>What acts would a Dara Happan (or at least one prior to the Red
>Moon) regard as likely to turn you into a Broo? A Praxian? A
>Kralorelan? A westerner? I don't mean "evil" or "bad" or even
>necessarily "taboo" acts but ones that have a good chance of turning
>the performer chaotic (which of course will usually be regarded as
>evil and bad and taboo, but some such things won't have the chaos
>association)?
An interesting question....
Rape can tuen one into a Broo, because Thed, the mother of Broo is the Goddess of Rape. She claimed this title from Orlanth when demanding justice after Ragnaglar raped her - so we might wonder how universal her identification with Rape is - It is possible that in other cultures and other places a different being is regarded as being "responsible" - The Dara Happans may have a corner of one of their hells reserved for rapists, ruled over by one of Deshlotralas' minions. (God learners, of course will identify all these as being aspects of Thed)
Behaving in a manner that ones society regards as evil and taboo will lead to you being at leat marginalised if not cast out from that society. Cut off from the support of your society and your Gods (Spirits,whatever) will leave you vulnerable to the lure of the Chaotic Cults - especially ones that glorify your own particular crime - they are non-judgemental (at least at first - once you start to get sucked in they may start picking on perceived "weaknesses" left from your previous cultural conditioning) and may offer a chance to "get back" at those who rejected you, or to "start afresh". The "more subtle" cults may ensnare people befoer they realise exactly what they are letting themselves in for.
As a side point, this may be why Urain does not seem to be much of a problem for the Praxian and Heortling Orlanthi - they have Urox/Storm Bull to "channel" the extremely violent in a culturally approved manner. As one progresses further west away from the Cults centre of power (as the Urox wind is the wind blowing in across from Prax I assume the cult is less well represented amongst, for instance, the Ralian Orlanthi?) Urain may become more common?
>
>
>When does an ogre stop being an ogre (if ever)? Anaxial's roster
>gives a typical ogre "crave human flesh 15". So I guess they would
>have to roll against that with something like "strong willed" if
>they wanted to stop themselves gorging.
I suspect (without a Major Heroquest) one can only stop being an one like one can stop being an alcoholic. That is an Ogre can turn his back on his nature and refuse to give in to the urge, right up until the moment when he lapses. (You don't want to discover your buddy was an ex-ogre when you've been bitten by a snake and need him to suck the poison out...)
>consider [...], say an ogre orphan brought up by humans not knowing
>what it was. If the craving stat is a "normal" flaw, could an ogre
>"buy it down"? What happens to an ogre who doesn't crave human
>flesh, let alone eat it?
>
I think the Ogre orphan would still get "crave Human flesh" as a flaw - it's "Nature" not "nurture" - but without understanding why. I'm not sure about buying it down, since it is part of what makes one an Ogre - would you let a Giant buy down "Large" for instance, and wht we know of Trolls suggests that even a wealthy, well fed Troll Matriach should still have a "hungry" rating.
So a suggestion - The Ogre has a "base rating" of "Crave Human Flesh" which (again, excepting a major Heroquest) can never be reduced to zero. An Ogre who leads a "normal Ogre existance" and indulges this craving achieves some sort of equilibrium where the rating is stable. An ogre who tries to resist this flaw finds its rating starts to grow (an Ogre going "cold turkey" gets a terrible craving that one leading a "normal Ogre existance" could resist). This means an Ogre who wants to give up his way of life, or the Orphan who hasn't yet realised what it means, can not "just" buy down the flaw to zero and wave Ogre-dom goodbye. What they can do is buy down the flaw to a minimal level (and this may be "6" - all Ogres have it at this level unless specified higher) and then continue to buy it down as it seeks to control them, or increase other ratings that can be used to resist the craving ("Vegetarian 1W3"?)
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