From: Nick Brooke (100270.337@compuserve.com)
Date: Sat 03 Sep 1994 - 11:24:54 EEST
Sorry this is late: my original posting bounced.
My Big Spring Festival in Esrolia was on Flamal's Day, when the seeds are sown. Voria's Day in Sartar is, for me, when the first flowers open after Storm Season and Sacred Time. I like Alex's variant (the un-Voria-ing day) for use in a warmer climate.
> Of course, this makes [Yelmic types] very stern, tending to see things > in terms of black and white.
You think they're bad, wait til you see my Carmanians!
> Does anyone know where the story of horses' devolution from birds can be > found?
"The Cult of Yelm", in Wyrms Footnotes #11. A reprint is coming soon in Wyrms Footprints, from us charming folks at Reaching Moon Megacorp. Your sneak preview follows:
: YELM THE RIDER and the tale of the Horse
: The original steed of Yelm was King Griffin, ancestor of the great race
: of sun-loving creatures. Ever since that time the cult has taught the
: skill of riding flying beasts (specifically griffins). However, when
: Yelm was slain King Griffin quarrelled with the other light gods and his
: children withdrew themselves from being slaves to people who rode them.
: Thus it is that so few people ride on the wondrous animals, even where
: the sun is worshipped.
: One of the feuds which King Griffin had with his fellow light gods was
: over the treatment of his favourite child, Hippogriff. She had been an
: ally to Splendid Yamsur, eldest son of Yelm, who used to be called The
: Victorious. Splendid Yamsur and Hippogriff had taken solemn oaths of
: friendship together, but in several fights Hippogriff was hurt and
: abandoned by her erstwhile friend, who was not called The Victorious
: afterwards.
: Hippogriff underwent a series of painful and humiliating experiences
: during the War of the Gods and the Great Darkness. First she met Storm
: Bull in raging battle and her proud fangs were broken out of her mouth
: so she could no longer bite. In a fight with Maran Gor, the Earthshaker,
: Hippogriff's legs were broken and her bronze claws were ripped from her
: feet, but Yamsur was able to replace her feet with hooves. The greatest
: sore was when Zorak Zoran tore off her golden wings, laughing as he
: robbed her of ever returning to the sky. But most humiliating was when
: this once great godling was taken and broken by a mortal, Hyalor Horse-
: breaker.
: Hyalor was not totally unfit to ride upon her. He was a leader among men
: and he also believed in the long disappeared sun. In addition, he claimed
: descent from the God Yamsur who was slain by the Devil, and claimed that
: he was freeing her crippled spirit from death and wished to make an
: alliance. He rescued her by changing her name and her identity. Even so
: man got the better of the bargain. She was called Hippoi, or simply
: horse. Ever since then her descendants have worked more for man than man
: has worked for the horse.
: When the sun rose again Hyalor was ready to accept him, having survived
: the Darkness through great faith and courage. The horse, already used to
: slavery, leapt to meet her old master. The pair together received great
: bounty in the first years, and their herds and numbers increased greatly
: with the Blessings of Yelm. This is the origins of the Horse Peoples, who
: later became the Steppe Nomads.
All (c) Greg Stafford, and written over ten years ago (for the benefit of pedantic GRAY- and DHBE-bashers).
> Are there any aerial predators [in Prax], like griffins or really big > raptors?
Some Griffins have a nest atop the Block, allegedly. And the giant condors of Condor Crags fit the bill.
> Do hyaenas get respect from humans due to their association with the > Trickster?
About as much respect as human Tricksters do, i.e. this is a *negative* factor. IMHO.
> ... This does not mean that Khelmal, Antirius, Elmal, Yelmalio may not > exist as independent entities, just that their natures are altered to > some extent by those who still have free will - the heroquesters.
I'd broaden that to "the worshippers", while accepting that it's six of one
and half-a-dozen of the other. I'd fracture it by saying that both Khelmal and Elmal can exist at the same time: if there is a GodLearneresque "core" to this common/shared deity, these two are equally valid aspects of "him".
That is to say, it doesn't matter to Sun Dome Yelmalions what stories the Imther folk tell about Khelmal, as they have no impact on their own deity- aspect, who is separate from the mass. *Unless* one of these stories is brought to their notice and they like it enough to covet it for their own mythos. Or unless some outsider "forces" it upon them.
Based on the high quality of Harald's excellent Imther myths, this must mean there is very little communication between the tribes of Imther and the poor, thus far mythically-deprived Elmali and Yelmalions of the South.
The "Fortunate Succession" (which makes up the bulk of the Dara Happan Book
of Emperors) adds a third Lodrili Emperor to the naughty dynasty of Ovosto ("King Rump"): after Ovosto and Orogoros comes one Orovinos. (He's added to
the Glorious ReAscent's list in the eighth century, when various Pelandan myths seem to be creeping in). Very little firm or useful data about him comes out of the notes to the lists.
My suggestion: Orovinos is the famous Drunken Emperor. I see him as rather like Peacock's Seithenyn ap Seithyn Saidi, for those of you who still read good books. Devin will of course comment on this parallel, and on that to the Drowning of Ys. Good. I like parallel myths. Tells me I'm on the right path...
Emperor Orovinos had an insatiable thirst. He commanded his cupbearers to bring all of the decent Wine within the palace to him until he exhausted that supply. Then he called for foreign drinks, like the Mead of Darjiin, and even for vile-tasting and indecent drinks like Beer, and quaffed these until his stomach was fit to burst. But still he was not sated, and called out for Oils and Elixirs and other unnatural potations. None of these could
satisfy his burning thirst. Then, finally the Emperor called out for Water to be brought.
The cupbearers asked, "Any water?"
The Emperor answered, "ALL Water!"
^^^
With a pinch of salt, and further to the von Daniken theory of Dara Happan origins expounded a few months ago, here's my Velikovsky theory of Pelorian
catastrophism:
Clearly, the "Moon" referred to in the earliest myths is not the moon we recognise today. Equally clearly, it is impossible for the "Sun" to have gone out, as is claimed in myths found world-wide. The simplest explanation
is that the so-called Moon of Godtime was in fact a Comet, headed straight for Glorantha.
This giant body impacted Glorantha at the moment known in myth as the Death
of Yelm. Throwing up huge volumes of particulate matter by its impact, the clouds darkened the sun, blackening it out at noon for the time immediately
after the collision. The shock of impact would also have caused earthquakes
and tidal waves. Longer-term effects of the climatic changes included wide-
spread crop failure and mass extinctions. For years after the crash, the climate would have been colder, and the sun's rays dimmed by the greater levels of atmospheric dust (creating the so-called "Cold Sun" of the Great Darkness). Perhaps (pace Hoyle) this body brought with it some mutagenic agent which was responsible for the reports of "chaotic" monstrosities at this time. We can only wonder...
Among the long-term results of the "Moon" colliding with Glorantha were the
rise in sea-level (perhaps as a result of cometary ice introduced to the biosphere), and the mysterious disappearance of a hitherto prominent heavenly body. When a state of environmental equilibrium was once again achieved (this being known as the Cosmic Compromise), conventional history is said to have begun.
All of these factors are, of course, widely attested in Gloranthan myth.
("And if you'll believe that...")
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