Rape, Succubi and Broos

From: Paolo Guccione <p.guccione_at_geco.it>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 12:51:58 +0200


Phil Hibbs:
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> If a lone man rapes a girl, then he risks becoming
> Broo. If a raiding party 'make sport' of some captives
> while on a raid, then IMO they would not, if it is seen as part of the
> prize for raiding one's neighbors. Remember that we take the crime
> much more seriously than our ancestors did,

I agree with Phil here. Even nowadays, mass rapes are considered by many cultures (and _all_ armies) as necessary consequences of other violent activities. I think that most Gloranthan cultures would consider it a crime only if committed against a member of the same clan/tribe. Strange as it may sound to 20th century people, rape is probably a crime against family and society rather than against the individual at the civilization level reached in Glorantha.

Nevertheless, "rape against one's tribe" could and should have strong effects on the culprit. He is likely to become an outcast, a person who has placed himself outside his society, and may even become a Broo, i.e. a man who has placed himself out of mankind, if his crime was particularly hideous. But the chance of the latter happening should not be very high, IMHO.

As for the result of committing an intrinsically chaotic (anti-fertile) act, and thus letting more chaos into the world, I think this is better depicted by the creation (embodying?) of a spirit of anti-fertility, i.e. a Succubus, from the chaotic energies left out of the act, rather than turning the offender into a broo for "worshiping Thed". The Glorantha Bestiary seems to point out that the Succubus is formed, and not allowed to pass on the mundane plane from the Otherworld like a Ghoul, as the result of rape, but this may not be the truth. I think that a chaos entity spawned by rape should tend to appear in male form rather than female, so it is better referred to as an Incubus.

Panu Pasanen pointed out that a rate of conversion of 1 rape = 1 Incubus would soon make Glorantha overcrowded of these undesirable guests. I agree here, too. But, having used these creatures IMG many times, I can assure that they are wonderful scenario hooks. And, incidentally, it may be that my character is going after one, and not to destroy it, in a "certain" PBEM. So rapes occurring in or about your GM's campaign area are _very_ likely to produce an Incubus.  

Paolo Guccione	p.guccione_at_geco.it
		http://www.geco.it/~guccione

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