To be a lot more specific, and address your question directly - back then, we thought that colour scheme was specific to the Vadeli, and so it seemed natural to assign a foul, disgusting, significance to it to go with the foul, disgusting, Vadeli. We now know, however (it is mentioned in http://jeff.moondesignpublications.com/2011/12/01/quick-summary-of-gloranthan-cultures-part-two-the-westerners/ at least, don't know of any other sources) that that colour scheme was also more or less the natural colour scheme of the Brithini castes before the fall of the Perfect City. The Vadeli are coloured that way because they were once part of the Empire of the Enrovalini, the first men.
So, more likely the Vadeli have those colours simply because they are (much to the raging hatred of the Brithini) in this way at least somehow preserving the sacred nature of the most ancient perfect society. Just the idea that the VADELI would preserve that aspect of the unspoilt nature of the first men, while the Brithini do not, would pretty much make the Brithini go into incoherent rage at such an inexplicable blasphemy.
Or, it could be a twisted Vadeli *perversion* of the perfect caste system - after all, Dromali do shovel shit, Horali do spill blood, Zzaburi do deal with the separation of matter and energy ie death (or at least, Vadeli sorcerers certainly do). Certainly Red Vadeli are killing machines who rejoice in murder, like Godtime Brithini Horali without any limitations on their behaviour, sort of primal warrior types, so the image of them bathing in blood makes perfect sense. And Vadeli sorcerers (well, Vadel himself really) first discovered the magic to 'separate matter and energy' - ie spells to sever the spirit from the body, death magic. Making corpses is kind of a Vadeli sorcery thing.
And the rumoured return of the Blue Vadeli is bad enough - sorcerers adept at ripping souls from their bodies, and making plaything (or weapons, or fuel for other foul sorceries) out of both, enslaving the bodies and souls of men, and far worse tricks. But the real danger would be the return of the Yellow Vadeli, the leader caste.
Because all this tricking their way into the control of small empires stuff is just the Vadeli making life comfortable for themselves while they wait for some direction. Under the control of the Yellow Vadeli, they were organised into proper armies, made alliances and cast vast magics, and came pretty close to taking total control over the West and destroying the Brithini, until Zzabur sunk the continent underneath them. If a Yellow Vadeli comes back, do everything you can to kill it before it gets the Vadeli organised and they return to building vicious empires of slavery and debauchery like they did in the Godtime. If there is an imagery behind the colour for the Yellow Vadeli, it is a world in flames.
Cheers
David
PS the Brithini hate the Vadeli SO much because the Vadeli are like them. In a lot of ways (though certainly not in every way - there have been thousands of years of divergence since, though both are in their ways very static cultures) the Vadeli are a lot like Brithini who simply rejected Zzaburs moral code. They are just as logical, just as good at sorcery, just as contemptuous of everyone who isn't like them. The difference is the Brithini have a rigid and conservative moral code, but a moral code nonetheless, Vadeli just give in to nihilism. If you can't logically prove it is a bad idea (and logic says nothing about something being foul, disgusting or cruel), then it is permitted. The idea that the Brithini can't prove the Vadeli wrong logically is why they just boil over with hate for them, while almost everyone else they just contemptuously look down on.
On 06/03/2012, at 11:18 AM, Daniel wrote:
> As a result of reading a certain old Tradetalk article and some earlier discussions, I've been thinking about the Vadeli and their less than savoury associations lately.
>
> It seems that the three Vadeli castes could be interpreted as being connected to different aspects of a fallen and degraded world - I believe someone put it as, imitating the dying God and the dying world, by becoming shit, blood and corpses (paraphrasing wildly, of course, but it's very evocative).
>
> I think it can be argued that they also represent three different stages of degradation of humanity, which might jive nicely with the return of the Red and Blue Vadeli and the beginning of the Hero Wars.
>
> To wit, Brown Vadeli represent humanity surrounded by excrement - the degradation of everyday life, especially in stereotypical low-sanitation pre-modern cities. This is unfortunate, but normal, and stands for all the petty injustices and corruption and banal evil of everyday life.
>
> Red Vadeli represent humanity bathed in blood. This is simple enough - the horrors of war, an extraordinary evil, but at the same time not that unheard of. And, as we all know, wars are already starting all over the world. Not that it had anything to do with their return directly, as they are not yet more intense than, say, some of the wars in earlier Wanes of the Lunar Empire. Yet may be the operative word here.
>
> Blue Vadeli, however, represent some particularly unique and exceptional evil - humanity surrounded by corpses, when there are so many dead that people cannot even bury them properly. This may well come from a particularly horrific war (the Kingdom of War doesn't seem that good at burying its victims decently...), but also makes me think of plague and famine. I imagine there is plenty of that to come later in the Hero Wars.
>
> I wonder if the ritual to bring back Blue Vadeli might have that as a ritual requirement, inspiring the Vadeli to engineer famines and plagues. Of course they might want to do that anyway. Alternatively, if Blue Vadeli come back, that may well be something they would do as a matter of professional interest and religious devotion.
>
> While we are on the topic, I can't help but wonder whether Brown Vadeli smell terribly all the time. That'd put a bit of a damper on their polite and civil act...
>
> Yours,
> Daniel Pavlovich Adamov
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