Wulf:
> Didn't Vinga chop the giant's head off in her myth in Storm Tribe? I
> feel a feat coming on... And Humakt, of course, has a Decapitate Foe
> feat.
Yes, she brings the head of the giant Bansh Bone-Biter to her father. Not exactly typical for a vingan, but when the Daugher is roused to her vengeance fury almost *anything* is possible. A Vingan's call for vengeance goes beyond law, beyond honour, beyond even taboo. I'd see head taking as definitely within a Vingan hero's scope if it involved a vengeance vow.
Also, Vinga can gain powers from a vanquished foe - which is one of the reasons for headtaking in Celtic mythology. She gained the Defender Storm from Yiril when she 'honourably spared him'. This doesn't sound like a head taking, but losing a head isn't necessarily death to a God in the Storm Age. (Heck, most Vadrudi have three or four anyway... :) )
So we have myths where Vinga takes heads, and myths where Vinga gains powers from a defeated foe. Somewhere there may be combination myths where Vinga takes the powers of a beheaded foe. Never to brag or boast, or for personal gain, but for vengeance, for life, for the clan.
If such a Vinga myth exists, I don't think it would be shared around the hearth... Vingans are for life, for finding other ways, and killing never comes easy to them. But when the blind fury of vengeance is invoked... nothing is beyond a Red Daughter. This contradiction is for me the heart of playing a Vingan, and one of the reasons they're so much fun in game.
So at least a possibility of Vingans taking heads for vengeance, and humakti taking heads...well for honour I guess. Neither are exactly mainstream. And I think both would have cultic reasons and appropriate rituals/feats for making sure the head taking wouldn't pollute or trap the breath of the deceased - as Oliver suggested. Vingans are as fiercely for life as humakti are for death, but in many ways the cults are quite similar.
Just my three clacks and a mouldy bolg...
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
Every duck has his limit, and you scum have pushed me over the line!
Desperate ducks commit desperate acts!
- Howard the Duck.
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