Re: Runes of the Oronin Valley: the Bulls

From: John Machin <orichalka_at_Xw7qBVhMQGClr8Rb16HYCy73DvOjEiV6ExjMJXBg-d3Ewbb_D8JZtfnZsWrzqwEYyo>
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:36:05 +1000

2009/8/4 <donald_at_pVieRtowuYaasLYa0zHoycYKoNGu7JY2fOfJqfzk9PEWa8ZWsGTkUsTuP86cRUqKG-Rp2uoDnmDLZ7h313w.yahoo.invalid>:
> 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.

Hm, I have been thinking about the "masked helmets" that the Late Roman 'cataphracts" are believed to have worn (note: not an archaeologist!) and thought that creepy masked Carmanian cavalry might be neat.

"Obviously" the mask is worn to Seperate the cavalryman from his human, mortal, doomed-to-die, foe. Perhaps implacable Humakt himself rides behind the stern metal visage? The masks might also be like the cloth in your story:
 "Let the Black Saint kill your fear; cover your face with His; become your metal skin, send them swiftly-surely to the Bridge of Death".

Or something like that.

-- 
John Machin
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
- Athanasius Kircher, 'The Great Art of Knowledge'.