From: lward@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SR: Spider Totem
Date: 12 Oct 92 18:52:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc8.lward.718915970

mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) writes:
>I have no problem with the existence of malevolent Insect spirits, but it
>seems to lose some possibilities for doubt, fear, and confusion if you
>can count on all Insects being of the same predictable type.  It's also
>worth noting that not all cultures dislike all insects, by any means.
>Spider Grandmother is honored by SW Amerind tribes, and Anansi the
>Trickster (also a Spider) by Africans.  Bees are a positive symbol in
>many cultures, though one can also imagine very sinister Bee Spirits in
>the pattern of the FASA material.

In our campaign, we met a Mantis shaman whom we did not trust, but helped
us against an Ant totem.  The basic idea that indeared us to the mantis was
that, in the real world, Manti EAT other insects.  We extended this into the
magical/metaphorical realm.

Someone has to say it: spiders are not insects.

More relevent, however, all of FASAs evil insects are insects which hive.
This is extremely important because there are NO individuals in a hive, not
even the queen who can be replaced.  Since much of the "doubt, fear, and
confusion" in a NPC is based on an idvidual straying from the stereotype,
this sort of plot twist not only doesn't happen in SR, it CAN'T happen.
(Remember I'm talking about .hiving. insects here, not insects in general.)
At best, the hive as a whole may stray (or appear to stray) from the formula,
but an individual member doing so would be devoured immediately.

Another relevant facet of hiving is that when viewed as a whole, the hive
behaves individually, but the members that make up that hive behave in a way
which serves only to furthur the hive. When watching one of these members
(much like watching our components of our own immune system), their behavior
looks downright evil.  No morality.  No ethics.  Complete mindless descruction
to the exclusion of all else, including that member.  As long as the hive
survives.  For this reason, because hives (and the members) behavior patterns
are based first and formost on the survival of the hive, we humans, who think
(generally) the selfishness is bad in moderation and evil in the extreme, view
the hives as evil (especially when the hive is involved in 'human' affairs).

Lastly, hives (or members of the hive) may appear to do something beneficial
(or may in actuallity do something beneficial).  Bees help pollenate plants,
for example.  Hiving creatures, (and I think FASA captures this well) may
be worshiped/revered/respected within a culture due to a secondary aspect
of their survival. (Granted the UB is a bit more...active than pollenation.)

What I'm getting at here is that there is no reason why spiders or insects
should be assumed to be evil because they are insects; it's the hiving that
is evil.  A naked mole-rat totem would be "evil" probably, and they're
not insects (naked mole-rats are mammals that look abit like penises with
legs and teeth; and they hive (in spite of all members having two sex chromo-
somes (BTW, Mary, would insect spirits be haplodiploid?)))

In short, look at the behavior of the totem, not the species.

Wordman
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc