What's the deal with cannabalism? : V - Skyrim

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:07 am

> Boiling it in hot water should do the trick, without burning the meat. Apparently it sterilises at 121 degree celcius.

Water boils at 100 degrees and becomes steam, so unless you have a pressure cooker (which is really unlikely in the case of the groups we're talking about) you aren't going to hit that.

Even if you could, prions aren't something you can sterilize effectively short of incineration (at which point you're eating ashes rather than meat) - it's the same reason why meat from cows that have had mad cow disease (variant CJD) can't simply be marketed as "cook thoroughly before eating".

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:09 am

> Boiling it in hot water should do the trick, without burning the meat. Apparently it sterilises at 121 degree celcius.

Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius and becomes steam, so unless you have a pressure cooker (which is really unlikely in the case of the groups we're talking about) you aren't going to hit that.

Even if you could, prions aren't something you can sterilize effectively short of incineration (at which point you're eating ashes rather than meat) - it's the same reason why meat from cows that have had mad cow disease (variant CJD) can't simply be marketed as "cook thoroughly before eating".

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:56 pm

I play an Argonian. All those monkeys walking around Skyrim are nothing but animated "marsh meat" as far as I'm concerned.

(Not really - my character is actually a "good guy" and believes that eating sentient creatures is kinda icky, even if its not technically cannabalism. If nothing else, he respects the fact that the corpse's relatives may want to perform funeral rites. But if I'm in werewolf form, all bets are off, and I'm not feeling guilty about it.)

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:42 pm

If you are talking about cannibalism with the werewolves... that is understandable. Even in real life, there are legends of werewolves tearing apart and eating people for meat, so it is not that outlandish in TES.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:23 pm

> Boiling it in hot water should do the trick, without burning the meat. Apparently it sterilises at 121 degree celcius.

Water boils at 100 degrees and becomes steam, so unless you have a pressure cooker (which is really unlikely in the case of the groups we're talking about) you aren't going to hit that.

Even if you could, prions aren't something you can sterilize effectively short of incineration (at which point you're eating ashes rather than meat) - it's the same reason why meat from cows that have had mad cow disease (variant CJD) can't simply be marketed as "cook thoroughly before eating".

Those diseaes are only believed to be transmitted through eating meat anyway. There are more evidence that suggests it is actually passed on by fesus.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:39 am

Disagree. You make it sound as if human flesh is an accepted meal at suppertime, and it's not. Also, TES vampires often do seem to eat the flesh of man and mer, but they are cannibals by choice, not condition, if the player character is any clue- all you need to do is drink blood if you're a vampire, which is a weak broth compared to actual cannibalism as it is normally understood, if you excuse the crummy play on words

So consuming human blood is okay, but eating the flesh is not? Where do you get that sense of morality & consciousness from?

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:02 am

Some of you who think Cannibalism is just tacked on to the game may want to dig into the lore of the Bosmer. Just sayin'

Also Ji Soo, Halthor, take it to PMs. This isn't really meant to be a discussion about actual real-world cannibalism and how you think it fits into the real-world-view.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:22 am

The cannibals of New Guinea call people "Long Pig", they say Human tastes most like pork.

ha i've heard the same and wasn't surprised at all...people are pigs

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:16 am

I don't see why its looked down upon anyways. Your soul goes to Sovngarde, Aetherius or wherever and isn't it a bit rude to say "hands off" to a person in need? Your body that has faded from life can help preserve another. Plus, when you are cooked and consumed there is nothing left of you to become a draugr or a necromancer's plaything.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:04 pm

Well I eat people as a werewolf but wouldn't bother doing the quest to allow me to eat people in my human form. Just the way about it seems totally wrong, even if at the end of the day werewolf form or not I still have human/thalmor flesh in my gut. Plus you hardly need the ability anyway, where as a werewolf you'll depend on it really fast especially when you're a high level.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:15 am

But you're still concious of eating somebody as a werewolf.
Is it still considered cannibalism though? A wolf is not the same species as a Nord, for example.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:25 am

But you're still concious of eating somebody as a werewolf.
Is it still considered cannabilism though? A wolf is not the same species as a Nord, for example.

Not sure. According to the guy in the DB sanctuary, you're not even mortal when you've contracted lycanthropy, you're moon-born. Which is weird since it's technically just an affliction.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:32 am

if they attributed it to Bosmer sure I'd not say it was tacked on, but instead its some breton and the peeps munching on people meat weren't even Bosmer, infact Bosmer had nothing to do with the quest. so folks jumping into Skyrim wouldn't even know the significance, also isn't that also a "myth" in lore as attributed to the "Beast forms" some Bosmer take?

