Ah, well… at least Alex has something by which to remember Cloud’s kindness.
While at a recent wedding reception, I realized that we Humans have a similar custom to the Diral-Seii -- The Toast.
Think about it … we consume small amounts of poison (ethyl alcohol) to ensure the good fortunes of the ones we are toasting. In essence, we are each consuming a portion of their “bad luck”.
Even when we are toasting to our own future success, we swallow a little bad luck now to allow more good luck later.
To your health, Arioch!
You know that song about 10 bottles of beer on the wall?
Two additional bottles have fallen down.
Giving a seii away to someone who was not a member of the diral kind of defeats the purpose of the object. Your misfortune does not benefit the diral if you aren't holding the totem (or so it is believed). You might pass the seii to someone who had become a close companion, especially if there were no other diral members on hand... but probably not to some alien you just met.
How does it defeat it's purpose.
Perfect if your misfortune hits a completely alien race you know nothing about, instead of hitting your own race....
While at a recent wedding reception, I realized that we Humans have a similar custom to the Diral-Seii -- The Toast.
Think about it … we consume small amounts of poison (ethyl alcohol) to ensure the good fortunes of the ones we are toasting. In essence, we are each consuming a portion of their “bad luck”.
Even when we are toasting to our own future success, we swallow a little bad luck now to allow more good luck later.
To your health, Arioch!
Ethyl alcohol is a preservative. It won't preserve friendships or secrets though.
Yet, I will also raise my glass to Arioch's health!
Vote for Outsider on TWC: charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195
How does it defeat it's purpose.
Perfect if your misfortune hits a completely alien race you know nothing about, instead of hitting your own race....
Because the item will not bond to the alien! The diral-seii works on a diral; on a non-diral person it will not be able to connect. That's Alien Magic 101 stuff!
Brief note that the discussion of making something for Demarquis didn't randomly disappear. It moved to DM. I'll probably ping-back on this thread when something physical materialises - though it will of course be somewhat off-topic unless Demarquis can tell a suitably epic tale as to it's meaning.....
While at a recent wedding reception, I realized that we Humans have a similar custom to the Diral-Seii -- The Toast.
Actually we have them everywhere. Humans love to imbue meaning on things. However we generally don't spend much time bonding as a group so our Diral Seii tend to be more, well, individual. At the marriage mentioned there was probably rings passed from the husband to the wife. That's a symbol - maybe not of misfortune, but it's still a physical object given emotional meaning. You probably have some items not far from where you are that have more emotional meaning that physical value.
I have a pendant I made a few years back. I had just moved country and didn't feel like I had a "place" in the world. So I walked down a river, picked up a stone and polished it. Then in the mornings when I put on the pendant it was representative that I was physically present somewhere in the world. It gave me a "place". A couple months ago the leather cord snapped so I no longer wear it. It still has that emotional meaning, but I now have my place in the world more dictated by my friends and family. That stone now resides in a small box along with other similar items. Some are just things I like, others (like the stone) have more symbolic meanings. Some were made, some I was given, and some I found. Some of also been lost over the years.
Giving items meanings is as simple as inventing the story about the item. The meaning can be passed from one person to the other merely by telling the story of the item. What objects do you have that represent something significant?
Brief note that the discussion of making something for Demarquis didn't randomly disappear. It moved to DM. I'll probably ping-back on this thread when something physical materialises - though it will of course be somewhat off-topic unless Demarquis can tell a suitably epic tale as to it's meaning.....
While at a recent wedding reception, I realized that we Humans have a similar custom to the Diral-Seii -- The Toast.
Actually we have them everywhere. Humans love to imbue meaning on things. However we generally don't spend much time bonding as a group so our Diral Seii tend to be more, well, individual. At the marriage mentioned there was probably rings passed from the husband to the wife. That's a symbol - maybe not of misfortune, but it's still a physical object given emotional meaning. You probably have some items not far from where you are that have more emotional meaning that physical value.
I have a pendant I made a few years back. I had just moved country and didn't feel like I had a "place" in the world. So I walked down a river, picked up a stone and polished it. Then in the mornings when I put on the pendant it was representative that I was physically present somewhere in the world. It gave me a "place". A couple months ago the leather cord snapped so I no longer wear it. It still has that emotional meaning, but I now have my place in the world more dictated by my friends and family. That stone now resides in a small box along with other similar items. Some are just things I like, others (like the stone) have more symbolic meanings. Some were made, some I was given, and some I found. Some of also been lost over the years.
Giving items meanings is as simple as inventing the story about the item. The meaning can be passed from one person to the other merely by telling the story of the item. What objects do you have that represent something significant?
Hmm.. I tend to buy a courtesy flag and a shotglass from every country I sail to. Then there's my trusty Parker Sonnet fountainpen, a solar powered calculator (TI30 SLR) from Texas Instruments from 1982, a broken pocketknife that went above and beyond the call of duty and now serves as a paintjar opener and some more things in storage.
Giving a seii away to someone who was not a member of the diral kind of defeats the purpose of the object. Your misfortune does not benefit the diral if you aren't holding the totem (or so it is believed). You might pass the seii to someone who had become a close companion, especially if there were no other diral members on hand... but probably not to some alien you just met.
How does it defeat it's purpose.
Perfect if your misfortune hits a completely alien race you know nothing about, instead of hitting your own race....
Alas, also your fortune flows their way...
Of course we're talking about a superstition, for which there is no experimentally verified behavior (or which all believers agree upon), but the general idea is that the seii is a symbol, and not a magical object. Dalid is about companionship and the Loroi concept of leadership... the seii is a badge of office, and the holder of the seii has agreed to assume the ritually meaningful role of leadership (and all that entails according to Loroi concepts of luck). I think most believers would probably agree that they would not expect a seii given to an alien non-believer who is not a close companion to have any effect.
. . . the general idea is that the seii is a symbol, and not a magical object. Dalid is about companionship and the Loroi concept of leadership... the seii is a badge of office, and the holder of the seii has agreed to assume the ritually meaningful role of leadership (and all that entails according to Loroi concepts of luck). I think most believers would probably agree that they would not expect a seii given to an alien non-believer who is not a close companion to have any effect.
At this point, I would almost expect one of the in-story characters to say, "It is a Loroi diral thing. You would not understand."
“Qua is the sine qua non of sine qua non qua sine qua non.” -- Attributed to many
