>> Humakt doesn't ride a horse in his mythology so it's a bit of a stretch
>> to make him a god of cataphracts.
>
>Wait a sec, I saw Pale Rider...
>
>But really... seems weird that the principle warrior god of a people
>who's pinnacle warriors ride horses doesn't also ride a horse. This
>suggests one of two things:
>(a) Humakt isn't their premier warrior god
>(b) Humakt has some horse-riding myths we've not recovered
>Is it at all possible that some mythic follower of Humakt said to his
>chums "You know, if I got on this horse I'd be able to kill people a
>whole lot more effectively and they wouldn't be able to run away so
>well" and started the whole thing off?
I've always understood the Carmenian Humakt to differ from the Orlanthi one. We've very few myths about the Carmenian variety so his depiction as a cataphract riding down his foes is quite possible.
You want a myth, how about this one:
The battle raged fiercely and his Lord spoke unto Humakt "We must break their spearmen". So Humakt bound cloth over his horse's eyes so it could not see the spears and charged the spearmen. And spears broke against the horse's armour while the weight of the armoured horse crushed the men beneath their feet. With that the enemy fled the field.
Probably originates from the conquest of Dara Happa and may reflect the Dara Happens never having faced cataphracts before.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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