Re: A Humakti Clan

From: bethexton <bethexton_at_...> <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 18:08:10 -0000

At the very least you've gotten some people thinking, John!

My thoughts are tending to agree with your post somewhat. I think both Humakt and Vinga are quite pragmatic cults in some ways, so when their ends are compatible, they are probably willing to use each other as a means. I have no doubt that there is a at least one Vingan myth from the darkness where Vinga had a problem with dead who would not stay dead, where she somehow called upon Humakt (possibly in the form of one of his heroes) to help solve the problem (showing Vinga's ability to use the available tools, whatever they are, to protect the people). Similarly, I'm sure there are humakti myths that essentially start "Vinga found this problem that she couldn't deal with, so came to (humakti hero) for help." (showing Humakt's central role in dealing with Death, and how other gods and goddesses recognized this even before the compromise).

Since time began there will have been times when Humakti have relied on other warriors to bolster their numbers for critical tasks, and they've no doubt found that many vingans have helped out admirably (and are easier to control than some of the wilder war god followers). Meanwhile I'm sure many Vingans have found it useful to have contacts with Humakti, for when there is a problem that the Death God's followers can best solve. In other words, when a patrolling Vingan finds some walking corpses, she'll find a Humakti to lead the attack, but she'll be there with him.

Absolutely the same will be true of some of the other war gods, but because Vinga's focus is more on combat as a way of protecting people than as a source of glory or power, I think they'd be amongst the cults most apt to bring in specialists (the other one that probably does this regularly is Starkval)

As to the broader question of which cults get along or don't, I suspect that in most cases there is mythic justification for each, and what happens has more to do with the culture and stresses that each clan/tribe/city is facing. For example, Elmal and Heler are rivals for Esrola every Fire season. In some places this may be a mostly friendly rivalry, where each seeks to outdo the other, and if they are topped this time, they know they'll make it up next time. In this situation worshippers of the two might be completely ready to band together to stop any threat to this sacred rivalry. On the other hand, worshippers of the two could have to be all but physically restrained when they come near each other, and it could be kinstrife waiting to happen.

--Bryan

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