Gregs idea bugs me a lot. I've not paid much attention to the RQ3 version of Humakt's cult, but the CoP version gives the Humakti cheap access to the first Aid skill, which to me is aligned with life, as well as death. Humakti don't use their swords just for death, but in the service of honour as well.
I have long said to my players that the cults are like society. You get extreme humakti and lax humakti. The extreme ones are fanatics who never stray from the straight and narrow, but the lax ones are technically honourable, they stick to the letter, but not necessarily the spirit, and they aren't in a hurry to get offed. Yeah, sure, they might not make RuneLevel in a hurry, but they're still humakti.
I see them a little like RW Medieval samurai. Yeah, there are some who are eager to die in the service of their Lord, and there is a general acceptance that death isn't a bad thing, but there are also some who aren't in a hurry, and are just as happy being a supervisor working for a lord, and living a long time. Lot's of stuff about being prepared to die at anytime, living like cherry blossoms, but nothing about not being allowed to get to a doctor.
The extreme fanatic humakti who can't even use healing on themselves, is just getting too wierd, I don't mind the odd example of such, but if all of them are like that I can't see that many making runelevel. I don't know about your games, but without healing magic my humakti would either be a bunch of super careful people, or they'd die in droves. Yes, I know that seems to be the point, but this is a different take on humakt from mine. And frankly, there aren't enough CA initiates to go around on adventures.
The "New" Humakti seem to be a bunch of suicidal loopies. It also seems to be reducing the scope of the Cult to a caricature, almost like a GamesWorkshop figure. I don't want that. One of my joys in Glorantha is the depth of social interaction, where even when you know a persons cult and race, you can't always predict what they're going to do next, or who they're going to get on with. You get a bunch of humakti, and you get a bunch of different people, who want different things, and have different attitudes to things. That's what makes Glorantha so much richer for me than other sterotyped games I'm not going to mention, it's why I'm still playing it.
Steve
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