[snip]
>But a particular, specific action--say, telling your overlord, "Screw
>you--I'm not going on that mission unless you do something about my
>taxes"--might be treasonous (and thus chaotic) in one place, and
>non-treasonous (and thus non-chaotic) in another. A Malkioni who does
>that might turn into a broo; a Sazdorfi faces no such risk.
>
>I *think* (Peter L., correct me if I'm mistaken!) that's all PL meant
>about "cultural relativity" vis a vis chaos.
Well, more or less. In a more extreme version, cannibalism is problematic for Heortlings -- Maran cultists can get away with it in rituals (barely -- people think they are awful and strange and a lot of people think they are nasty, if not quite evil). Even the Maran holy cannibalism reinforces the Ogre Ancestor in some slight way. That's pretty clear. But what about Uz? They eat sentient beings gladly, family members (enlo) cheerfully, and other family members on a ritual basis. To everyone else, this may be evil, but, to the Uz, it's just a snack. I find it hard to believe that the Uz activities reinforce chaos because eating is what Uz do -- it is an absolutely natural expression of Darkness.
So the rules for Uz and Heortlings are really different. That is cultural relativity (of a sort). Similar, though less dramatic, distinctions can be made between human cultures.
Peter Larsen
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