Origin of YarGan

From: Kevin McDonald <kpmcdona_at_VG0f_cuzzYzBn3k9R8nDYiuNj6W78wyeYznJ2ahI67s8XeAgr7ahbwhJ5_6ORMzDTUF>
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 20:30:14 -0400

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 11:08 AM, Kevin McDonald<kpmcdona_at_tKV0j2D6cMmGENTmbRcijWws1lqqvUzhhauSwJeREh3B-o8Uae9T3EmofrOlCQkGdtF5BRIV8J3shyM.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

>

> This also makes me wonder where the YarGanites came from. They arrived
> on barges, but that doesn't mean much during the flood. I always
> assumed they came from the West somewhere, because "YarGan gave refuge
> to all the Logicians who sought it." That is a pretty tenuous link.
> YarGan carried "the Blue Spear, a magical weapon given to him by his
> father. It had come from the corner of the sky." The corner could be
> where the waters invaded the sky (south eastern Glorantha?).

A clever friend suggested that I take a look at the Artmali, so I did. After snooping around in Revealed Mythologies for a bit I found the story of Jarkaru, the Indigo Conqueror. (p 38) There are a number of things that a person so inclined could apply to the YarGan tale.

When the Artmali defended themselves from the Desero Horde it is said that "They all carried a piece of Veldara (Blue Moon) with them for courage and strength." A shard of moon rock would make an excellent magical spear-tip, and it would be blue.

The Indigo Conqueror then formed the Aquamarine Armada, and "sailed across the world, settling colonies and forts wherever they wanted." Could YarGan be a son of Jarkaru? Humm... Isn't VakaRu the god of the Sweet Sea? The names sound similar. Could there be a connection?

The Artmali are descended from a liaison between Veldara, the Blue Moon, and Lorion, the Celestial River. Thus they have a strong connection with Water, which would make YarGan's conquest of the Pelandan Blues a Water vs Water contest for control of the area. To me that introduces some interesting variation into the "Blue's take over" story, and explains how the Yarganites could retreat beneath the waters to escape the liberators of Pelanda.

YarGan is also credited as being the first person to make people stay in one place and form cities. That also fits the Artmali myths, as they were early city builders.

As for the Logician refugees, a world spanning Water Age power based in south-western Glorantha (where the Artmali eventually wound up) would surely have run afoul of the Vadeli. The Artmali settlements would likely see the Logicians as "enemies of my enemy".

OK - that's all I have. Did I overlook something that would kill this idea?

-Kevin McD