Windigokan Warriors = Discordian saints?

[Cain]

Taken from The 33 Strategies of War (Robert Greene)

The Ojibwa tribe of the North American plains contained a warrior society known as the Windigokan (No-flight contraries).  Only the bravest men, who had demonstrated their courage by utter disregard for danger on the battlefield, could be admitted.  In fact, because they had no fear of death, they were no longer considered among the living: they slept and ate seperately and were not held to the usual codes of behaviour.  As creatures who were both alive and dead, they spoke and acted contrarily: they called a young person an old man and when one of the others told the rest to stand still, he meant charge forward.  They were glum in times of prosperity, happy in the depths of winter.  Although there was a clownish side to their behaviour, the Windigokan could inspire great terror.  No-one ever knew what they would do next.

The Windigokan were believed to be inhabited by terrifying spirits called Thunderers, which appeared in the form of giant birds [SWEET MERCIFUL FUCK, PTERODACTYLS! - Cain].  That made them somewhat inhuman.  On the battlefield they were disruptive and unpredictable, and in raiding parties downright terrifying.  In one such raid, witnessed by an outsider, they gathered first in front of the Ojibwa chief's lodge and yelled "we are not going to war!  We shall not kill the Sioux!  We shall not scalp four of them and let the rest escape!  We shall go in daytime!"  They left the camp that night, wearing customes of rags and scraps, their bodies plastered with mud and painted with splotches of wierd colour, their faces covered by frightening masks with giant, beak like noses.  They made their way through the darkness, stumbling over themselves - it was hard to see through the masks - until they came upon a large Sioux war party.  Although outnumbered, they did not flee, but danced into the enemies centre.  The grotesqueness of their dance made them seem to be possessed by demons.  Some of the Sioux backed away; others drew closer, curious and confused.  The leader of the Windigokan shouted "Don't shoot!"  The Ojibwa warriors then pulled out guns hidden under their rags, killed four of the Sioux and scalped them.  Then they danced away, the enemy too terrified by this apparition to pursue them.

After such an action, the mere appearance of the Windigokan was enough for the enemy to give them a wide berth and not risk any kind of encounter.

[Chairman Risus]

Also, ate people.

[Jasper]

This is incredibly awesome.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Windigokans didn't eat people... even though they're usually referred to as the Cannibal Cult, it would be more accurate to say that they were the Cult of the Cannibal, or maybe even better, the Society of the Cannibal, which in sacred-clown fashion means that they completely don't eat people at all.

[barumunk]

Definitely saints of discordia!! its the only explaniation

[Cain]

Windigokans didn't eat people... even though they're usually referred to as the Cannibal Cult, it would be more accurate to say that they were the Cult of the Cannibal, or maybe even better, the Society of the Cannibal, which in sacred-clown fashion means that they completely don't eat people at all.

Makes sense.  If they ate people, they wouldn't call themselves that.  You know, with their weird reversal of language and all...

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I never thought of them as Saints of Discordia, but in a way it makes sense. As far as I know, every Native culture in the Americas has/had some sort of "sacred clowns" who behaved in various discordant ways... some tribes actually them clowns, some called them contraries, and even the gender-bending two-spirits were typically viewed as some kind of manifestation of the Trickster, the Trickster being a powerful and necessary element in the universe... without the Trickster, be he (or she) viewed as Coyote, Raven, We'Gyet, or one of her other legions of names, there would be no people. Our name for the Trickster seems to be Eris. This is not a connection I've made before, but I'm liking it now that I've made it.

The contraries also performed as healers.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I wish we all had time to take that Trickster class together

[Cain]

I probably do now, just not the money.

Even at the current exchange rate.

Not that it matters, I have lots of reading anyway.  Enough to last me pretty much the rest of the year.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I probably do now, just not the money.

Even at the current exchange rate.

Not that it matters, I have lots of reading anyway.  Enough to last me pretty much the rest of the year.

I'm waiting to see how many people sign up for the class outside of this group... if its small then I may be able to wrangle some more of the discounts from the boss

[Jasper]

Trickster class?  Link?

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Trickster class?  Link?

http://www.maybelogic.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=208&Itemid=1

[Jasper]

Hmm, it sounds like fun.  Maybe sometime in college if I have some spare cash and an open schedule.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I would take it but my free time is already spoken for, and then some.

[Jasper]

I'll see if I can take it sooner than later if I don't get any courses this quarter.