I'd re-phrase that as "damaging the universe". Orlanth 'broke the rules'.
> When a Thanatari steals heads for his own use, it's chaotic, because is denying the victim a natural death.
> When Orlanth steals a dragons head, it's ok, because it is Orlanth's nature to kill monsters and take trophies. (alternately, the dragon summoned orlanth as an agent of utumna)
I don't think that's a sufficient explanation. Even Orlanth doesn't get to dictate what chaos is and how it behaves. I think the problem with Thanatari magic is that it annihilates the soul of the victim, whereas Orlanth didn't destroy the soul of the dragon. He just redirected it from where it was going to go.
I think there's a kind of elasticity that allows a certain amount of redirection of magical/soul energy from it's normal course, but wrench it around too much or too hard and something snaps and lets chaos in.
> When a troll eats her children, it is a sacred act enabling the deceased's soul to return to the womb of Kyger Litor for rebirth.
> If a human does the same (barring specific ritual circumstance) they run the risk of becoming chaotic. How that chaos manifests will be different in each case - on account of being, ya'know, Chaos.
I don't think it's as simple as that it's ok for trolls and not for humans. Maybe they're at 1/10th normal chance of chaos taint or something due to their strong connection to the darkness rune. I think they instinctively behave in such a way that they avoid actually acting chaotically. See my note on Tricksters later.
If I were running this in an RQ game and had to rule on this I'd assign a much lower % chance of becoming chaotic from eating random human remains you found in the desert to survive (say 2%), versus killing some random people you found in the desert for the purpose of eating them (say 8%). I'd assign a much bigger chance if you were in a populous area, had other available sources of food and still killed people to eat them (say 15%). However in Glorantha I'm sure there are all kinds of factors that can come into play though, so fiddling with the number like that is probably a case of attempting 'fake realism'.
IIRC at a Con long ago someone asked Greg and Sandy if the Cannibal Cult was chaotic. Simultaneously one said 'Yes' and the other said 'No', gave each other funny looks and started laughing. I didn't relay this anecdote earlier in the discussion because I know it can be frustrating if someone invokes an unverifiable source, but since this one was so ambiguous I think it's ok.
> The Lunars have learned how to "play the ref" and (mostly) are able to get away with bending reality to their own benefit.
Or think they can. Plus some of them just don't see how it's a problem.
> Disorder is resistant to chaos BECAUSE it has so few rules to break, Law and Truth, are susceptible to corruption by their very nature - Tapping is part and parcel of sorcery, and Truth denies the fundamental malleability of (gloranthan) reality.
It's just a different thing. I don't think Tricksters don't get a get out of free card when it comes to Chaos (not even the gods do) it's just that they really don't do chaotic things. If they did, I think they'd be just as susceptible as anyone else. They walk a very fine line maybe, but they still walk it.
> Because we are talking about chaos, there is no clear cause and effect - I believe you CAN become an ogre by eating human flesh - but you clearly won't always, even if you realllly want to (for whatever twisted reason)
Sure, it's always unpredictable. "Ok, so your character didn't even know someone had snuck in some human meat into his food. Today the chance of chaotic taint is 85%. Deal with it." I'd never actually do that to a player in a game though.
Simon Hibbs
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