I say its tacked on because of its implementation and that whack job. ;p

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:26 pm

Those diseaes are only believed to be transmitted through eating meat anyway. There are more evidence that suggests it is actually passed on by fesus.

Fesus? If you mean feces, then no, you're wrong about prion diseases. They are abnormally shaped proteins that interact with the properly formed version and make it malformed as well. Mad Cow disease is the most famous example, but there are others. You can get it from eating contaiminated steak, no matter how cooked it is. That's because the only way to get rid of it is to break the molecular bonds on those proteins, destroying the prions, but that requires enough energy to break the molecular bonds throughout the meat.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:42 pm

Some of you who think Cannibalism is just tacked on to the game may want to dig into the lore of the Bosmer. Just sayin'

Also Ji Soo, Halthor, take it to PMs. This isn't really meant to be a discussion about actual real-world cannibalism and how you think it fits into the real-world-view.

??? The two of us are talking about gameplay aspects re: the question posed by the OP. It's other people who are mentioning that their own ancestors were cannibals and talking about real-life cannibalism. Are you sure you're admonishing the right people? There's a long-running theme running through this thread about the taboos from eating human flesh, stemming from how they might be cooked. I think you're mistaken on this one. What I'm reading is that I'm not invited to discuss that gameplay feature in TES V Skyrim, although everyone except one other member here can. That's confusing.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:24 am

But you're still concious of eating somebody as a werewolf.
Is it still considered cannibalism though? A wolf is not the same species as a Nord, for example.

Personally, I consider it cannibalism if an intelligent being eats another intelligent being. I am not sure if there is a proper name for it.

Cannibalism is icky, but I suppose it is only really wrong when someone is killed for the purpose of providing food -- which seems to be almost all the incidients of cannibalism in the game. Outside of that, it's still pretty questionable for other reasons of course -- for one, it encourages the eater to think of people as food.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:00 pm

Personally, I consider it cannibalism if an intelligent being eats another intelligent being. I am not sure if there is a proper name for it.

Cannibalism is icky, but I suppose it is only really wrong when someone is killed for the purpose of providing food -- which seems to be almost all the incidients of cannibalism in the game. Outside of that, it's still pretty questionable for other reasons of course -- for one, it encourages the eater to think of people as food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience

This? I go by the dictionary definition myself, as to what cannibalism is.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:19 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience

This? I go by the dictionary definition myself, as to what cannibalism is.

But if we met another intelligent race, would it be any less wrong for us to eat them or them to eat us? I think not.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:09 pm

What's up with that?

Its finger-licking good thats what!

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:06 pm

But if we met another intelligent race, would it be any less wrong for us to eat them or them to eat us? I think not.

That isn't relevant because we're in a discussion about cannibalism in Skyrim. The definition of a cannibal is a species that eats it's own, there's nothing else to it.
Let's not bring real world things into this.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:29 pm

In Fallout 3/NV cannibalism was due to lack of other food options and the strong preyed on the weak.

In primitive societies cannibalism is the result of people wanting to absorb the power of their enemies (most likely the case in Skyrim) and/or make sure they cannot 'come back'. Some primitive societies even eat their own (or portions of their own) for some kind of kinship ritual.

FYI: boiling something does not sterilize anything. To sterilize something it must be autoclaved or (as someone else mentioned) put in a pressure cooker where steam is superheated to over 120 C which is not possible at STP.

Edited for clarity.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 2:04 pm

Those diseaes are only believed to be transmitted through eating meat anyway. There are more evidence that suggests it is actually passed on by fesus.

It is almost like you don't even see the posts correcting you.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:23 am

I don't remember cannibalism being a part of other ES games. It seems however, that the worship of her seems to vary per area. In this one the act of cannibalism is the grotesque vile act that would get Namira's attention, kind of fitting for the savage cold world of skyrim and one of the extremes that would fit that daedric goddess considering her background.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:47 am

I found them and after i got wha they offered i turned into a wolf and ate em all... Maybe it was ment to be or my own way of putting that extra twist of irony into the game..

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:52 pm

That isn't relevant because we're in a discussion about cannibalism in Skyrim. The definition of a cannibal is a species that eats it's own, there's nothing else to it.
Let's not bring real world things into this.

Yes, because talking about aliens is really frounded in real-world experience.

On the other had Tamriel does have multiple sentient species, so talking about how the word "cannibal" relates to that is quite relevant. The certainly seems to consider an Altmer eating another race as cannibalism. This is an extremely common expansion of the word in fantasy and sci-fi settings.