Alex asks:
> Does that also apply to the Weeders? Or do these poor peasants have to be
>decapitated every time they come into the city to sell their food and wares?
Weeders only go into Alkoth if they are criminals, sacrifices or a small group who have initiated into Alkor and are really no longer Weeders but go betweens for the two cultures.
>I think that the Weeders shouldn't qualify as Alkothi, but all the markets
>of Alkoth are inside the gates!
I think that the majority of markets are outside the gates, though there are markets inside, they are for Alkothi rather than the Henjarl population at large.
>And anyway trade is important in Alkoth - at
>least this is what Khorvash (the character of the "What my Father...") tells
>his son.
Yes, its very important, important enough for the gate middle men to make a large amount of money from it. Food supply is regulated in part by the Alkor cult which controls price rises caused by this middle man situation so that the city maintains a decent balance of payments.
> Wouldn't it make more sense to have an outer city, outside the wall, where
>the Purified and the Impure may meet on neutral ground (even a transient
>town, which breaks up at the beginning of winter), and an Inner City
>reserved for those who have been deemed worthy of dwelling in the house of
>the destroyer?
Effectively this is the case yes. Alkoths wall precludes docking facilities. These are outside the city and that region is the place where all the trade goes on. Alkoth is a major centre for trade but not _through_ the city, more around it and from it.
> Yelm, there is a bleak dark, stormy and malevolent (unless you're
> an Alkothi,
> then its peaceful and wonderous).
> But it's still bleak dark, stormy and malevolent, isn't it? :)
Oh yes! Sometimes meteors falsh overhead lighting the city red, sometimes Shargash hovers over the city and all are bathed in his red glow. Sometimes hordes of sky folk, demons or other dark powers can be seen battling in the blackened sky, especially on holy days. On Holy days, the whole _city_ is a temple and moves through the god plane. On those days you can leave the city into any age that the city appeared in and heroquest. This has made it a popular spot for many Lunar heroquesters who can survive the experience. At the culminating point of some of the rituals, the city is _in_ the underworld or _on_ the Red Planet and one can experience the world looking down upon it or up into the dark heavens of Hell. Alkoth is the place where Bijiif Yelm came through to reach his doom and so High Holy day ceremonies show the drama of that, as well as the moment when Shargash found the Death Bolt and slew that which was within.
Any wonder why the Alkothi love it so and would live nowhere else?
> Step 1: You are tested by the gate priests for signs of
> Kazkurtum, who must
> not be allowed in, nor ever has. If you are chaotic, or manifest
> evil ways,
> you are not only forbidden entrance, but are attacked and hacked
> to pieces in
> His name.
> Even an Ogre cloaked by Detection Blank (or similar effect)?
The challenge to enter the city would be at high mastery. Probably 10w3 to 10w4 which would mean that the Ogre would have to have extreme power. Such power would be detectable from other factors in part. Even if he made it past the gates, there are things in the city of truly great power. Shargash himself is manifested there permanently, it IS his realm on the Gods plane after all. You would find yourself messing with a 10w9 entity plus his entire sub-pantheon and all his constrained demons. Good luck.
>BTW, how would
>an Humakti behave in Alkoth? Would he feel at home, or would he see undead
>everywhere? Would he feel like an undead himself?
First thing, Alkoth is part of the underworld, part of a god plane existence where life and death were mixed. It is _not_ the same thing as Undeath at all. A Humakti would feel somewhat better than most other cultists in that his own rituals and own place on the Gods plane is in the underworld, so he spends much of his holy time there anyway. His God was also very active during the same period as Shargash, ie the Darkness and Greater Darkness. A Humakti would thus find the city different, if not entirely foreign.
>As I understand it, this Decapitation Ritual is like a temporary lay
>membership into Shargash's cult, much like entering in a river cult to
>navigate that river's waters. That would entail all kind of runic
>incompatibilities. Something more to think upon...
It is a form of lay membership, by entering, you are not changing religion, but you are acknowledging Shargash and his suzerainty over that place.
> An Alex who will soon convert all of Italy to the Lunar Way.
Good for you!
Long live the Empire
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