Yet more elves and Yelmalio

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_interzone.ucc.ie>
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 08:40:24 GMT


Paolo Guccione points out:
> There is absolutely no taxonomical unit with a name sounding like "mrel"
> or "vronkal" or "embyl".

Another nomenclature non-brainer by me: I think my brain may have been addled by a half-memory of Sandy's half-Latin half-Aldryami "scientific names". I just happened across a translation of "Mrel", in fact -- "lingerer". I don't recall seeing any suggestion of any connection with a diety/cultural hero, though, so make if it what you will... Come to that, I can only locate one reference to "Vronkal", so how widely applied the term is may be arguable.

> The elf racial diversification is ecological, not taxonomical:

It's something of a mixture. Fern/fungus/conifer/broadleaf is a taxonomic division, whereas tree/shrub, and deciduous/jungle, aren't.

And previously:
> I agree with Alex Ferguson that Vronkal and Yelmalio
> share the same role, the Winter Protector, but I still believe that
> there are elven areas where it is Yelmalio that guards over the woods in
> Winter.

I don't disagree with this notion as such, in fact I was suggesting something somewhat similar. However, what I was trying to do was fumble towards the question of what/which "Yelmalio" the elven sun god might be, as clearly it _isn't_ Yelmalio, in anything very like the form we know him, especially in areas such as the Rathorelan example Paolo gives, where they'd not recognise any of the Manirian/Pelorian flavours of the god(s) if you stuffed them up their noses, lit at one end. To wit, that <insert name of putative elven sun god here> may be in some way (and in some cases) _derived_ from the green elf cult, not that it be identical in all instances. (Playing around with some possible name derivations, I came up with "Kallo", or perhaps even "Kalio", which I mention with less than vast enthusiasm.)

Having said that, I wouldn't be astonished if some small woods in the DP area do exhibit Elmal or Yelmalio worship, as such, by way of a sort of back-propagation effect. This is more likely to be as a sort of "friendly associate" though, and a route for Rootless Elves (apologies for the inadvertant pun, though half of you were doubtless immune in any event), rather than having been integrated into "mainstream" worship.

> Alex Ferguson describes Mreli (you wrote Emblymi but I suppose you were
> talking about Brown Elves) as Ecological Rivals, but they are not.

I noted they were in some circumstances, and I have the Major Elf Wars to prove it... I think it's pretty much axiomatic that all significant intraldryami conflict is ecologically motivated, rather having anything really to do with mammalian-style politics. Of course, these are between adjacent forests, not between different "types" of tree who were peacefully co-existing in the same wood up 'til a moment ago. Equally, I think, they might be between two adjacent deciduous (or two evergreen) forests, if they found themselves in a situation where say, a changing climate tipped the balance between different ecological niches, and hence predominant types of tree, or are otherwise forced to compete. (Not that this seems to have happened much in Gloranthan history.)

> Conifers and deciduous trees do not compete, they are complementary.

Very illuminating examples, and I for one have a much better notion of why most forests are "mixed", in Glorantha and otherwise. (I looked this up, recalling that Sandy had mentioned something similar in a previous dicussion, and there only seem to be two large forests with populations of brown elves which don't also have significant greens -- to wit Arstola and Fethlon.)

> When the feared Reforestation starts, it will be the Vronkali who
> spearhead the invasion of cultivated lands, for it is they who have been
> appointed as pioneers by Flamal and Aldrya.

Is this true, though? Surely cultivated soil, as opposed to virgin land is prime ground for broadleaf trees. It also happens that the one overwhelmingly brown-elf forest, Arstola, plans on being among the Big Reforesters...

One could argue, even, that following (and indeed replacing) other plants was a brown (or yellow) elf mythic function -- after all, to some extent they've been doing it to green elves ever since they came into being.

> Vronkali have the task of rebuilding the woods after a fire. They cannot
> handle fire themselves because they are still aldryami, but they must
> handle the remains of it. And who is the one in the myth who comes from
> fire but cannot handle it any longer? Yelmalio! [...] The Frontier sun
> is also the god of Rebirth after Fire among the Vronkali.

I'd think almost the opposite: this is a fairly inherently green elven thing to do, has no real solar connection (as elves don't, I think it's fairly clearly, really equate "sun" and "fire" as humans are wont to do), but is very "mythically Yelmalian" (or Antirian, or Elmali...) -- to wit, bad stuff happens, take the lumps, make the best of it. So this seems much more "Vronkal-like" than "actual-Yelmalio-like" to me.

Slainte,
Alex.


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