Re: Humakti questions

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 01:27:01 +0100 (BST)


Simon Hibbs:
> For Orlanthi, honour is very closely associated with responsibility.

I agree, absolutely. I killed him, I admit it, so what -- and what are you going to do about it? OK, I screwed up, I'll fix it...

> Humakti accept full personal responsibility for their acts, as does
> their god. Humakt went so far as to sever all ties of kinship with
> his family in order that he alone would be responsible for his
> acts. I do not agree with some other posters that he severed his
> kinship ties so that he would not be blamed for Oralnth's slaying
> of Yelm, though this may be a common belief even among Gloranthans.

I always got the impression that the first one was the 'Orlanthi' version, and the second the 'Humakti' version. Simply based on which god it implicitly disses, basically.

I think that there should be no doubt that Humakti are Honourable. Honour is one of Orlanth's virtues, and Humakti are Orlanthi, and as it were 'emphasise' the virtues of Honour and Courage above the other four. (I'm speaking of those Humakti who are (still) culturally Heortling, at least. nW4 Men With No Name who have 'transcended' such petty considerations I don't presume to speak of here, nor 'Carmanian Humakti' (still not down on this, alas -- no hope of a Naff RetCon(TM) to reveal the name of the god _actually_ worshipped in Carmania, at all, Martin/Nick/Loren?)

But it's important to realize what sort of 'honour' is being spoken of. Certainly nothing much like chivalry, for starters. An 'honourable' Heortling (H.ti esp.) is one who keeps his sworn word, doesn't do overtly sneaky stuff, and takes no shit off anyone, that'd be a reasonable first approximation. Considerations of mercy, forgiveness, or flowery courtesy need hardly apply. Humakt's geasa give a handy notion of what's both honourable for a Humakti, and what's ritually powerful. Though naturally part of Humakti honour is keeping whatever oath or geas you've sworn, no matter _how_ stupid it might be...

> Having
> said that, someone obsessed with killing above all else might be tempted
> to use chaotic powers to enhance his ability to kill.

Ah, cool. An account of Onslaught that I like even better than my theory that he's an incarnation of Trickster the Murderer. ;-)

Cheers,
Alex.


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