Sunday, March 16, 2014

Fair and Just

Question: Is there a place for a Justice god in the Inue, or are they too far away from humanity?

It depends on how far you're willing to stretch your definition of "justice god", really. For our part, we would definitely say yes.

The Inuit religion is primarily based on the idea of the Inue as the embodiments - in fact, the very souls - of natural phenomena. They represent things like the wind, the water, the plants that grow from the earth or the animals that are hunted by humanity, and they generally do not represent abstract humanity-based concepts like Justice or Guardian, as those are not the same kind of nature-based elements. The function of the gods in most Inuit myths is to govern and empower the natural world, so most of the time there's little reason for them to have powers that aren't associated with nature in some way. In that particular religion, gods are about nature, and humanity interacts with them but is not championed by them, at least not primarily.

However, many among the Inue do occasionally interact with humanity in ways that might qualify as being justice-related, so you may still be able to peg a few of them as having some powers in that area. The most major is actually the Titan Sila; traditional Inuit practices include a wide range of important rituals, ceremonies and taboos that must be observed in order to make sure they don't offend the Inue, and when weather-related disaster strikes it is often assumed that Sila is punishing the community as a result of someone failing to correctly observe those practices. This makes him a sort of enforcer of law, or at least religious custom, which is one thing that Justice traditionally does. The other option is probably Tornarssuk, the bear god; he doesn't do too much with human laws or customs in a broad sense, but he's the special patron and tester of Inuit shaman, and decides whether or not they're worthy for the post or deserve to be eaten by bears. (Literally, eaten by bears, that's what you get if you're bad. Also if you're good. Bears are hungry creatures.)

So there are a couple of examples, but they don't look a whole lot like the Sraoshas and Proves of other pantheons. Different cultures, different conceptions of what gods do and how society interacts with them.

However, that doesn't mean that if you're an Inue Scion, you can't be all about Justice. Areas that are not already being covered by the old gods are perfect for new Scions to pick up as their own specialties - no matter how you think of the general idea of Justice, if it's not being handled already, you can make it your own without having to compete with anyone else. Maybe you think the Inue should get more involved with helping humanity out and you want to be the first to start doing so, or maybe you think the gods themselves need policing that you might be able to provide. Maybe you want to be a god associated with some other interpretation of Justice! Go wild! They might be a little resistant to it since it's not something they're used to, but every new Scion has to struggle to find their new place in the world. Choose what you want and go for it, my friend.

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