From: martin (102541.3423@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Mon 22 Apr 1996 - 20:43:13 EEST
Mike Cule wrote about my Humakti Rolemodels story:
>A very fine story, Martin. But what about honour?
>I'm sorry. I apologise to the Humakti for the above question. I mean of course:
>What about Honour?
Okay, here is my take on honour:
Honour is whatever an individual thinks it is. Each person has it, though often
to so small a degree that it doesn't seem to exist to an outside point of view.
Basically its a code you feel you live by and will stand by even to the point of
suffering for it.
Honour is affected by the peer group you belong to as well, as you take on the
belief system of the group. So it is feasible for a large number of people to
have similar honour but it can never be totally the same because each person is
unique in their view of it based on their lifes experiences.
Humakti honour is even harder to quantify. They are not Knights of Chivalry.
They are warriors of Death. The Truth Rune is _Secondary_ to the Death Rune for
with truth or without truth, Humakt is still Death. However the fact that it is
there and the events of Humakts past do have an impact on his worshippers.
Whatever the actual motivation behind an individual Humakti's honour belief,
they are peculiar when compared to almost every other part of Orlanthi society.
Onslaughts Honour:
This is an example of a Swords honour IMO. This is how he "rates" it in order
of priority:
(1). Duty to his God. First an foremost is the duty to Death, to excell at
bringing it and to deliver death without stinting to those who deserve (ie
everyone) it in the name of Humakt.
(2). Duty to himself. Second is his duty to maintain himself as a weapon for
the deliverance of death. In addition he has a duty to pursue perfection till
he becomes Humakts Sword itself (an ideal never to be reached but one always to
chase).
(3). Duty to other Humakti. To obey the Code, to give a good death to his
fellows and to aid them in any way to further death amongst others.
(4) Duty to Employee. To obey orders as long as they don't get in the way of
1,2 or 3 unless oathbound in which case duty 3 may be superceeded but he would
rather die than break duty 1 or 2.
(5). Duty to the world around him. He sees this duty as being the proselytising
part of his faith. Just as Grandfather mortal was given the gift of Death, so
to should the ordinary people be exposed to it. Humakt shows that death through
battle is the purest form, bereft of the indignity of old age and the impurity
of disease. To give a worthy foe Death through battle is a high act of honour
and reflects doubly on the weilder of that Death.
David Dunham mentioned how dishonourable Onslaught was for killing the 5 men
when he only came to kill 1.
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