solitary* warrior ethic. (You don=92t take heads if you=92re in t=
he
middle of a phalanx). =
To determine whether or not a given Orlanthi group still hunt heads, =
I=92d ask the big question: =93Do they raid cattle?=94
Okay, its certainly possible for a culture to promote both activities
simultaneously. (The =91Tain=92 is an obvious example, though I could mou=
nt
a case for it being collected fragments from widely disparate eras).
However, in terms of absorbing cultural energies my simple mind goes for
an either/or dichotomy.
Cattle Raiding utilises the same rationale as the taking of heads,
though it promotes life-making (herding) skills rather than strictly
death-making ones, its rewards may be practically shared to the good of
the entire bloodline (BBQ tonight at Yelmset), and it is infinitely more
subtle in variation. In Upland Far Point, a cattle-obsessed culture if
ever there was one, there are rules and traditions covering infinite
graduations of raiding. If you raid close kin you give the cattle back
and laugh about it, if you raid another clan you declare yourself and
make sure no one gets killed, and if you raid another tribe or other
subhumans (Strict and Particular Solars, Loonies, Tarshites with funny
accents, women without tattoos), well anything goes and accidents do
(frequently) happen.
(Alas, raiding brings no permanent advantage, as the determining factor
ecologically is not herd size but how many cattle you can barn and
sustain through the terrible upland winters. The biggest cattle-stealing
steads tend to have the greatest number of stead trollkin. And of course
that leads to ...)
Headhunting is certainly well-known amongst the Bluefoot Orlanthi; it features strongly in both myth and legend, and certain cultic rituals demand it still. When a new chief is made or the Wild Immortals placated, or when a personal vendetta comes to its ordained conclusion, heads simply must roll. It is not, however, generally regarded as a sign of warrior prowess or masculinity. To my thinking, the main reason it persists is probably related to kinstrife: the defilement of hated enemies and the despair that cries out to darkness, =93We are a single body sundered.=94 =
As for raiding... LOL sit yerself down and let me tell you about raiding... Why only last week me and me two cousins...
=
John
"There was a muddy centre before we breathed.
There was a myth before the myth began,
Venerable and articulate and complete.
=
From this the poem springs: that we live in a place That is not our own and, much more, not ourselves, And hard it is in spite of blazoned days."
Wallace Stevens. "Notes Towards A Supreme Fiction"
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #132
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