Me:
> > Humakti are a classic example of a liminal category - someone or
> something
> > that doesn't neatly fit into one category or another, sitting on a
> shadowy
> > area somewhere on the boundary between two things
Him:
> Fancy term for "borderline".
Bit more than that. A google search on 'borderline' isn't going to get you much useful stuff, but one on 'liminality' will lead you to heaps of material on ritual, initiation and myth. Liminality is a core concept in understanding all three, and, as myth creators, it deserves at least a fleeting recognition as part of our toolkit.
>Around here, non-rule-following road users are known to we
>liminal cyclists (borderline between pavement and road, and come
>to that life and death) as "cars"...
And Fergus rules the brazen cars... :)
> I don't have ST to hand, alas, but I would not play this as
> an absolutely immunity to all attempts at legal sanction for
> any and all killing. Rather I would allow that "that was a
> sacred killing" was an 'affirmative defence' against such a
> suit.
It worth reading ST 63 on this. Your suggestion is doubtless within the range of clan variation. In which case, 'resheafing' would be more about 'who pays' - kin rather than cult. I think the discussion has emphasised that its not necessarily law suits that's going to get you results with a humakti anyway. Appeals to honour will gain admission of killings, and may oalso produce spontaneous offers of weregild. And as a narrator, bastard that I am, I might suggest through the head of the local sword temple that sometimes a humakti murder will be asked to kill themselves to prove the purity of their killing and to preserve social harmony. Being a humakti should be tough, even for a pc. :)
(Over and above the pragmatics already mentioned.) As
> an off the top of my head, I'd suggest that "divine necessity"
> was a possible defence for persons of any initiatory status,
> in the right circumstances. (Yinkin/Orlanth/Wakboth made me
> do it, guv.)
Hmmm. Heortling law is not really about cause or motivation, it's about compensation to the affected kin group and social harmony. ST lists the cults "above" the law - these are Humakt, Eurmal, Urox, the Gor sisters, "and sometimes others". In most other cults, such arguments *might* reduce the compensation payments, but I don't see them holding that much weight in the majority of circumstances. Is every Niskisi free to commit adultery and unbounded sex , cause 'the daemon made me do it'? If so, surely *every* initiated male would join. It's a mission from god, after all. :)
Nice work if you can get it...
I think in general terms, precedents at law are less useful than a close examination of the particular circumstances, politics and power relations surrounding a given crime. Outcomes can be extremely flexible, depending on the social power of the conflicted parties.
Cheers
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
Came Blanid, Mac Nessa, tall Fergus who feastward of old time slunk, Cook Barach, the traitor; and warward, the spittle on his beard never dry, Dark Balor, as old as a forest, car-borne, his mighty head sunk Helpless, men lifting the lids of his weary and death-making eye.
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