The vintage Runequest requirement for Kaarg's Sons "must eat relative every season" always rubbed me a little the wrong way. It's managable now, with trollkin running around--but the requirement, presumably, goes back before the Curse of Kin. And given that Kaarg's Sons are the *non*-psycho warrior cult, the dedicated Defenders of Home and Lack-of-Hearth, it just felt wrong that they went around eating their relatives. Aren't they all about protecting their relatives?
But there's an exception built in: Participating in a troll-style funeral for a relative counts as fulfilling the requirement. My take--I'll work this out--is that this is the way the obligation was always fulfilled in pre-Curse of Kin days (and now among Hot Trolls), and still the predominate way even in the 3d Age.
First off: What does "relative" mean in this context? I submit that
"relative" means "anyone you can *trace your relation to*". A Kaarg's
son might count absolutely any troll as a relative, *if* he can draw the
family tree. Heck, it wouldn't even have to be a troll--if a Kaarg's Son
could trace his ancestry all the way up to Grandfather Mortal, then down
from GM to, say, Argrath Horsestealer, Argrath qualifies as a
"relative".
So... if a Kaarg's Son lives in an established community, and is on good terms with the matriarchy, *everyone* probably counts as a relative. The Great Mothers have genealogy out the wazoo. Under these circumstances, the obligation is easy to fill. Before the first funeral of the season, the Kaarg's Son goes to the Great Mother and says, "Is Woogok a relative of mine?" The Great Mother says, "Why, certainly, he's your 7th cousin four times removed" and describes the connection. The KS can go to the funeral and fulfill his obligation. He only runs into a problem if there are no deaths in a season--unlikely, and if it looks like it's going to happen, he can lead a raiding party against the local Orlanthi.
The purpose of the restriction, then, is: (a) Keeping the Kaarg's Son tied into the life of the community (going to funerals often, and learning how all these obscure trolls are actually his relatives); and more importantly, (b) Keeping the KS under the thumb of the Great Mother. First off, he has to live near his kin-group, so he can't just pack off and leave if she annoys him; and besides, he's going to count on her geneological knowledge (and possibly her shamanic skills) to fulfill his obligation.[*]
In that context, the option of eating a trollkin counts as an innovation, a new safety-valve. In the rare event that there are no deaths, the KS doesn't have to lead a (possibly ill-advised) raid to provide a corpse; he can just kill some food trollkin. He can also do this if he's temporarily on the outs with the local Powers that Be, or if he needs to go on a long journey away from his kin. It'd still be difficult, but not impossible as it was pre-D'wargon.
One last thought... This restriction makes things difficult for Uz-by-choice. If a hooman becomes a troll, and follows Kaarg, what does he do? A newly-made troll is said to have "found ancestors in the darkness". Is this literally true, such that he can trace his relation to other trolls (and fulfill the obligation)? Or does he actually have to go back to his home town and kill a hooman relative every season? (...or dig up a corpse from the graveyard. Hoomans don't eat their dead, and nothing in the rule says the dead relative has to be fresh...)
--AMS [*] If need be, a KS could probably heroquest to find his geneological connection to any given troll in any community. But it'd probably be hard for a troll to do this without the support of his community, and if he has his community's support, he doesn't *need* the HQ. However, this might be very useful if a Kaarg's Son decides to pack up and move to another community of apparent non-relatives. His new Great Mother could take him on a heroquest to find how the two of them are related; and once they know that, they know how he's related to everyone else, and he can meet his obligations with local funerals (with no more heroquesting required). In that case, a few trollkin would definitely come in handy, letting him meet the obligation until they can go on the heroquest (which might not happen until he's proved himself to his new Great Mother).
Actually, the "find out how you're related" heroquest would be very useful in Uz society in lots of situations. Probably a good one to write up...
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