Re: Secrets of the Than

From: simon_hibbs2 <simon.hibbs_at_vKSA7WnyaU2bctGcsvH_o0oKUWULTm6sBLQq_Or-pqXf_57MvFIMPejzTS3aNliM>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:19:24 -0000

Cannibalism, or rape, to establish superiority and domination are about much more than the need to eat and the need to procreate. They are about the enjoyment and satisfaction of breaking taboos as much, in fact more, than about the physical acts themselves. Ethical and moral acts are religious, and therefore magical acts.  

> And the Lanbrili don't get spiritual benefit from taking things that don't belong to them?

Sure, but they take stuff for a reason. Taking it just for the sake of denying it to others and making the taking of things th centre of your self-identification is another matter.

It's not about the physical effect in the world, it's about what the act does to your soul - what it makes you become. It's like the difference between a soldier and a serial killer. The physical act of killing is the same, but one of the two is monstrous. Moral context matters.

> Which is a rather unsatisfactory guidance for determining whether an
> unsavory act is chaotic or not. I don't think an unsavory act can be
> nonchaotic when a god permits it in special circumstances and be chaotic
> when its practiced with wild abandon. Either the action itself is
> intrinsically chaotic or it isn't.

I think whether it's chaotic is about the moral context. Otherwise how could it have an effect on the soul?

I agree with you about Morokanth eating outlanders opportunistically, I think they are likely to do that. I think cannibalism and sacrifice of sentients is risky. If its done in a controlled religious context I think the risks are manageable, but taken to extreme they can definitely lead to chaos taint.

Simon Hibbs            

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