> reading the stuff on Heortling gifting culture, a thought occurred
to
> me.Is it possible / do Heortlings do it, to create "face traps"
with
> gifting?
I remember someone pointing out that if you gave a more expensive gift back to a gift-giver then that was an insult because they were duty-bound to accept the gift but you were in effect saying that they were too poor to give you a gift.
> For example, could one clan generously gift its neighbour
> then expect that neighbours help when it renews an old blood feud
> with another neighbour? Do gifts offered have to accepted if the
> receiver is suspicious of the givers motives (I know "no one can
make
> you do anything" but how applicable is that here?
I think that it is bad form not to accept a gift as you would be insulting the giver. It's also bad form to ask for the gift back (Bolthor Gift-Grabber in Cults of Terror).
However, gifts are not normally conditional, otherwise they wouldn't be gifts. So, you wouldn't be obligated by the gift as such. You;d have other ties that would obligate them to help.
"No one can make you do anything" is normally countermanded by tradition, custom, clan ties and peer pressure. of course you could be bloody-minded and nobody could fault you for it, but it might cause problems elsewhere/later.
So, if you gave a clan warband leader a Goldeneye horse and a bow that never missed under starlight, for instance, and then restarted a feud and asked for his help on a night raid, then he would be quite within his rights to say no. What are you going to do then? Ask for the gifts back? Point out that he is good at night? He's just going to thank you and ignore your pleas.
If you became blood-brothers or something similar through an excanhe of gifts, then things might be a bit different.
See Ya
Simon
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