[Glorantha] Essay Question: a lighthearted look at Duck Religion

Hi chaps,

I spent many years lecturing in Religious Studies. Sadly I am not currently employed in taht filed, but if I was might set muy students this assignment.

"Durulz religion currently remains outside of our knowledge of Genertelan theology." Discuss...

Bearing in mind we have no Duck material culture, and the historical sources we have make only passing references to Ducks, how would you answer this assignment? Can we make any informed guesses?

We know some Ducks worship Humakt. I'm guessing that is a sizeable minority in the Upland Marsh, maybe 12%. We also know of the Keets of the East Isles, but AFAIK nothing of their faith. So are Ducks theists, animists, or essence users?

The only reference i can think of is that no one knows if ducks are fowl cursed with flightlessness, or men turned in to Ducks. There are persistent rumours of EWF experiments like the Beastmen, to whom they may well be kin, or that they are rebels against Delecti, who may have created them?

If the Delecti hypothesis is true I wonder if they are animists. My thinking was that at the time of the Dragonkill Delecti performed a rite to change the spirit of the land, his realm, which was then lakes, and most of his loyal subjects supported him and were zombified as a result of the botched HeroQuest, which also resulted in Delecti's unpleasant undead status. Liek the City of Wonders, now vanished, I wondered if Delecti tried to pull his realm, of which he was possibly a senior administrator, out of Arachne Solara's web, and from Genertela, in to the God Wars . The rite, which involved a hideous concoction of Spirit, Essence and Theistic magic connected with the River, Creak and Stream succeeded in blessing the inhabitants with immortality - but not of the desired type? The spirits of those who resisted the rite, and managed to snarl the HeroQuest were banished to the bodies of the wild water fowls, and grew in to the Ducks? This would imply an eternal conflict and emnity between the Durulz of the Upland Marsh and Delecti and his minions. The Duck spirits can never leave; they are cursed to eternally reincarnate in their crippled fowl bodies; worship of Humakt provides a way out of the eternal rebirth of the Ducks, who enter a new egg at their home nest or another on death, by a process of transmigration: they are cursed with forgetfulness of their previous lives, but may bear curses, magical scars and some personality traits from their previous incarnation? Hence Ducks and Dragonewts have a similar cycle; Ducks merely suffer it, rather than having the recall of thei lives and benefits which belong to the Dragonewts?

The second hypothesis I considered struck me as more plausible. Ducks are flightless. We know that most birds are associated with the Sky Realm; yet some are clearly associated with the Middle Air and Storm. Did the Ducks try to stay out of the epic combat between Orlanth and Yelm, between Fire Tribe and Storm Tribe, and were cursed by both for their reticence to commit? They appear to be firmly associated with water cults - did the treachery that created their curse occur during the Waters invasion of the land? Either way, their rejection by Yelm and by Orlanth may well have led to their flightless status? Do they primarily worship the river Gods, and their frail bodies mark the defeat of the rivers a they rushed inland, and their bleeding back to the Seas, in a mythic sense?

I dunno. I'm curious about Ducks, and welcome your suggestions. I still think it may be unwise to speculate at this time, but it would make a good essay question for students!

cj x  

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Received on Fri 27 Jan 2006 - 15:09:48 EET