>OK, got it, no Dara Happan influence but how do you feel about how
>John Hughes has represented the development of solar worship in the
>Far Point?
>
>Rather than putting words in his mouth I will quote him,
>
>The Youfish ruin of Alda Chur is recolonised during the first wave of
>settlement, amidst events that create a fundamental and enduring division
>between city and stead, lowland and upland, Sun and Storm. As recounted
>in Taroskarla, Vantar Sun Vision, a son of the Ridgeleaper, discovers an
>enormous golden-domed temple midst the ruins of the ancient city. This
>temple is dedicated to various long-sleeping Blue Flame powers, and it
>incorporates many elements that Vantar identifies with the barbarian fire
>gods of his people.
"As recounted in the Taroskarla" implies to me that this is the local myth. I would expect that Vantar found some ruins which lead him onto the heroplane where he 'discovered' the temple and city he was going to build.
>Vantar listens to the Powers of the temple, journeys to their places
>on the Other Side, is granted access to their gnosis, and over several
>decades, incorporates this knowledge into his own tribal traditions, He
>forges a distinctively Far Place cult of Yelmaltar, the Enduring Light.
>
>The new cult incorporated elements from various barbarian traditions
>including Somel SunSpear, Yavor Lightning, Old Somak, and the volcanic
>blue flame, light-against-darkness and agricultural powers of the Alda
>Chur temple and its reawakened deity. Over the next several generations,
>the Light Enduring attracts many through its vitality and power, and
>through the growing riches of the new city it commands.
>
>I really like this, does this conception of events around Alda-Chur seem
>to fall too far from the tree?
>
>I mean it all sound conceivable, within the realm of possibility and all
>that. This is important to me because I am righting a fairly lengthy
>work of fiction that take place within the area and I would like to have
>my understanding of the backdrop conform as much as possible to convention
If you are looking for the background that the local people believe then it fits. It may not fit with what actually happened several centuries earlier but that's myth for you.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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