From: Harald Smith 617 726-2172 (SMITHH@A1.MGH.HARVARD.EDU)
Date: Wed 01 Jun 1994 - 06:17:00 EEST
Well after two full weeks off in the wastelands of the U.S.,
I find that I'm way behind in my RQ dailies, but will try to
catch up as quickly as possible. Incidentally, I find that
much of Arizona, in particular, makes great staging for Prax
and the Zola Fel valley. Too bad I'm not running a campaign
there. After hiking up enough canyon sides and mountain
ridges in temperatures from the 80s to over 100 degrees, I
can't picture anyone wanting to wear anything resembling
metal armor. And I think anyone would think twice about the
source of their water supplies as well.
So I pick up two weeks back. Apologies if some of these
threads have already been laid to rest.
- Matt Thale (x-rq-id 4004) asks about the relation of
Mastakos and Lokarnos.
Though both possess the movement rune, I do see them as
distinct. In Theyalan culture I think they represent the
attempt to describe two particular planets following the Sun
Path. Mastakos (as described in ES) takes eight hours to
cross the sky and then starts again without going to hell.
The Orlanthi claim this as their god of movement who can
teleport where he wants to go (takes Orlanth to hell and
then goes to pick him up at the other end). The other,
Wagon or Lokarnos takes 98 days to cross the sky and then 98
more to journey through hell. (ES claims the sky gods say
this is Lokarnos and he appears in GRoY as the Week God
because it takes 7 pre-SunStop days to cross the sky.)
Surely, the Orlanth community also sees this as the
lumbering wagon of those solar traders who deign to descend
to Dragon Pass. I don't think these figures are universally
recognized, though. In my Imtherian mythos, these are two
followers of Lightfore (called Lagavar in Imther) who
partially failed in their quests to follow their leader.
"Mastakos" was either rejected at the gates of dusk, which
Lagavar successfully passed OR is actually 2 planets which
travel perfectly opposite each other at all times (when one
rises the other sets). "Lokarnos" was crippled in hell and
must lumber along, aided by either a staff or carried on a
wagon.
- Martin Crim (x-rq-id 4013) asked me to mention Khelmal,
the Imtherian version of Yelmalio.
Basically, Khelmal is the societal founder of the Imtherian
lands with strong similarities to Yelmalio, but not Yelmalio
(just as Elmal is not Yelmalio). Yelmalions travelling to
Imther would be accepted at Khelmal's temples, but would
find some of the mythos and the roles of the god
significantly different. They would have to undergo some
form of initiation to realign themselves fully with Khelmal.
In rough outline, Khelmal is the son of Yelem, the sun god.
His father gives him rule over the Imtherian lands, as he
gives other sons rule over other parts of the world. Genert
(or Gerendetho) offers his daughter, Nealda, to Khelmal to
once again unite light and earth. But the evil trickster,
Orlantio, spies Nealda and wants her for himself. Orlantio
manages to get Khelmal's squire, Yurmalio, to open up a
doorway and promptly steals Nealda away. Khelmal is
outraged at the kidnapping of his betrothed and demands her
return. Orlantio of course refuses. Khelmal makes three
more demands and is refused each time. So Khelmal calls
upon his kin for aid and they march off to fight Orlantio
and his kin.
The forces converge at the Hill of Gold. (The story of this
fight was presented at RQ Con and, hopefully, is in whatever
collection David Cheng is pulling together so I won't repeat
it all here.) Basically, Khelmal had better strategy and
drove off several of Orlantio's allies. Orlantio, though,
used treachery again and got Yurmalio to betray his lord.
Orlantio nearly wins, but finally Khelmal confronts him
directly. And though Khelmal has lost his favorite weapons,
he uses his spear of hope to daunt Orlantio, so much so that
Orlantio stops his fight and leaves. (Not that it matters
to Orlantio since he has already traded Nealda away to his
dreadful brother, Orak the Hell Wind.)
Now Khelmal is confronted by Orak and Valind descending from
the north. Khelmal's weakened force has little chance to
win this battle, so Khelmal sacrifices his own fire powers,
releasing it upon his foes. Orak is scorched and burned and
driven underground. Valind is delayed, but keeps up his
advance. The sacrifice is enough to allow Khelmal and some
of his allies to flee into the Imtherian hills. There
Khelmal undertakes five tasks to rally mankind against the
darkness and chaos by binding them into new ways of life.
Khelmal worshippers do not know Monrogh, Togtuvei, or
Kuschile at all. They do know Asron Cloudcutter (a hero who
gained the spell Cloud Clear for the cult by heroquesting to
the Hill of Gold and obtaining the Horn of Retreat from the
chariot of Orlantio) and Heliacal the Light Protector (who
provides Shield of Light instead of the Shield spell, not
known to Khelmal worshippers). The cult has Light Servants
and Priests, but no Light Sons. There are different gifts
and geases which reflect the different choices made by
Khelmal from those made by Yelmalio.
That's a rough outline of aspects of the cult of Khelmal.
He is the key deity of Imther and represents the struggle to
hold the world together. While others went off on journeys
to rescue the sun (NOT led by Orlantio the Trickster), it
was Khelmal who kept the pieces together and allowed men to
live and survive.
- Assorted discussions on the Trinity
My feeling is that a son, father, spirit representation of
the Invisible God is not correct. The number 3 is important
to the followers of Malkion, but not in that way. I think
one thing to keep in mind is that to some extent the
development of the 3-in-1 Christianity was a mythical
inversion of the earlier pagan 3-in-1 goddess, used
particularly by early Christians to convert the pagans. I
can certainly see the Malkionis attempting to find ways to
convert the followers of the Serpent Kings or Orlanth
(creating saints, aiding Seshna, etc.), but a trinity of
aspects does not seem important mythologically. Now if the
Malkionis try to convert the Bloody Tusk ... ;-)
- Alex (x-rq-id 4018) asking about the realities of the
heroplane.
My view is that it does contain different realities and that
contradictory myths can and do exist. Sometimes the myths
and realities are brought together, perhaps after a
particular magico-mythical conquest (Lightbringers come to
Peloria, Praxians invade Storm Hills, Malkionis come to
Heortland, etc.). Then new cults, new subcults, new
tellings of the mythical stories are crafted, often subtly.
At other times, the myths split apart, again yielding
variations in theme.
In Imther, the Dara Happan expansion under Shargash/Antirius
founded a "Sun Dome" temple. A new warrior class developed
under the umbrella of the Khelmal cult. This class existed
for much of six centuries until destroyed in the Dragonkill
War. Then, older versions of the Khelmal cult were
reasserted and the warrior as champion of the sun was
abandoned in favor of an older savior of mankind.
Many variations can and do exist. Orlanth could be slain
(in Imther, the trickster Orlantio is hung, but later
saved). Yelm might not die, but go instead on the
"Lightbringer" quest to save the world (perhaps this is a
view from Teshnos where fire powers do rule?).
- Alex (x-rq-id 4021) on lo-metal.
Lo-metal in one form (as sa-metal) is green, not red, and
would be appropriate for a metal of Lorion or that worn by
Gnydron.
--Harald
---------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 10 Oct 2003 - 01:34:45 EEST