Re: Babeester Gor initiation

From: donald_at_FeCFaShqM2n1bxZtP67gWrh229oXLa25a0r-K0M-9SJ6NUwzO5xOQ4yADiD6296NEuEv7
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:07:03 GMT

In message <frohli+f2l6_at_eGroups.com> "bryan_thx" writes:
>>
>> Then she encounters a human rapist. She kills him, uses his blood
>> to make beer, drinks it and cuts off his balls to start her
>> necklace. That's what she brings back from the quest.
>>
>> If you are mixing the material world and god world this brings up
>> some interesting issues. ...... and possibly another woman as the
>>rape victim. ..... But I can't see how any woman would take on the
>> latter.
>
>Would the rape have to happen right in front of the quester? Perhaps
>for initiate level initiation quest it would suffice to have a rapist
>available? Perhaps this is what tends to happen to those outlawed for
>rape near Babeester Gor temples--they get given to the cult. So in
>the material world, at that station she'd meet the rapist and probably
>be told of his deeds--most likely another woman would stand in for
>'everywoman' and recite his crimes, then the quester would bring
>Babeestor Gor's punishment to him.

Depends how you see the cult. To me they are a cult which reacts emotionally to what's happening not strict enforcers of the law. So initiation is going to test appropriate responses by cult standards not a willingness to take action on behalf of others.

>From Sergi's write up of the backstory I'm wondering if she
hasn't already been initiated. She made the choice to enact a brutal vengence herself rather than join others to do so which is the way of Vinga or call on kin to do so which is the way of Ernalda. That may just be my Glorantha where the gods call some individuals without fussing about human organised rites. And the fringe gods do that more than the mainstream ones.

>Of course, in the absence of a clear cut rape case, and initiations
>needing to get done, perhaps they'd get a little symbolic? Take an
>outlaw, because some outlaws are rapists? Or capture a member of a
>military unit known (or even accused) of committing rapes? For that
>matter, anyone who has abused or pillaged an earth shrine might also
>qualify?

Depends how common you see rape is in Heortling society and how good the society is at exposing it. One thing to bear in mind is that there are few shrines and no temples to Babeester Gor in Dragon Pass - there just aren't enough cultists. The first problem the PC has is finding another Gori to initiate her. At worst she might need to travel to Esrolia. So I don't think there's a problem with initiations needing suitable cases to deal with. I'd probably go with the idea that when the PC finds a cultist to initate her that cultist is already hunting a rapist and the initiation takes place when they track him down.

> I suspect that at times the Babeestor Gor definition of
>rapist might get a bit inclusive for the comfort of some of their
>neighbors...

I don't think you'll find many Heortlings comfortable with Babeester Gori being anywhere nearby. It's a death cult like Humakt but worse a women's death cult. The typical man will worry about being mistaken for a rapist because they have lustful thoughts about some woman and many women will have a mixture of pity and horror for anyone so badly damaged as to choose that path.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/