RE: Subject: Which is Worst?
Snappy1988:
> Just out of curiosity, which is worse, kinslaying or secret murder? Also
> when did Urox come along? It was sometime during the chaos but the myths
> never say where! Can someone please answer those 2 questions.
CRIME Kinslaying is the ultimate crime in stead-based Orlanthi society, in both the moral and practical sense.
Kinslaying reveals the shattered heart of Orlanthi culture, as the legal
system is based on bloodlines and clans, not individuals. In kinslaying,
'justice' is difficult if not impossible to obtain - in pursuing it you are
destroying your bloodline and so yourself. The myth about kinslaying in
Harmast Sage (an unpublished work by Greg Stafford) reveals that the only
'cure' for it is to erect ritual objects to help erase the hurt and pain.
Even
Orlanth Justicebringer has no solution.
Secret murder is a crime dragged into Glorantha from Icelandic/Norse society
as portrayed in the Icelandic sagas, and sometimes I think it should have
been translated a little less wholesale. In a magical world, few crimes will
ever remain secret if enough resources are directed to them (summon the
dead person's spirit, use truth spells, ask non-material witnesses,
heroquest...),
and so the Orlanthi perspective on secret murder focuses on the lack/loss of
personal honour, a central part of the Heortling psyche. After all, murder
needn't
necessarily be serious if done for the right reasons (and honourable revenge
is often a 'right' reason). In fact murder can even be undone if acted upon
quickly - one facet of the seriousness of secret murder is that it
decreases the chance of sucessful resurrection.
UROX
Urox (sometimes called the Storm Bull) is a brother of Orlanth. Apart from
the sequences of the Ages, time and causality are very fluid before the
Dawn. Urox was certainly around in the early Storm Age when both he and
Orlanth were made adults by hostile giants (early deities). Or so the myths
tell us. Further
clarity (huh!) can only be gained by making a number of (arbitrary)
assumptions about the nature of both myth and deity in Glorantha - there's a
kind of mythological uncertainty principle at work Walk there if you dare.
ORLANTH THE FARMER
One of the planned essays for Thunder Rebels - 'Become the Thunder', which
is
about everyday Orlanthi life - should (barring unforeseen gregisms) place
farming and farmers squarely back where they belong, which is at the very
heart and centre of Orlanthi culture and society. Everybody ploughs. Even
Orlanthi ploughs.
The clan generation system should appear in the Orlanthi scenario book rather than TR, along with other gm-orientated material.
John
nysalor_at_... John Hughesjohnp.hughes_at_...
... a flying arrow, a crashing wave, night old ice,
a coiled snake, a bride's bed talk, a broken sword, the play of bears, a king's son.
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