I've been sitting on the below for amost a week now, waiting for David Dunham to return from RQDU. Unfortunately for me, it appears he has gone on walkabout with Pam Carlson et al. Rather than wait until he returns sometime next month, I've decided to post this now. This will allow us to go ahead and discuss it, knowing that David will undoubtedly have more to say later.
One of the RQ/Glorantha websites that I looked over again recently was David Dunham's East Ralios site. I've enjoyed browsing it greatly! I LOVED the cultural changes from the "normal" Orlanthi to the unique Pagan Shore-ish "East Wilds" Orlanthi. However, I always leave just a tad disappointed with the pantheon as described. Even though David notes that his cult summaries "are unique to East Ralios" and that "practices differ elsewhere," I've found them to be pretty bog standard except for the few exceptions like Humath and Lankoring.
A few days ago I remembered something I had run across earlier while looking through Pagan Shore. I remembered how, on reading the descriptions of the personalities which fili (poet/bards) typically had in the sagas, I was reminded of... Eurmal!
The typical personalities are given as Mad ("creates perfect
rhymes, when he isn't babbling or drunk, which he usually
is"), Bitter (master of insult, sarcasm, and lampooning - "a
verbal porcupine who can't speak without stabbing"), Greedy
("a court lamprey, wielding a bill for praise in one hand and
a curse in the other") or Mysterious ("appears on-stage to
tell the hero how he's going to die, then vanishes in a swirl
of mist").
I also remembered running across the line that "interestingly, the Gaelic words for 'druid' and 'fool' or 'jester' are virtually the same."
Hmmmm.
All this got me wondering about the "cult" of Eurmal in the
East Wilds of Ralios. Eurmal, whose powers can create or
destroy. Eurmal, who alters those who listen to him; he can
make people happy, or sad, or angry, or crazy. Eurmal, who
(paradoxically) gives people stolen and forbidden gifts; he
provides things people need to survive. Eurmal, who is not
bound by (or breaks, or "breaks," or whatever) the Cosmic
Compromise.
This line of thought has led me to disagree with some of David Dunham's interpretations of the Orlanthi pantheon in the East Wilds. [But what the heck! It won't be the first time!] ;-)
I think Eurmal in the East Wilds is closer to the Pagan Shore deity Find (the God of Prophecy); his worshippers are akin to the fili, who divine geases. Eurmal can divine geases because he is the only deity NOT bound by the Compromise. This is what allows his followers to foretell what a person's fate is, and to let that person know what they must not do to avoid that fate. Eurmal is also a poet. With his words he can praise or lampoon, making or breaking a man. With his words he can affect his listeners, creating or dispelling emotions. He is beyond the Law; laws do not bind him or apply to him. He is a mysterious and powerful force of change, to be both feared and respected. In the East Wilds Eurmal is the Prophet, the Poet, the Lawbreaker. (And if this description DOES fit for you, can you think of a reason not to just go ahead and use the title "fili"?)
This line of thinking has also led me to reconsider such deities as Lankoring (David's "God of Lawspeaking, Lord of Knowledge") and Issaries (David's "God of Communications and Travel")?
I think Lankoring is more like the Pagan Shore deity Midir
(the God of Lawyers); his worshippers are like the
Breitheamn, who arbitrate disputes based on their
knowledge of Irish Law. I agree with David that Lankoring
is the God of Lawspeaking, but I don't think he's the god of
ALL knowledge the way the Manarian Lankor Mhy is/tries to
be. I think Lankoring's knowledge is focused solely on the
Truth as it relates to the Law and has little to do with
knowing about history, geography, or the "natural" world
(minerals, plants, etc...) as areas of study. In the East Wilds
Lankoring is the Lawspeaker, the Lord of Wisdom, the
Arbiter.
I think I disagree the most with David about Issaries in the East Wilds. Looking at David's spell list, it appears the cult is of the Trader Prince variety. I believe he is more akin to the Pagan Shore deity Ogham (the God of Eloquence). His worshippers are similar to the Eachlach, who travel about the land loyally serving their chief as messenger, scout, and spy. Note that this is a very different role from that of the "neutral" Harald Goodword subcult described in the RoC cult write-up; these people are the eyes, ears, and spokesperson for their chief and aren't neutral at all. (I think he's also worshipped by anyone who wants good bargaining and oratory skills, but the majority of his worshippers are the messengers.) I also don't believe the East Wilds Issaries has the spells Lock or Passage; he's no merchant to be concerned with protecting goods. In the East Wilds Issaries is the God of Eloquence, the Chieftain's Talker, the Messenger.
As to another area of Ralios (since I'm on a roll!), I think
that in Safelster Eurmal has a character similar to that of
Til Eulenspiegel. Very anal, scatological, and cruel.
(Eurglenspeigle?) In the city of Valantia, there is a shrine
which teaches the divine spell Throw Voice.
Throw Voice/1 point/ Ranged, Temporal, Stackable,
Reusable
With this spell a caster is able to make it sound (without
moving their lips) as if their voice were coming from
someplace else (another person, a statue, down the hall,
etc...) within spell range. The caster can only change his or
her voice to the degree that he or she is able to do when
speaking with their own mouth. The caster can move the
point of issuance of their voice instantly at will while the
spell is in effect. The caster is able to cast spells using
their thrown voice, but the spell will take effect from
where the caster is standing.
Count Darmangon of Borin claims that when he was heard
to say he was the Agent of the Secret Register of the
Boristi, he was really the victim of a Trickster using this
spell. He has been unable to substanciate this claim so far,
and few believe him.
For those of you with a scholarly bend, check out Ron Glasberg's 1990 article "Eulenspeigel's rebellion against the civilizing process: A psychohistorical perspective" in _Psychoanalytic Review_, 77(3), p.423-445.
While I'm still on Trickster and scholarly things:
Erik Davis has posted the text to his 1991 article "Trickster
at the Crossroads: West Africa's god of messages, sex, and
deceit" to the Web. It was originally printed in
_Gnosis_,19, p.37-43. You can find it at Erik Davis'
Figments webpage
(http://www.levity.com/figment/index.html), along with
other such works of his as "Calling Cthulu: H.P. Lovecraft's
Magic Realism" and "Remains of the Deities: Reading the
Return of Paganism."
Now on to a completely different topic.
I assume many of you are familiar with group names; a
gaggle of geese, a pod of whales, an unkindness of ravens,
etc... I also assume you know that women who sleep in
proximity to one another for a time will begin to
menstruate in cycle together.
I've just learned that the name for such a group is... a dragon of women!
I'm still processing the mythic implications of this for Glorantha.
And lastly:
A while back during the cat chat about Yinkin, Matt Thale
asked about my choice of subject line. I think it was,
"Prut? Wackawacka!" In college I had a cat named Puck who
would greet me every day after class with that. Personally,
I think she was reading too much Kliban. ;-)
(For those of you wondering about the subject line for THIS
post, it's from the song "Elephant Talk" by King Crimson. I
feel it's appropriate, given the mix of subjects I'm posting
about.)
Peace,
Peter
PS - It appears that the commentary that Greg suggested I write on his RQC2 Address was left out of the RQC2 Compendium. I've already talked with Shannon about this, and yes "we're cool." He's looking into a 2-page insert to slip into the Compendium copies not yet sold. For those of you who purchased the Compendium while in Oz, you can email me and I'll send you a copy. You'll have to print it out yourself, but at least you can have it if you want it.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #343
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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