Almean views on suicide

[Brel]

While zompist's religion and culture pages on Virtual Verduria and the Almeopedia cover many topics, I have not seen much attention devoted to this one. On Earth, human outlooks on taking one's own life range from thinking it is a very great wrong to believing it is the only honorable way to respond to some situations, as well as just about every attitude in between. Added to this are the yet murkier issues of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

So, my question for zompist is, what are the reigning opinions on suicide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia in the major cultures of Almea, past and present? Was forced suicide ever a part of any legal system, as in ancient Greece? Have there ever been attempts to euthanize populations, like on our own planet?

[Glenn]

I would second this question; it's certainly an interesting issue, and not one that I'd spent much time considering with regard to Almea.

p@,
Glenn

[brandrinn]

I've always been a bit unhappy with Mark's reluctance to put irrationality and madness in his fantastic Almean mega-project. I like a little holocaust with my progress. But so far Almeans seem to have a "live-and-let-live" attitude much more often than Humans, so I suspect just about everybody who's not Jippirasti will lack strong moral condemnations against suicide. I could be wrong, though.

[Legros]

I've always been a bit unhappy with Mark's reluctance to put irrationality and madness in his fantastic Almean mega-project. I like a little holocaust with my progress.

Are genocides irrational? I'm not sure. Criminal, yes, but irrational? The idea of a Rwanda without Tutsis has a strong, rational appeal, especially to Hutus.

Without genocides, Europe would still be populated by Neanderthals.

I, too, think that Mark's conworld history lacks destructive wars similar to the Thirty Years War, etc. Maybe I'm the only zbber who enjoys describing massacres

Maybe some day Mark will describe the extermination of the Ilii by the Ktuvoki, to our enjoyment, but I don't think so.

[zompist]

I, too, think that Mark's conworld history lacks destructive wars similar to the Thirty Years War, etc. Maybe I'm the only zbber who enjoys describing massacres

Hmm? If you mean "a pointless and destructive war", almost any of the conflicts of the ancient Skourenes or Axunemi would qualify. Wars based on religion were common in the Jippirasti area.

The barbarian invasions were as nasty as anything similar on Earth; the Somoyi and Gelyet have particularly bad reputations. And for that matter the initial invasions by the Cuzeians, Cadhinorians, Ezichimi, and Tzhuro were none too pretty. Colonialism (e.g. in Tellinor or Fananak) can be quite brutal as well.

And don't forget the 700-year occupation of half of Eretald by Munkhâsh, for which the death toll is estimated at 37 million.

(I'll get back to the suicide question later, though I'll note that brandrinn has pretty much got my personal views on suicide backwards. )

[Brel]

So am I going to get an answer to this question or not?

[zompist]

OK... This won't be exhaustive, and it's subject to change.

The Cuzeians (and the Eledhi) disapprove of suicide. (Dying to save others' lives isn't considered suicide though.)

The Cadhinorians and the Axunemi considered suicide an honorable atonement for certain crimes, such as treachery, fraud, or bankrupting one's heirs. Cadhinorian emperors or judges could order someone who had committed such crimes to kill themselves.

Jippirasti frowns on suicide, though many saints in Feinae starve themselves to death as a demonstration of their separation from the world of body.

In Uytai, suicide is taken as service to the mad ancestors. It's not exactly approved, but you don't ask a lot of questions of mad ancestors.

Among the Be, in ancient times, the husband(s) of a queen were expected to kill themselves when she died.

[Gremlins]

Among the Be, in ancient times, the husband(s) of a queen were expected to kill themselves when she died.

The Blah empire in my Conworld (I don't have a name for them yet and /blah/ is an acceptable word in Sarim so meh) had a similar belief, except any spouse was expected to kill themselves if the other died. This is because any couple was considered one person. They worshipped an Earth Mother and a Sky Father, and considered them inseperable from each other, so one can't live if the other's dead. Observations to the contrary in foreign parts are ignored, or Blahese priests say that although the body goes on but the spirit is dead.

Also: Mad Ancestors? Sounds like a fun religion! I can see it... "I didn't *mean* to run off with all your money and blow it all in a Pyramid scheme uncle Fred, the mad ancestors demanded it of me".

[Brel]

Sorry I haven't replied to this earlier, zompist; thanks for answering my questions I like the ideas you have here, and I'm also interested in the "mad ancestors" thing!