From: Bryan J. Maloney (jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu)
Date: Thu 21 Apr 1994 - 12:05:43 EEST
"You have asked me why we teach you to hide your weapons, young blade-edge. Good. You should never just take something on the surface, for truth is often hidden as well and must be found by cutting through the concealment. I will tell you a story:
We already know how Orlanth Idiotic coerced Trickster into stealing Death from the side of Humakt. Orlanth is a well-meaning enough god, but he has the self-control of a small child. As soon as the sun fell from the sky, Humakt knew what had happened. When Orlanth and Yelm contested, Humakt watched. When Orlanth crawled back to his stead each time, defeated and humiliated, Humakt watched. When Orlanth drank himself stupid with Urox every night afterwards, Humakt watched. So Humakt knew what had happened.
It was then that he began the search for his true Sword, what the foolish call "Death". By the time he found it, it had been taken from Orlanth by Urox (after Orlanth had drunk himself stupid again) and Urox killed with it. Urox lost the sword when he was drunk and Zorak took it--the wrong way, of course. Zorak murdered plants (and nearly all life) with it.
Finally, Humakt found Eurmal dancing around a heap of dead Gods. He took the Trickster by the throat and stared him in the face. He thrust his empty hand before the Trickster's face and scowled. Trickster's left hand dropped off from the glare and he giggled. Again, Humakt thrust his empty hand before Eurmal and scowled. Trickster's right hand dropped off and he giggled. Finally, Humakt had had enough. He picked Eurmal up and began to march to the gate to Hell.
Then the Trickster no longer laughed, for he knew that Humakt would take him to Hell and leave him there--even if Humakt had to walk there himself. Trickster's hands leaped onto their wrists and Eurmal promised to show Humakt where the Sword had gone.
When Humakt was brought to the Sword, Zorak was beating the Earth with the hilt. Humakt grabbed the hilt in mid-swing and wrest the weapon from Zorak's hands. He then threw Eurmal at Zorak and left.
Alone, Humakt used the Sword to cut the ties he had with Orlanth Idiotic. Then he thought. It was obvious that this great Sword was not a safe thing. It had gotten out of his hands once before and everyone who got hold of it used it to wreak havoc. There was something about Death that inflamed lust in the hearts of those gods of low moral fiber. Humakt thought.
He realized that, for there to be peace, Death must not be waved about, bright and beautiful for all to see, for this only served to provoke greed. So, Humakt learned to hide his Sword until it was needed.
This, young edge, is why we learn to conceal our blades."
The above manuscript was found in what was probably an encampment in the region of southern Sartar. Most scholars agree that it is a redaction of a far older myth and it was probably altered to agree with Theyalan sensibilities, especially in light of documents found in more northerly regions, which mention the great utility of concealing weapons, especially when participating in an ambush. The study of Humakt has proven to be one heavily fraught with contradiction and difficulty. It has been suggested that local variations in the name normally rendered "Humakt" in modern translation could actually have referred to different deities who had similar names. It has also been suggested that "Humakt" should not be considered so much a name, _strictu sensu_ as a title, but there is not much evidence for either of these possibilities.
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