Wild horses.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_interzone.ucc.ie>
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 14:57:05 +0100 (BST)


Pam C, on 'orses.

[I report Greg remark on old hint that DH had gotten sun worship from the Pentans]
> Not surprised at all.... what use do marsh dwelling rice farmers have
> for horses, sun worship, and patriarchies?

I'd read more into the RQ-Comp. info (if I recall it correctly) than into Greg's (non-)comment on it, really. Granted, he didn't actually say anything about Ice Runes, or God Learners, so it could be taken at least as a non-repudiation, I suppose.

> [Rhinliddi birdmen] Their presence in Dara Happa seems older then the
> horse peoples, because in the old stories of the arming of Murharzarm,
> his mount was an augner, not a horse.

Those might mean rather, that the "alternative" First Muster story dates from _after_ the de-augnerisation of Peloria, rather than that at the time of the putative Murharzarm muster, there not having been any horses.

> Perhaps Brightface was one of this lot.

Interesting thought. This would certainly help account for his "early" appearance in myth, if those of us who are suspicious of "ancient" sun-worship in Dara Happa, or come to that, even of anicent Dara Happa, are right.

> But anyway, I had assumed that because Rufelza was from Torang, New
> Pelorian might have a higher porportaion of theTorangi dialect than
> would otherwise be expected.

I don't disagree (though there is the question, as Peter points out, of _when_ New Pelorian was introduced), but it begs the proverbial question, really, at least until we get lots more info on the area (or better yet, make it up!).

> I do like the idea of Antirius being a local, leader form of Turos. It
> fits well with my pet (but rapidly disintegrating) theory of Yelm as
> merely "Lodril Rex".

My current pet theory about Yelm is that all the other pet theories are correct. ;-) There seems to me to be elements of truth (or at least, "truth") in the Pentan Yelm, in the sexpartite federal Yelm, in the indiginous Yelm theories, and doubtless many more besides. And since the whole religion has been retconned into the ground in the intervening centuries anyway, it's effectively impossible to tell which of them might originally have been the "most" true. Instead, we get a religion which somewhat lurges from one interpretation of itself to another. A lot like, well, real religion, in fact.

If Greg announces he needs to write another six books on the Pentans, the Lodrili, etc, before he can publsh his Lunar novel, I vote we officially smell a rat.

> Option 3 - Addi interpreted old Pelandan wordsdirectly into Dara
> Happan, and the old Pelandan words have not seen print yet. But that's
> no fun.

IIRC, the Profuse Footnotes in the Entekosiad say she _transliterated_ them into DH script, and a later edition, by another author "JeSevened" the gylphs. So unless this is all a Big Fib, all of the WordsInMixCaps _must_ be "old Pelandan" or at least, what is now _thought_ to be OP. Though I suppose that could be quite a big "at least"...

> I'm afraid I'm going to have to recant and say that Dara Happan is
> mostly Pelandan, with some Janarong mixed in.

I still suspect it's not really "mostly" anything. It may start out as the "proto-Pelorian" that's spoken in Nivoria's day (allegedly), drift into separate patterns in East and West, intermittently re-importing "Pelandanisms" from across the way, or from refugee peasant polulations, plus any other foreign influences going, such as people on attitudinallychallenged  birds. _Then_ add in the horse nomads, and stew for more of the same for a couple of millenia.

Muddledly,
Alex.


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