From: Sérgio Mascarenhas (sermasalmeida@mail.telepac.pt)
Date: Mon 28 Jul 1997 - 15:13:11 EEST
When I discovered Glorantha (about 15 years ago through RQ2) one of the
Some time ago I started to take notes on what might be the duck equivalent
things that I liked most about it was that it didn't stick to conventions
about fantasy universes and specially about intelligent races. That
impression was based on races like newtlings, dragonewts, baboons, and
ducks in particular.
of Troll Pack. Last month I started to explore the RQ Digest and Glorantha
Digest trying to find interesting stuff on ducks (and to me 'interesting'
implies the Treat the Ducks Seriously approach).
So I decided to share my own account on ducks with the GD. It goes like
that:
DUCK MINI-PACK Part I - The Myths
The Durulz mythology is organized around the encounters between ducks and
the gods in Mythic Times. Before Time, ducks had few contacts with the
powers of Glorantha. In fact, they avoided mixing with the affairs of gods,
specially with those of the greatest gods. But sooner or latter they were
forced to confront the powerful. The mythology records the gods that had a
major impact on the ducks destiny.
Those gods are organized in two categories: Duck Friends and Those We
Serve:
Duck Friends
At the origin (Golden Time) Ducks were followers of Yelm and part of this
god's retinue (BL and RoC).
But ducks were unconfortable under the strict rules of behavior of the Sun
God and felt attracted to the freedom of storm. In fact, they started to
spend more and more time between Orlanthi followers then with their
relatives.
Eventually they became friends with Eurmal since they liked the games and
tricks of this god. That's why in duck culture Eurmal is considered the
First Friend.
When Orlanth confronted Yelm, the sun god ordered its followers to form
ranks behind him. Ducks felt divided between their duty to the sun and
their friendship to storm. They confronted Yelm which, outraged, outcasted
them and cursed (BL, RoC). Yelm's curse had two major impacts: ducks could
no longer fly (they weren't allowed to access the sky) and they were
forbidden to present their eggs to Yelm for blessing.
But ducks didn't want to take side with Orlanth either because they still
loved Yelm. And when Orlanth slew Yelm, ducks decided that they shouldn't
follow him. So when the lesser darkness came, they found themselves by the
side of Humakt and others that choose neutrality. Humakt found on the
company of ducks a small relief to the sorrows of those times. And Humakt
became the Second Friend.
All along the lesser darkness ducks saw their friends in both sun and storm
fields fall to the power of death. Being neutral, they didn't fight, but
they decided that there should be something they could do instead of simply
watch the carnage. With sorrow in their hearts, they started to boat the
fallen friends to the Stix. TKT acknowledged their act and accepted their
help in her work. That way TKT became the Third Friend.
Eventually ducks had to stop because the Mother of Durulz couldn't stand
with the pain and discomfort of carrying an egg she could not lay. That's
when BBG noticed them. She saw in the Mother of Durulz -which carried a son
and couldn't give him to birth - the symmetric image of herself - she who
could give to birth but couldn't carry a son. So, with a swing of her ax,
she freed the son of the Mother of Durulz. For BBG that was a moment of
joy: by that act she was somehow participating in the mystery of
motherhood. And BBG became the Forth Friend.
Than came the Greater Darkness. Ducks wandered trying to escape both chaos
and war. They eventually stopped by the Creek-Stream, only to fall in a
trap laid by the Uz hunter god, Zong. But thanks to Eurmal tricks, ducks
were able to escape the trap and turn-it against Zong, trapping the
trapper. After long arguments, they liberated Zong and both became
companions in hunting. That's how ducks fixed their residence in the place
that would be called DP in latter times and how they found the Fifth
Friend.
Those became since then the Five Friends of Ducks. In historical times
ducks would organize their myths of the Duck Friends into a coherent set of
magical practices (To be explained in a latter message).
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