Yeah, I've always read kinslaying
as an crime that cannot be fixed as
well. But I'd assumed it was more
about biological kin than 'social kin'.
Thanks for clearing that up--I like the
way it works this way better.
Andrew E. Larsen
On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:59 AM, Trotsky <TTrotsky_at_bqwkuLQta8tzzDNDLh4ANF18XY71iPn79b1uzfdPvVu9eg5XF-n3yuTRv9c8xlS9zx7EkhiV8xzbLyf8WSmcJseZcEc.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> Andrew Larsen wrote:
> > 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?
>
> That would be how I'd interpret it, yes. It would still be a Bad Thing,
> but not a chaos-inducingly Bad Thing. As I see it, part of the reason
> that kinslaying is so terrible is that Heortling society has no legal
> mechanism for dealing with it - precisely because it's so unimaginably
> awful. If I wrong someone, my bloodline pays theirs reparations and that
> (assuming it's accepted, and we don't just feud over it) removes the
> stain of the wrong. Because it occurs within the bloodline, kinslaying
> is a wrong that can't be righted, and, IMO, that's why it attracts Chaos.
>
> In the case of a member of a patrilineal bloodline killing a member of
> his mother's family, the killer's bloodline can pay a wergild to the
> wronged one. The problem can be sorted, or at least feuded over (which
> is a socially acceptable alternative, if not always a bright idea), and
> therefore doesn't generate the utter violation of social and legal norms
> that brings Chaos. It's still very bad, and you shouldn't do it, but,
> IMO, it doesn't bring chaos.
>
> --
> Trotsky
> Gamer and Skeptic
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
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