This is a good and deep question - what is the difference between evil and chaos. All IMHO.
Gloranthans all seem to recognise that the body and soul have many parts. Some parts are of the material world and some parts are immaterial. The 'material' parts include the physical body, but may also include less tangible components such as the breath, warmth, or what might be termed life force. Immaterial parts include aspects of personality, the soul and whatever connection to the transcendent nature of Glorantha mortals may posses.
The immortal soul is a Gloranthan's connection to the transcendent, eternal nature of the world. Because it is transcendent in nature, it goes beyond their personal selves and is a communion that all Gloranthan beings share in common. Mystics call this the Great Self. A crime against the eternal, transcendent nature of others, therefore is a crime against all eternal transcendent nature. Even, and especially the transcendent nature of the perpetrator of such a crime.
The Cannibal Cult are people that eat other people. They don't deny that they are people themselves, and they don't deny that their prey are people. They don't destroy or consume the immortal soul of those they eat, so far as I know. The immortal parts of the soul of their victim go through through the natural cycles of life and death. However even trapping a ghost in the material world, while walking a fine line for sure, is not itself chaotic.
I believe the same is true of Maran Gor human sacrifice in that they respect the nature of the sacrifice. Some of the life force of the sacrifice powers the rite, sure, but the immaterial soul IMHO still goes to the afterlife, and anyway the point of the sacrifice is to perpetuate the world. No part of the sacrifice is annihilated.
Chaos is about the annihilation and denial of soul and the true self. Cannibalism that denies the common identity between the consumer and the consumed leads to Ogreism. "I am different from my prey, they are weak, they are cattle, they are humans. I am different, I am stronger and better, therefore I am not human." I'm not saying this is a concious process, but it's the logic the universe inflicts on those who practice cannibalism without respect for the nature of what they do. Their acts deny their true self. It is not just a crime against humanity, but a crime against their own humanity.
Headhunting magic that annihilates the soul of the trapped ghost violate the cycle of life and death, injuring not just the particular victim, but the universe. In fact any act that annihilates soul is chaotic for this reason. The headless god takes heads to avoid death and the afterlife. Headhunting that traps and consumes the ghost of the victim is wrong and evil, it is delaying or diverting the cycle of life and death, but Thanatari magic consumes and annihilates the ghost of the victim denying any chance of an afterlife. Thanatari magic absorbs and consumes the knowledge and magic of the victim, destroying their immortal soul, but also polluting that of the Thanatari so that they become other than what they were.
Vivamort was so afraid of death that he sacrificed his soul and immortality to avoid participating in the cycles of the world and became cut off from them. There can be no afterlife for Vivamorti because they annihilate their own immortal soul in order to maintain the fragile mask of the personal self they prize so much, but an unnatural extension of existence requires an unnatural fuel to sustain it.
In contrast, an Orlanthi taking the head of a dragon does not deny the existence or nature of the dragon, any more than a hunter slaying a deer and wearing it's skin denies the right of deer to exist and be deer. Forcing prey to extinction is another issue and I suspect doing so knowingly is a chaotic act.
Ultimately the act taints the perpetrator, who becomes chaotic because annihilating the souls of others, and thereby damaging the universe is itself a denial of their own connection to the universe. A being that destroys soul, denies the afterlife and disrupts the cycles of the world becomes cut off and alien to them and can have no perpetual existence.
Urox is the violence inherent in the universe. Urain is the violence that destroys the universe. Orlanthi are raid across the universe, while Gagarthi are the outcasts that would steal the universe if they could. Humakt is the death that makes life possible. Maran Gori sacrifice humans to sustain the universe. Vivamorti consume souls to maintain their own existence. Cannibal cultists are people that eat other people. Ogres consume humanity until they have devoured their own humanity.
Simon Hibbs
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