Kinslaying

From: Lemens, Chris <CLemens_at_exchange.webmd.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 17:19:28 -0500


Kinslaying is only a crime after the concept of "kin" is invented. It seems to me that, before Orlanth made the first stead/bloodline/clan/tribe/ring/band/widget, Vadrus was just a blustery obnoxious guy who was also descended from Orlanth's dad. He was not "kin" in the legal and magical sense that makes a kinslaying so troublesome. For that mater, no one was.

Put another way, the reason that kinslaying is so troublesome is that there is no legally and mythically appropriate way of dealing with the killing. This was true of ALL killings before Orlanth invented those legally and mythically appropriate ways. It is kind of a state of nature.

Of course, if he offed Vadrus after he invented the law, this whole idea is bogus.

Chris Lemens


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