To Nereus
-
IamLEAM1983
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3713
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
- Location: Quebec, Canada
To Nereus
You've mentioned eating as a coping mechanism for emotional distress. Do Void Weavers consistently cope for failings or bad periods with forms of excess?
-
IamLEAM1983
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3713
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
- Location: Quebec, Canada
As Nereus
"It's partly a personal response and partly a cultural leftover, honestly.
Excess is viewed as a form of piety in Dalarath, and it applies in all its forms. Devotees of Amaxi or Dar-Larath might choose more carnal means of physical expression, such as Byzantine mating rituals or an excessive focus on personal training. In that case, a happy side effect might be an increased bill of health, but the real focus would be physical power - and the ability to crush others. I've seen servants of Harrogath starve themselves for weeks before going on absolutely unhinged orgies, while others consistently overeat. More still take to the Darkhallow for excessive periods of time, sleeping entire weeks away after expressing disinterest in mortal affairs. Some lucky few manage to please one of the Others through this route and are supported in their slumber, others atrophy until their own hearts can't keep up.
Thanks to the Others' presence, we've never really had to develop mature responses. If we're slightly vexed, our preferred stress-evacuating routine kicks in. In my case, food and hunger in general stood as my vices of choice. It's not just a question of pigging out, either - destroying something that was alive and well in the knowledge that you'll reduce it to waste has always struck others in the Prelacy as a decent act of desecration.
Luckily, that turned into a decent stress-release mechanism, once Meris left me. Nobody noticed how my diet briefly focused almost exclusively on cuttlefish for two months... Nobody found out why, either. I projected my hatred for the circumstances, my people and the Chamberlain onto them. I was angry, so I ate. I ate, so I was angry.
I can't speak for the Prelacy, but I deliberately drove myself sick with hatred and seafood. After a few days spent pushing through horrible stomach aches, I was spent and ready to push on."
Excess is viewed as a form of piety in Dalarath, and it applies in all its forms. Devotees of Amaxi or Dar-Larath might choose more carnal means of physical expression, such as Byzantine mating rituals or an excessive focus on personal training. In that case, a happy side effect might be an increased bill of health, but the real focus would be physical power - and the ability to crush others. I've seen servants of Harrogath starve themselves for weeks before going on absolutely unhinged orgies, while others consistently overeat. More still take to the Darkhallow for excessive periods of time, sleeping entire weeks away after expressing disinterest in mortal affairs. Some lucky few manage to please one of the Others through this route and are supported in their slumber, others atrophy until their own hearts can't keep up.
Thanks to the Others' presence, we've never really had to develop mature responses. If we're slightly vexed, our preferred stress-evacuating routine kicks in. In my case, food and hunger in general stood as my vices of choice. It's not just a question of pigging out, either - destroying something that was alive and well in the knowledge that you'll reduce it to waste has always struck others in the Prelacy as a decent act of desecration.
Luckily, that turned into a decent stress-release mechanism, once Meris left me. Nobody noticed how my diet briefly focused almost exclusively on cuttlefish for two months... Nobody found out why, either. I projected my hatred for the circumstances, my people and the Chamberlain onto them. I was angry, so I ate. I ate, so I was angry.
I can't speak for the Prelacy, but I deliberately drove myself sick with hatred and seafood. After a few days spent pushing through horrible stomach aches, I was spent and ready to push on."