On 27/11/2011, at 5:37 PM, Peter Metcalfe wrote:
> My personal thinking is that Ogres are cacodemons wrapped in flesh -
> instead of a human soul, they have a tiny little cacodemon instead.
> When the Devil was killed, he left behind demonic remnants (Gods of
> Glorantha: Prosopaedia) which hid themselves inside humans. The Elder
> Races Book (p90) supports this somewhat with the Ogres claiming that
> their god is temporarily taking refuge in the world to reform it to its
> original image. This explains the nature of Cacodemon's magics which is
> largely about concealing themselves plus the vomit acid spell.
I prefer to think of them as simply having a chaotic soul that resonates with the Cacodemons nature. Ogres can join other cults (and I believe in Pamaltela, virtually all ogres do). Of course, the Cacodemon cult says that Cacodemon and ogres are intrinsically linked, but they would say that, and they are hardly a reliable source. The only objective evidence for an intrinsic link between the two is that ogres tend to become more chaotic in their behaviour near Cacodemons altar, and that isn't that strong (perhaps there are other chaotic beings who have the same problem? Who knows?)
> Most ogres practice secret cannibalism because they are monsters at
> heart and being horrible to other people while hiding their true selves
> is in their nature. An Orlanthi Jurist might claim their real crime was
> secret murder rather than cannibalism. It is not necessary for an Ogre
> to be a cannibal; all that is required is that their crime be repugnant.
I think, rather than thinking of ogres as cannibals, a better way to think of them is as predators for whom humans are the most natural prey. They can't stop thinking of humans as delicious, it is just not in their nature.
I think there are fundamental differences between cannibals like the Cannibal Cult and Maran Gor, and Ogres, too.
The Cannibal Cult and Maran Gor are, to some extent, getting power from the breaking of taboos, from forcing oneself to do something that is psychologically difficult and the psychological charge that results. Individual cannibals might grow to enjoy it, but they have to overcome their fundamental human empathy first..
Eating people ism't psychologically difficult for ogres. Ogres have no empathy at all - perhaps the opposite, the inbuilt sadism of the predator playing with its prey. Ogres simply love eating people and torturing them, from birth.
What this has to do with the origins of ogres, I'm not going to speculate, though. The ontological bit of the argument has gone way beyond my interest.
Cheers
David
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