Re: Kinslaying outlaws

From: Andrew Larsen <aelarsen_at_...>
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 00:37:38 -0500

But that brings up another interesting issue. Germanic kinship was reckoned on both sides, with a man being related to both his father ad mother's kin equally. But isn't a Heortling bloodline defined by which parent is the over-spouse? The under-spouse moves into the over-spouse's stead and their children join the over-spouse's bloodline. That would mean that the children are kin to the over-spouse but not the under-spouse, and could therefore kill a relative on the under-spouse's side without it being kinslaying. Or am I misunderstanding Heortling traditions here?

Andrew E. Larsen
On Sep 21, 2012, at 5:24 PM, Trotsky wrote:

> Andrew Larsen wrote:
> >
> > I am wondering if being an Heortling outlaw negates the chaos-danger
> > of kinslaying. In other words, does becoming an outlaw cancel the bond
> > between family members? Given the ease with which a person might be
> > outlawed, simple outlawry doesn't seem enough to achieve that. But
> > what about the more or less permanent outlawry that comes with being a
> > Gagarthi? Does Gagarth worship terminate one's kin bonds?
> > Part of what inspired this question is the quests in KoDP. Orlanth
> > cannot fight Daga because Daga is his brother's grandson. So he needs
> > to find another way to defeat Daga. But during the same myth, he
> > fights Gagarth, who is actually slightly closer by blood, being his
> > nephew rather than his grand-nephew. So does becoming a Gagarthi
> > involve severing one's kin ties, the way becoming a Humakti does?
> >
> I'd think it has to. If you're an outlaw, you're outside of society, and
> that includes your family. Hard to see how Gagarth could function
> otherwise, really.
>
> > Related to this question is how close the kin-bond needs to be in
> > order to generate a risk of chaos from kinslaying. Obviously killing a
> > first cousin is close enough. But what about a second cousin? A third
> > cousin? A fourth cousin? Obviously the further the bond extends, the
> > more likely one is to accidentally trigger chaos by killing a distant
> > kin. In actual Germanic society, the obligation to avenge the murder
> > of kin was tied to the ability to inherit from them; if you couldn't
> > inherit from X, or everyone had forgotten you were kin with him, you
> > were not under an obligation to avenge him or help him seek vengeance.
> > Does that apply in Heortling society, or is there some other rule?
> >
> It'll be a social definition: if you're considered to belong to the same
> bloodline, you're kin. If not, not. Which, in practice, is much the same
> as the German situation, since most things are inherited within the
> bloodline as a unit.
> >
> >
>
> --
> Trotsky
> Gamer and Skeptic
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Synapsida: http://synapsida.blogspot.com/
> Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell.blogspot.com/
> Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]