(Terra, chip in at any moment!)
I was taking up an ideal moment checking on the Issaries site, and up
popped the words "Orlanth for Motion, Quivin for Stability." For one
of those bizarre reasons that immediately got me thinking of a very
famous piece of Japanese vexillatory history--the blue nobori battle
flag that was the standard of Takeda Shingen. Upon this was written
(to use one of the most common translations):
"Swift as the wind,
Silent as the forest,
Fierce as a fire,
Immovable as a mountain."
A startling and evocative banner, when held against the heraldic mon that was typical of the times. That phrase in turn got me thinking of Broyan. We've spoken of Lunar regiments, vexilla and banners, but I've not seen (or missed) mention of Broyan's banner (if he has one).
Shingen's nobori seems to me to provide a cool prototype for something that could be used for Broyan and fit in with the mythos. The four elemental motifs (wind, forest, fire, mountain) and the qualities (swiftness, silence, fierceness, steadiness) offer themselves well to Runic correspondences as used by the Orlanthi and others. Could Broyan have a great banner of legend (or something someone has perhaps quested for), on which are certain runes with great meaning, of which some resonant prose and myth accompanies?
In Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha', the banner and its epithets are partiularly prominent. One of Kurosawa's motifs that I like* is his association of a handful of Shingen's retainers--Yamagata Masakage, Tsuchiya Masatsugu and Baba Nobuharu if I remember correctly--as manifestations of the nobori's elements, in character and aesthetic. Masakage (a great portrayal in the film) is fire, and his retainers are in red, etc. I'm sure Kurosawa did this on part to signify the influence of the famous '24 Generals' of Shingen in a simpler way, but it works well on a very simple level.
Much as personages on Rings and in the siege take the positions of Gods in certain myths, I was wondering if key commanders and leaders of Herobands in the siege might be associated with a given rune on Broyan's banner. Runic affiliations also seem to offer a simplicity which allows for great wabi-sabi...
There's a good line in 'Kagemusha' (it may be historical, I can't recall), when Takeda's relation Katsuyori clamours for rash action in a dangerous time, to face the calm, nobori-inspired rebuttal: "A mountain does not move".
At the end of 'Kagemusha' the banner and all it emobodied are defeated, and flow sorrowfully along a shallow stretch of water. If the idea is taken, I wonder what form and importance such a banner might have at Whitewall, and what philosophies and actions it might espouse. If people had ideas on this, or on what runes and myths might be applicable, or how it could be manifested in the siege, that'd be grand.
*lest I be considered a heretic, overall I admire 'Kagemusha' as a film immensely; I'm just not that keen on some of his stylistic elements, whether they be 'A Nod to Pekinpah Too Far' or tight-angled shots of troops running back and forth across ash-clad volcanic slopes constituting a battle...
All the best,
Stu.
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