celestial portents and hsunchen

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 12:24:45 +1200


Steve Martin:

>Before the Dawn, stellar events were very much apparent, and important to
>most of the Grey Age cultures. One of the most important of these events
>was the battle between (in Dara Happan terms) Shargash and Kargzant. In
>this battle, Kargzant soundly defeated Shargash, and bound him into his
>path in the sky. Later, Kargzant was himself defeated and bound, then
>disappeared altogether.

I really dislike the interpretation that this was an actual conflict between two planets. FWIW Dara Happan *history* is rife with this sort of celestial conflicts.

  1. When Sheng Seleris becomes lord of Peloria, the Fortunate Succession prattles on about how the sky turned dark as if Kargzant returned again. It is curious that this darkness in the heavens is not noticed by a single soul outside Peloria.
  2. Plentonius in the GRAY says at the Anarchy Year of 111 ST that Day and Night switched places as the world returned to righteousness. Again this is not noticed in the lore of other people.
  3. There's an explicit one recorded about Jannisor Moonchaser in the GRAY to the extent that this is supposed to have determined the actions of the Sable Riders of Peloria. But what did the Sable Riders of Prax do? Diddly-squat.

IMO such interpretations of Cosmic events as recorded by Dara Happans are not reliable. They are more likely to have been coded messages about the political circumstances which are unsafe to record.

Thus to write:

'In the battle against the Bronze Proxy, the Emperor was hit by a stray arrow which glanced off his armour. Seized by terror, the Emperor dropped his shield and ran from the battlefield'

could earn you a life sentence on a spike. Whereas to write:

'A suprise appearance by the Disruptor stunned the world. The evil god threw a thunderstone at Yelm which slew him and caused his premature retirement to the underworld. The Shield of Purity which he bore fell to earth with a Thunderous clang. Only by the greatest of sacrifices did the Sun rise the next day...'

would earn you a imperial pension.

Some celestial events did happen (such as the Sunstop and the rise of the Red Moon) but then to say that all events recorded by the Dara Happans are true is somewhat implausible.

Hence the battle between Kargzant and Shargash looks more like an internal tribal squabble between two cities, namely Alkoth and Raibanth.

>While I deny that hsunchen are non-human (and did not like that aspect of
>the Basmoli write-up in Tales), I think that many hsunchen tribes would
>include members who could become the totem animal without the spells.

I disagree to the extent that the ability to do such a thing was the main reason why the Telmori *joined* Nsalor. Later they got cursed for it. Now if this technique were available to many hsunchen tribes, then why did the Telmori join?

>I have suggested that as many as 1 in 7 Telmori are
>born as werewolves, at least to some tribes, and that would surely be
>close to the upper limit.

Surely *all* cursed Telmori are werewolves!

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