On 2/20/2012 12:34 PM, donald_at_3kItXS67vIkR59Hpdn3c7WBgbuvxubupkg-QOi99OZDdoVFNnfnN0Yuh3NZa4_m7BfW2PFoxgha-x6McdiACkqc.yahoo.invalid wrote:
> That Sartarites have a problem with incest only shows that Sartarite
> culture has not the myths to deal with it. It's a big jump to assume
> that the problem is common among Gloranthan cultures in general. It's
> not even likely that other cultures share the Sartarite definition of
> incest. Bear in mind that much of the RW definitition of incest has
> nothing to do with problems of inbreeding but was introduced by the
> medieval Christian church for financial reasons. Nor can we assume
> that the problems of inbreeding seen in the RW are the same as those
> in Glorantha. I could even argue that it is not incest that brings
> chaos to Skullpoint but kinstrife.
I don't think the Sartarites have a problem with incest, they just
believe it to be wrong like everybody else. They don't need myths to
deal with it for the same reason they don't need myths warning them
against sticking their hands into bonfires, licking large blocks of ice
in the winter or drinking water that has flowed through a latrine.
The sartarite defintion of incest - ie not within the clan - is a fairly
sweeping one and one that is likely to be breached by the younger
members of society. Such relationships will be seen to be a breach on
the scale of doing it with a cousin rather than the more odious doing it
within the family/bloodline.
--Peter Metcalfe