From: Paul Reilly (paul@phyast.pitt.edu)
Date: Fri 27 May 1994 - 23:03:27 EEST
Paul Reilly here.
Peter (aka Pam Carlson??) asks some very interesting questions. I will to give some quick answers. No real sources, just the way I run things in our campaigns:
>1. What happens if a human eats a chaotic critter, like a slime deer or a
>two-headed bunny?
This has not come up in a human campaign, however it does come up in our Uz campaigns fairly often. I rule that a chaos creature is a sort of 'patch' that Arachne Solara slaps over a chaos hole (due to the Law of Personalization). More on this another time - sometimes the creature exists beforehand and opens a chaos hole within itself, other times it is generated in response to the hole, as in Thed's Chaos Spawn.
OK, so when is a creature spuffy and what is the effect of eating it? Usually the chaos hole goes with the _spirit_, not the corpse and thus it is ok to eat a _dead_ chaos critter. Best to check with your Storm Bull buddies though, because sometimes (Chaos is unpredictable) the spuffiness stays with the corpse.
If you eat something spuffy (like a live chaos critter, or, rarely, a dead one) there is some chance of becoming spuffy yourself, following the ancient Darkness principle of "You are what you eat." I think that this is what happened to Bagog; once the great scorpion prowled the world, eating Chaos. She ate too much to digest and become spuffy herself. Ooops.
This problem might be _more_ severe for humans, who have notoriously weak digestions. However, it is possible that they could eat something spuffy and survive unmutated: first, their weak stomachs might be unable to digest the thing fully in which case the human could wind up untainted but leave behind some spuffy feces. Second, it might just kill him.
>Does Walktapus have any side effects besides regeneration
>in-stomacho?
(I run the regeneration vs. stomach acid digestion as a race - don't eat too much at once and you'll be ok.)
It could, depending on your campaign. In our campaign, it is 'unclean' to eat the 'human' part of a Walktapus. Here's why: The Walktapus has a strange form of reproduction. If it stuns a humanoid it uses its third tentacle to "sting" the head of the humanoid. This leaves an embryonic Walktapus on that head. It is very hard to remove as it regenerates. It grows like a cancer and eventually covers the whole person over the course of a season or two, consuming his substance in the process. Yuch. This has to be caught early on and burned out with acid, it soon has tendrils into the brain.
Second, eating human flesh opens you to involuntary initiation into a cannibal cult; I use Cacodemon as god of cannibalism. Oops. Cacodemon recruiters sometimes hawk cheap fried & breaded meat of uncertain origin on street corners - "It's finger lickin' good!"
>2. How would an Orlanthi clan chief deal with a young man from his clan who
>had been caught robbing strangers?
It all depends. Were the victims fellow Orlanthi? Were they guest-holy?
Are they foreigners? Enemies? Etc.? Were he robbing enemies, he'd be
rewarded by his chief; if they were guests, he'd be outlawed.
Let's assume they are pretty neutral for the sake of argument.
>Fines?
Probably. I'd make him pay double restitution, plus an equal amount to the
clan elders as 'court costs'. Lots of historical precedent here.
If he were young and foolish and a close relative and the aggrieved parties
were amenable, I might suggest that if the stuff gets returned anonymously
the whole thing could be forgotten. Also depends on whether his shame is
public, in which case it must be dealt with, or whether I or the victims caught
him in private, in which case we might be able to handle it _sub rosa_. Note
also that my knowledge of the individual's character would influence my
response.
>Banishment?
If the victims were guests under my roof, a three-year outlawry might
be appropriate. If they were not guests but were either fellow Orlanthi
or some kind of respected neighbor, then perhaps one year. If they were
enemies of some sort, he might get rewarded. If for example we were
Sartarites under the Lunar occupation and he stole from Lunars, my response
would depend heavily on who knew about it. I might outlaw him to please
the Lunars but slip him my second best horse and a good sword on his
way out.
> Confinement?
Ugh. Orlanth would zap me. I might have him watched until sentencing if I didn't trust his word or get his parole.
Urgh. What kind of person do you take me for? Actually, heavily Westernized Orlanthi might stoop to this sort of thing. Yuch.
If he were just a thrall or something, he'd get this and a beating, and his master would have to pay a fine. I think. Children might wind up with this sort of punishment.
>3. Do Orlanthi farmers have to pay taxes to the clan to support the
>non-farmers (the poor, the housecarls, the smith)? Do their tithes they pay
>as initiates cover this?
I play that in the more 'primitive' or 'original' Orlanthi areas the chiefs act as big-men. They have the biggest herds, plus certain special privileges such as when triplet animals are born, one goes to the chief's herd. This applies to triplet humans as well - one goes to the chief's service, but this is rare.
The poor are supposed to be supported by their families and by giveaways from the big men. This is one way to earn status in the society - look at Hahlgrim in CoT. Note also that Generosity is one of the Six Virtues.
In Classical India people had to pay a certain fraction of their harvest to the village carpenter and the potter. I do this with the Pelorians. For Orlanthi, the smith supports himself by straight trade or is supported by the chief, depending on local culture. I don't think they use the percentage arrangement.
Oh, when white animals are born (albinos too) they are given to the Healers. Certain other traditional arrangements apply as well.
Orphans are to be raised by the family. If the family is too poor or nonexistent then they are the clan chief's responsibilty.
Clan chiefs can squeeze out a lot of money from their member if they are right bastards. We had a scenario where the King of Tarsh gave tax relief to an area that had been hard hit by famine and disease among the herds. A clan chief did not tell the people about this but kept collecting taxes and pocketing them, divering some of the money to the Exiles on Wintertop. Led to a bad situation when the Lunars found out.
Their tithes as initiates do NOT cover this, except if the priests want to be seen as big men. The temple will put on feasts and whatnot out of the tithe (which is typically grain or animals anyway) which are open to all Initiates, probably their children as well. These feasts are a major redistribution of wealth and some of the poorer people probably get most of their meat at occasions like this sponsored by the temple or the clan.
Good questions!
More later, Paul
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