Even if the head rots away on its pike, i guess they'd rather keep the skull, because it looks good on the wall. Now i reckon rotting heads full of maggots are plainly disgusting and probably look very horrible, so i'd rather use them as a means to inspire the PCs with disgust and not encourage them to do it themselves. Who are the bastards who did that? I know that poor fellow was a Poss, but even a Poss doesn't deserve this. Plot hook ahead, and maybe some positive, though perhaps temporary, reconciliation, so that you can slaughter those bloody defilers together. The kind of thing i like as an issue to a feud, see. YMGFMV.
Also, won't most tribes usually take non-Orlanthi heads instead, like Praxian or Uz or Tarshite or Poss? Isn't that better than having a feud with a neutral clan you only raid occasionally, even if it's from another tribe? See Yavor's head was that of a stranger for example, though it's the only example i know of.
Now, perhaps other tribes may use ancestors' skulls rather than enemies' ones, as guardians for the house. The head keeps on breathing and infusing magic to the house, like those noble folk who keep portraits of their ancestors on the walls of their castles. I don't know of any RW analogue with actual skulls, though, and furthermore burning the bodies and storing them in urns. But there may be some kind of magical connection between the skull which is breathing here and the dead guy's soul who's in Orlanth's hall. Think about it. I imagine that keeping the skull of a relative in one's house is something extremely strong. The kin doesn't necessarily have to be disgusted or even feel guilty of any desecration of the dead, provided you somehow skip the disgusting rotting phase. But clearly they'd be in terrible awe of it. I imagine they would feel a very strong link with that skull and themselves, dare i say magical? Could that be a possible Orlanthi attitude?
Jerome
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