> Can you plaease point me to some relevant passages? It's a very big
> work and written from a point of view I have trouble identifying with.
p6 - Lodril descends on the earth and buries himself in it, gaining knowledge of the lower world but also becoming polluted.
p7 - Lodril makes the first cylindrical seal and uses it to make the Gods Wall.
A cylindrical seal looks like this:
http://encarta.msn.com/media_121632091/mesopotamian_cylindrical_seal.html
The Gods Wall is a massive monument about 70 metres by 25 metres. So some seal.
p8 - Lodril becomes permanently polluted and exiled from the Sky. He doesn't care as he gains knowledge of the underworld. He drove out the ruler there (known elsewhere to be the monstrous Deshkorgos), frees his wife (Oria) and became the Lord of Below. He imprisons all the evil things (Hunger, Madness, Fear and Disease) in the Fourth Hell and they are only let out if humans are naughty.
p10 - Lodril helps make the first humans by giving the clay shapes _warmth_ which makes them alive. The other gods give other attributes.
p11 - Lodril is the God of Wrestling. He tries to wrestle with the serpent Nestendos - actually the Oslir river - but is thrown to the ground.
p12 - After the Serpent is defeated and enslaved, Lodril is giving the job of using it. He and his ten sons make the first irrigation ditches and use them to grow rice (apropos on another matter - the plow seems to be absent from prehistoric Dara Happa).
p13 - Lodril is troubled by quarreling between his wives. He is told that men should only have one wive and the punishment for bigamy is to have multiple wives.
p19 - When Yelm died, the Flood and chill from the north drove Lodril deeper underground. He could only be contacted by the _brands_ for nobody knew how to make fire.
Lodril is caught by shadows who release the demons of the Fourth Hell. From them come the first Trolls which infest the body and innards of Lodril. It is then Lodril realizes the full impact of his chosen life, from which he still suffers,
p20 - Mention is made of Metal Men made by Lodril. They guard a vault in which the Imperial Regalia is placed in.
p37 - Lodril is in Hell alongside Yelm and is described as being full of maggots and twitching.
p46 - Lodrili priests cause the earth to shake in order to breach the walls of Raibanth so a horse nomad emperor can enter. There's some politics involved as the Lodrili had previously sworn loyalty to the people of Raibanth now they are working for their enemies. However the author doesn't rant at length about unprecedented betrayal and the like. He simply notes the priests were unfaithful despite having earlier sworn "Lodril's loyalty" which indicates that he believed it to be of little value.
p98 - Description of a Lodrili cult known as "Blows from Within". They could cause people to turn their magic inwards and overexpose their souls until they burst. They could also do this for small deities and some cities are mentioned as being their victims.
A sign of a coming rebellion from "Blows from Within" is an earthquake and one destroys the new walls of a city.
p99 - In order to seek peace, a prophet convinces the high priest of "Blows from Within" to give up his evil ways. In doing so, the ex-high priest reveals that a really big quake is coming and nothing can stop it.
The worshippers of "Blows from Within" use the quake to destroy a horse nomad emperor and his army (the quake takes place on top of some lava beds as it happens). The worshippers then become good Lodrili as they had promised the prophet.
--Peter Metcalfe
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