Video; Where's The Laughter in Slaughter?

[ragnarsson]

[When the camera gets turned on, the first thing to note is that Ivar's face is streaked in blood that has only just started to dry in places. Someone's been out worshiping with the natives in a fashion very familiar to a Viking. If y'all hadn't gotten the impression Ivar was a bloodthirsty barbarian from a bygone era, the imagery is definitely reinforced with the dripping red streaks on his face. Also is that some around his lips as well? Has he been drinking the stuff too? Honestly, though, he seems quite pleased by what's been going on even if everyone else might be disturbed by the casual slaughter of the cows. His tone starts off very serious, since worship is important where he's from.]

About time this place started getting some proper worship going. I know most of you all are from soft places-- [The scorn in his tone is obvious.] --but blood sacrifices are always the best when giving due diligence to these gods where I am from. Blood demands blood, especially if you want them to be on your side in battle, or to favor you at all. It's really not all that different then slaughtering animals for food, just with more rituals and rites to it.

[Then he switches back to his usual tone that ranges somewhere between insanity and half-truths end tends to indulge in.]

It's a good thing we finally got the right sort of animals around here. Otherwise, I might have had to resort to sacrificing one of you. [He muses for a moment before laughing.] I'm joking of course! [Beat.] Human sacrifices only work if they're willing participants.

[OOC: This post is for a general discussion, so feel free to have threads amongst all the characters and thread-jacking rather then just talking with Ivar. Do let me know if you do want a specific thread with him! He has rather...strong opinions about this.]

Comments

[winscenario]

[ Even though he knows he shouldn't, he rolls his eyes at that jab. He doesn't respond to it, though, sinking to petty insults won't solve anything. ]

How many animals do you usually sacrifice, then? Do you use the meat and skin after or does it just go to waste?

[ragnarsson]

[Good. Don't give him any ammo and Ivar can't respond in turn. He'll just be forced to be civil instead.]

A bull or several goats is sufficient. The only time many animals are sacrificed at once is every nine years. But that's so far off we can deal with it when we get there.

[winscenario]

Considering the number of animals sacrificed this time around, I'd say we have about nine other years before we have to worry about it again.

[ He presses his lips in, shifting on his seat. ] This kind of thing, these sacrifices... I understand it's part of your culture, your way of life. It might be the same for other people, or it might not. It does disturb me, I'll admit it. It's been over a thousand years since religious sacrifices stopped being a practice on my Earth, for me it's just... pointless bloodshed. Even if I were religious, which I'm not, I couldn't take part in it.

However-- if there's one thing we aim for where I'm from is acceptance and tolerance. Finding a compromise, like you said, even when it comes to customs that may seem pointless and messy to us. Provided that the gods won't stop you, then compromise is where we should begin. Finding an appropriate place for this, choose a set date for it. Agree on where to find said animals, pay for them if you must. As you can imagine, it won't help anyone if the locals start breaking into farms and homes, and stealing animals for their ritual sacrifices.

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar normally would be tuning Kirk out about the time he starts getting into the territory of acceptance and tolerance. Those are two things which are not generally in Ivar's nature, for he was raised to believe the Norse were better then any other culture. But after talking with everyone here, he's calmed down to the point of actually listening rather then being immediately dismissive of what everyone else might believe in regarding religion and morals.]

Then we are in agreement. I suppose since I started all this talk, I shall have to take over organization regarding this all. Going by the calendar, the next time to sacrifice will be at Yule. So there shall be plenty of time to plan and make sure that everything goes off smoothly.

[winscenario]

Provided that the Gods here agree to let this continue to happen, of course.

[ Jim thinks they most likely will, but still, it doesn't hurt to remind Ivar that it's not yet decided. He for one would rather not talk as though this is a done deal, and even if he thinks it's pointless, he still has a sliver of hope that the sacrifices won't be allowed to continue. ]

[ragnarsson]

They’d better. I can think of no reason why they would want them to stop.

[Indeed, Ivar would be very depressed if they told him to stop. He’d been told this was the proper course of action his entire life and to be told otherwise would just make him question basically everything about his entire life.]

[winscenario]

And some probably can think of no reason why they would want it to continue. It's all a matter of perspective, really.

[ After all this may be a part of Ivar's culture and background, but that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else. ]