Gotta love that Woden, Whatta Guy!
James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_wam.umd.edu>
Bad Girl XU, Uz Trickster & Raven
>
>Stephen Martin writes:
>>we must of course replace the name "Eurmal" with something more
culturally >>(and racially) appropriate.
>Yah. Erm... I'd toss out a varation of roko/romko/romkom/rokom, using
the
>"ko(m)" prefix from "Komor" (hurtplace) and the ro(m) prefix
>from "Romal" (Nose Loper) for "Nose Hurter," or "Nose Puller."
><shrug>
>Beats "Working Title" until something better comes along.
>
Perhaps a longer name, Roko________ (fill in the blank), no meaning
known, of which a common derivation is "Roko", whose meaning is
appropriate as a "nickname" for Trickster. I do note that "Romal" is
close phonetically to "Eurmal" -- anyone believe they may be related?
On the subject of noses, and completely unrelated, does anyone know or have any idea where Nasobemes (from Elder Secrets) can be found? One of the problems with Elder Secrets and other RQ publications after Glorantha Bestiary, was that no map showing their distribution was included.
>>Didn't a Xiola Umbar priestess heal Arkat at the Castle of Lead?
>Close. Garazaf Hyloric healed him after "the troll army marched from
>their fortress and headed south to join Arkat," and was a preist of KL,
>Subere & XU. (I suspect that XU has _lots_ of experience dealing with
>wounds inflicted by ZZ). Maybe she recognized his inner trollness there?
>
One viewpoint, which I plan to explore in the Darkness issue of The Book
of Drastic Resolutions. Any ideas in this regard would be helpful.
>>I also wonder whether some trolls might not use this as an explanation
of
>>trollkin, rather than humans being adopted.
>I dunno about this. The troll adoption ritual seems to predate the Curse
>o' Kin (IMO, as the rituals used for Arkat didn't seem to be
improvised).
>
No, what I meant was perhaps this myth is used as an explanation of
Trollkin; I meant nothing at all to do with the adoption ritual. Thus,
instead of the adoptions being viewed as the end result of the myth, when
the trollkin came along someone might have said: "Oh look, these must be
where those trolls who got trapped in human skins went to. Look how ugly
they turned out!"
>Said Curse was created when Gbaji tried a quick vivasection of Korasting
>
>But Korasting was in Yelm Hell -- that's why the uzuz began to decline.
>(And if she had been freed, by extension, the uzuz would have flourished
>again. Since they didn't, she wasn't.) So how the heck did Gbaji do
this?
>
No, she was back in the troll's Wonderhome -- the Dead Sun God took over
what had been the prime troll paradise. Any troll HQer can go back to
paradise just before Death came, and then stay around for the fireworks.
Gbaji put on a troll mask, and went along with them. Then, he stood and
revealed himself as Death, INSIDE the troll mega-body.
>On Troll Adoption:
>Trollpak seems to infer that Arkat's adoption ritual wasn't the first
such
>adoption.
>
S'funny, I distinctly get the impression from Trollpak and/or Troll Gods
that Arkat's adoption WAS the first one.
>On Ravens:
>There might be a mythic link, too. When the trolls first arrived on the
>surface, they were probably hampered in their hunting skills.
>Friendly Ravens may have led them to caracasses, allowing the trolls to
>survive until Zong could teach them how to hunt. Raven would have thus
>been granted darkness powers in gratitude (explaining why he's a
darkness
>spirit in Prax).
>
I like this explanation. Because of his darkness origin, I originally (a
decade or so ago) thought he would make a Spirit Cult for trolls. I gave
up that idea years ago, and I like your reason for it. So, would they
worship him as a hunting spirit?
>Note that the uz might claim that the raven is black not becuase Sunhawk
>burned the White Raven, but because Vrihawk (or whatever Yelm's feathery
>minion deity of birds is called) burned him black as a sign of his
>treason (namely, helping trolls).
>
Who says that Raven is black because Sun Hawk burned his feathers?
Everyone knows he covered himself in ash and dirt to hide himself from
Tada when he tried to peck out one of his eyes for dessert! I like the
treason thing, though. BUt, it does beg the question of why blackbirds,
etc. are also black. Sounds like a Yelmalio
myth to me!
>Since it's a helpful beast for the trolls and has various praiseworthy
>features, the Trolls see Raven
>as a helpful spirit of surface darkness.
Perhaps associated with Argan Argar?
There might be prohibitions
>against killing them (not eating them: I believe ravens will eat
ravens),
I think trolls will probably eat them more often, however. :)
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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