Yggite infantivores

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_qxH1ZCeSFnuWQf75JfQx5-aBhKft9AIE5Kk7ZMk-1u0HL5YvvvSGuTtViZgB2i5XkflEtUP6>
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:25:46 +0100 (CET)


Peter Metcalfe
>>> The
>>> Yggites are the people who sack holy places and draw
>>> disrespectful cartoons of the Invisible God. They were
>>> even eating children when Dormal contacted them (Missing
>>> Lands p44).

>>Common effect of the Ban, really.

> No, it's not. I don't recall Loskalm or Jonatela having this
> problem.

Neither had lost its access to the main source of food. Compare Galastar for an overpopulated, isolated place.

Heortlings start sacrificing humans when things get really wrong, too. And in Fimbulwinter eating any sacrificed meat will happen in some isolated places, too.

>>I don't think that they remained at this diet when there was >>an alternative.

> So they just got over it when the Opening came?

When more food became available. Yes indeed.

Although you may still have some bands of Reavers continuing that practice, if you really like this. Outlaws from Yggite society.

(Badge idea: "I'm so tough my Gagarthi gang outlawed me!")

> I seriously doubt that happening. Societies don't give up customs like
> that.

You are confusing desperate measures with custom.

>>The Dara Happans ate Gerra during the Greater Darkness.

> Except there happens to be a great deal of difference between
> something allegedly done during the Great Darkness and
> something that our parents did some fourty odd years before.

Sacrificing humans, then ritually eating the remains is something that can be found in Heortling culture, too (Maran Gor cult, possibly similar Year King rites in darker parts of Esrolia, Fimbulwinter survival...). Without making all Heortlings cannibals.

>> > You make it sound like there's some conscious choice on their >> > part. There isn't. The Gods chose whom they want as priests.

>>Doesn't resonate with me. Someone chosen by the Vadrudi gods becomes >>a berserk rather than a humble (if irate and nasty) slave.

> Who said anything about humble? If you are going to go through
> my ideas critiquing them line by line, could you actually deal with
> what I wrote?

Humble to their deity.

I'd rather see possessed avatars of the deities, at times struggling to remain in control over their bodies, at other times puppets acting out their gods' desires. In other words: berserks.

I don't see any attraction in another culture elevating the concept of slavery to a cultural achievement and cultic practice. Vadeli and Fonritians are sufficient. Casual taking of slaves for menial work, like Praxians, is well established. That doesn't make the Praxians a slavocracy, so why should the Yggites be one?

>>A loser? Not "one of us" any more, then. Your picture makes
>>this "priesthood" sound like a bunch of nasty tricksters tolerated
>>by the rest.

> How do you think the Vadrudi gods will deal with their worshippers
> in such a way that it fits Vadrudi society?

Weak followers in his gang. Scorned, mistreated or encouraged at a whim, but _his_ gang, and his assets.

>>> In Orlanthi myth. Do you really expect the Winter King will see >>> things that way?

>>You have to take his relation to Himile in account, too, not just the >>Orlanthi myths. Twice subservient.

> Who says he's subservient to Himile? The Vadrudi believe their
> gods are the strongest. Anything else is foreign lies.

Mere temporal setbacks. But then would any other Vadrudi deity necessarily respect that Valind is king? Maybe on the ice. Elsewhere?

>>> By finding a godling or spirit and beating the crap out of it >>> on the material world.

>>Unless the spiritual landscape of northern Fronela is exceptionally >>rich, an inconsequential source of magic.

> How many animists are there in Fronela? Virtually all of them
> have spirits. If an animist sends a spirit against a Vadrudi,
> then that's something he can beat up. Theists are a wee
> bit trickier but their divine magic could be treated as a godling.

By going to the Heroplane, the subject of trickiness goes away. I dislike the notion that Yggites (and by extension Wolf Pirates) can do so in mundane combat, whether to spirits, feats, or spells. Unless it involves carving up the beaten opponent on the battlefield, e.g. for the blood eagle.

>>> Why should the Valindi and "below the ice" others part from the >>> Vadrudi? Why is there this need to make them nicer.

>>In order to create a marginally sustainable society. Either live on
>>as very few demigods carrying on the early Storm Age ways, or find a
>>way to survive as humans. Making compromises.

> If they were making compromises, they wouldn't be a marginally
> sustainable community. The Vadrudi are just as marginal as
> the Broos, the Trollkin and the Scorpion Folk but you don't see
> them making compromises.

You lost me here. Why not compare them to the Praxians? Mythically similar, though with dominating animism rather than theism.

>>> What's wrong with Destor? If you portray him as a bandit rather >>> than an adventurer, he appeals to the Vadrudi nicely.

>>Who did he slay?

> Numerous foes not worth knowing the names of.

So, not worth emulating. Rather take Finovan, some potential for mayhem there. Or Varanorlanth (Orlanth as Vadrudi).            

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