On March 6, 2007 10:48 am, Mark Galeotti wrote:
> Given that 4SoR is a tad esoteric and out of print, I thought it
> might be useful if I just pasted my Moon Bear piece here. The
> formatting will get a little mangled, but I'm afraid that I really
> don't have the time to tidy it. I hope it will be of some interest,
> though.
The formatting isn't too bad.
It is interesting. The write up certainly seems to imply that the Star Bear cult is still alive and well (perhaps not WELL) in Sylila, even if Orlanth is suppressed. Am I wrong in interpreting things that way? Odalya is not just the hunting god here, but takes on some of the social roles of Orlanth. I suspect there are some cults that overlap Moon Bear subcults heavily, but others that don't.
LC
> --
>
> Secrets of the Moon Bear
> The Cyclical Ursine
>
> By Mark Galeotti
>
> The High Bear pantheon is a form of Orlanthi worship strong in Sylila
> and northern Aggar, in which Odayla the Bear, also known as the Star
> Bear, is revered above Orlanth himself. With the arrival of the
> Empire and Lunar worship, the High Bear pantheon has managed largely
> to adapt itself well, and the Red Goddess is often portrayed as
> riding the great Star Bear. Lunarised Sylilans interpret this to mean
> that Sedenya is Mistress of the Star Bear, while traditionalists
> simply say that he is lending his strength to her cause.
> However, a new bear cult has arisen which seems to unite elements of
> the new and the old – what remains to be seen is who will benefit the
> most. In 5/34 (1497), Hwarin's Well began to send clouds of red smoke
> into the skies, while the Gyndan seeeresses who tended this oracular
> site tried vainly to understand the portents. For seven days and
> nights it burned, the smoke darkening and lightening with the phases
> of Rufelza. On the seventh night the smoke took the form of a great
> red ringed bear, terrifying, inspiring and majestic, which ascended
> to the moon.
> For the next fifty years, debate raged as to whether this was the
> manifestation of some new or unknown deity, a symbol of Odayla's
> marriage to Rufelza or a curse or blessing on Sylila. It led to the
> infamous Twenty-Seven Disputations, which left half of Kerikor a
> smoking ruin and the other half festooned with pamphlets. It sundered
> the marriage of Satrap Anadras and his Aggari wife Bheronwydd. It
> prompted Blind Fekeh, the `Bard of Lakrene', to write `Star and
> Moon', arguably his greatest play.
> The Moon Bear's existence and divinity was gradually accepted, first
> through the minor and major miracles he wrought and then by his
> dramatic appearance at the Black Night Burning a century ago. An
> entropic discharge at the Jillaro Temple of the Reaching Moon led to
> a so-called `meltup' as raw essences boiled into the night sky just
> as the Glowline failed. Rufelza's face was blotted from view and dark
> creatures of otherworldly hunger – later identified as the Tokari
> Void Locusts – began to congeal from the clouds of unresolved
> possibility. Suddenly the Moon Bear roared through the sky in all his
> terrible glory, his fur streaming sparks of moonglow, his fangs
> glittering as he roared a challenge. He was blotted from view as the
> Locusts swarmed around him, then he blazed with power and the void
> parasites boiled away.
> Since then, his cult has become recognised by all and embraced by
> many. Indeed, the Moon Bear and his various aspects have become the
> dominant cult in the satrapy. He has seven forms, each associated
> with one of the moon's phases and also the cycles of life in Sylila,
> the most popular being The Sleeper, BendraYoo Stand-Up and CandarYoo
> the Forager. However, the Moon Bear's origins and motivations are
> still unclear and in many ways discovering and defining this will be
> crucial to shaping Sylila's future. On the one hand, there are
> aspects of the Moon Bear's worship – and especially the Red Moon
> Burning subcult – which make it a credible candidate to replace or
> absorb Odayla the Star Bear, marking the definitive incorporation of
> the High Bear pantheon into the Lunar Way, just as Sylila was brought
> into the Empire. There is even talk of mating the Star Bear with Red
> Moon Burning to produce a new Lunar divine dynasty for Sylila.
> However, there are also traditionalists who look at Sylila's history
> in another way. They insist that the presence of this new deity shows
> that even the Red Moon can be brought into the High Bear pantheon –
> they too favour a divine mating, just as Dalthippa and Ingkot's union
> brought new power and prosperity to Sylila. Whether the Moon Bear
> will allow Sylila to use the moon's powers for their own glory or
> instead finally bind the `Barbarian Satrapy' to the Empire is one of
> the unresolved questions which will be answered in the Hero Wars…
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