[Glorantha] Re: Praxian Names

Peter Metcalfe:
>Jane Williams
>>"When Night Woman led the forces of darkness to invade
>>Prax, Dark Eater was her warlord..."
>
>So there's the (a) Praxian name for Kygor Litor.
>
> Night Woman refers to the entity also known as
> Xentha, I would have thought.

  So would I.    

  Malk Williams:   

> Just looked in (Jane's copy of) Drastic Prax, at the Quest for Waha rescuing
> the Protectresses. Although Waha combats the forces of Dark Eater on the
> quest, Drastic has the forces actually holding the Protectresses as
> miscellaneous carnivores, not trolls. This is at odds with the version of
> the Waha cult writeup on Glorantha.com, which says "Waha freed the Daughters
> of Eiritha who were imprisoned by the forces of Kyger Litor".
   

  Well, carnivores would probably have eaten the beasties. But so would trolls, unless they had a cunning plan. I'd have thought it was the trolls who hid the Protectresses.

> I agree that few Praxians are likely to be really well-versed in troll lore,
> and I can quite see Praxians using "Night Woman" for either or both KL and
> Xentha. Rightly or wrongly. Since it appears that there is ambiguity about
> Dark Eater as ZZ or a discrete entity, there is a certain symmetry doing it
> that way.
   

  Personally, and I am not talking for anyone else at all here, I like to think that Gloranthans, in general, are a bit more sophisticated than people make them out to be. There may be some praxians in the back of beyond who have had no contact with other people and haven't made any associations with other cultures/pantheons, but they would be very rare indeed.    

  Praxians travelling near Dagori Inkarth would certainly know there are at least two distinct types of trolls - trolls and trollkin. If they didn't have a specific word for trollkin then they would borrow one. Similarly, those near Pavis would encounter trolls and trollkin. Such praxians would also have encountered the more common trolls cults - in Pavis they even have temples above ground - and they would know the names of the main deities.    

  In the past, or perhaps in a scenario, they would have been able to equate these gods to roles in their own mythology. Once they had done this they could tell others about it and the knowledge would spread.    

  This is what the First and Second Councils did and they certainly had contacts with Praxians as they used them as mercenaries.    

  Similarly, Eirithans may have had contact with Ernaldans in Pavis or near the Storm Hills, and would have gained some knowledge of earth deities. Most Praxians know that Orlanth is Little Brother and that The Wild Hunter is called Gagarth.    

  They might not use those names in their religious ceremonies but they sure as hell know who they are.   

> On a related tangent, I asked a while back who the entity simply called
> "Death" was, who came to Prax hunting Eiritha. I since read a (fan
> originated) story that fairly definitely equated Death with Basmol. I have
> to admit, I really liked that idea, for a goddess of herd beasts, what
> better candidate for Death than a god of predators? So, IMG, that is now
> truth, though I'd be interested in other reactions to it, and if there are
> any more insightful comments about Praxian names for troll kinds and
> deities, I'd still like to read them!
   

  Hmmm, Tada! buried Eiritha to escape Death, who had come to Prax. Death is Basmol. But Tada! famously killed Basmol. Does that mean he then forgot to dig Eiritha up again? Or was that Waha's job, much later on?    

  I think that Death is many gods, not just one. There were waves of attacks on Prax, starting with the Storm Tribe, then other raiders, then the Trolls, then Chaos. Each took a bit away with them and left the rest standing alone. I'd have thought that the one that came for Eiritha was Zorak Zoran, because he had a taste for eating Earth Goddesses and the myth parallels that of Zorak Zoran and Ernalda. In this case, he couldn't find Eiritha and then left to find Ernalda.

  More insightful comments? Sorry, I don't do insightful. I just try and make things less complex than they need to be.    

  See Ya   

Simon     Received on Mon 17 Jul 2006 - 15:10:17 EEST