[Glorantha] Lagerwater Tales: The Lagertarn

The Lagertarn

Lake of the Lagertarn               haunted, sans sun-gift;
Withered its reed beds             fog-cloaked with fear.

Ripples like dragon scales      darken the swan's road;
First of Far Walkers                   wyrd-weighted, watchful.

We do not fish in the mist-caped Lagertarn; we do not hunt the many birds that dwell upon its lea; nor do we defile its lonely solitude with coracles or boats. Our stead is buttressed against the young lake's eastern shore, but it is dangerous, taboo, not meant for mortal play. Grim Taros lies beneath the Lagertarn, trapped and drowned in his stead as of old. And Taros bears a heavy wyrd.

There was once a fledgling stead where the icy waters now run so deep, a stead that also bore the name of Lagerwater. Taros the Ridgeleaper was first of the Far Walkers, a grim giant of a man, a hero of great heart and great hatred, a warrior who knew no middle way. As every child knows, he led his quarrelsome household, his heroes, herders and herds from distant Bilini to claim the Far Place as his own, guided by a star javelin and a righteous wind. Taros cut the stead tree of the first Lagerwater, he cleared the valley for his heavy-footed herds. But by greed and rancour the Ridgeleaper brought kinstrife upon the new-fledged clans, ploughing the field of endless vengeance whose harvest is yet our daily round. The songs of Taroskarla attest the mighty deeds of his herodom, and the deadly retribution accorded him by the ancient powers of the gors.

For in the Tearing Claw Season, the first Lagerwater was drowned beneath the surging waters of a new lake: the Lagertarn.

Thick banks of paperbark now rot by the lake shore, indifferent shelter to bearded ravens that settle in flocks upon the ghostly dead branches. Otters and waterdragons banquet and play among the razored altar rocks, and fish of many shapes school the icy deep. Each Fire Season the lake gives forth plagues of rainbow frogs, and thousands of birds of every colour and call ascend from the eternal gors to feast.

The waters of the troubled tarn run cold, and still, and silent. A dense fog oft cloaks the surface, and ghostly fogbows rise through the clinging mist. If you listen when the humakt winds play across the tarn at Elmal's leaving, you will hear the Ridgeleaper screaming in his prison-stead far below.

Ancient violence longs to breed anew. Grim Taros sits trapped in hall with his thanes before him, their magics and weapons dulled by the icy water. We know that one day he will escape, and rouse the tribes as of old, to end his quarrel final with his brother of the plain. It is a hateful thing, and we offer sacrifice by the tarn that its waters hang heavy upon him, and its deep fronds wrap his body tight.

We make our petition at the altar rock of Dahud, first among ancestors, hero-daughter who stood against her father for the sake of brothers and blood. Her enduring breath now guards the watery tomb out of love for those who remain, the men and women of Tresdarnii, her brother's clan and tribe.

[This fragment alludes to the events described in Taroskarla].

Three streamdaughters feed the angry lake, glad and beautiful sister-deities of the mountain heights, altar friends to our clan and companions to our cattle. Honoured they are, for it was these water sisters who first succoured the Animal Twins during the madness of Tearing Claw season.

The eldest of these sisters is Hurlygush, manthi of the Running Mead Creek, that tumbles to the Lagertarn from the chill heights of Three Breast. The stream goddess yatters in joy over Greenbed Falls, whose soft and luxurious moss banks are a favourite to courting lovers, and where bilberry brambles provide juicy tender feasting in Elmalcalm (early Fire Season).

Often visiting youngbeards walk there with the white-armed daughters of the stead, and often too they lay in pleasure all the summer eve. Clothed only in the beauty of youth, they lie all about the mossy bank, and loveliness and joy gather about them as light.

There is a fourth spring-stream, called Askinlay, fed from a dark lake far beneath our fields, most times quiet but capable of erupting with a fierce and wanton flow. Its immortal nymph is no friend to the clan, and its tainted water fit only for our filth and castings out. We have tamed the worst of its wayward flow, and its field journeying is constrained by stone and faggot drains and courseways. Though weakened, the spring spirit is ever jealous and cruel, and she watches with an evil eye over the sport of our children and calves.

Three times is this nymph is known to have entered the womb of a young wife of the clan, and so taken bodily form among us. Each time she grew into a cruel and deceiving child, with knowing eyes of cold blue-grey. In body of child she caused much evil among us, and then drowned her mortal form in its eighth or ninth winter. The Askinlay has not disturbed us now for several years - has she succumbed at last to the curse-rites of our altars, or has she again incarnated herself among the innocent? We must be ever watchful.

Taros Ridgeleaper, Hero Ancestor of the Far Walkers Fight Wilderness (Beast, Darkness, Spirit, Forest) 3w4, Righteous Wind 12w2, Storm Leap 15w3, Hate Lowlanders 9w2, Ruthless 3w2, Kin Curse 9w, Inhabit Dreams 9w.

The Dahud Wind
Ally Water 12w2, Ally Humakt Wind 10w2, Mist Cloak 13w, Aid Tovtaros 4w2.

Hurlygush, Manthi of the Running Mead Creek Stream Dominion 15w2, Purify 8w2, Spread Joy 2w2, Bless Couple 10w.

Askinay, Veredthi of the Darkness Spring Raging Water 10w2, Darken 8w2, Capricious 15w, Incarnate 10w, Lure Young 9w.

Virile Youngbeard Lover, Orlarnii stead guest 'Woo bonny lassie when the kye cames hame' 3w, Boast 19, Amourous 14, Impress bonny lassie 5, Impress bonny lassie's Brothers 16, Join Raid 3w.

Beautiful Stead Maiden
Watchful Kin 10w, Discern Suitor's Worth 5w, Wisdom of Ernalda (Test Suitor, Ways of Love) 17, Amorous 16, Gather Berries 5.

Solitary Blue-Eyed Child
Knowing Gaze 19, Disturbing Comment 12, Solitary 16.

Dangren HurtWind, Wanderer by the Lagertarn (Validor, Male, 21 years, worshipper of Hedkoranth) Brood 9w, Hate Vantaros Tribe 7w, Far Walker Myth 5w, Question Clan Myth 19, Meet Ridgeleaper in Dreams 17.

Cheers

John Received on Tue 18 Jul 2006 - 06:17:09 EEST