Iceland, Doraddi Beliefs, WFp Artwork

From: Stephen Martin <ilium_at_juno.com>
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 22:04:32 EDT


Arthur replies (fairly grumpily, but quite understandably)
>> And I'm sorry, but to me, to assume that there are any elves
left
>>in an area called 'the Troll Woods' where trolls have lived for well
over a
>>thousand years violates common sense.
>
>One word: Iceland

        I fear, sir, you may have to use slightly more than one word. Not wishing to offend, but as there are no hostile intelligent races coexisting
in the same ecosystem in Iceland, you might need to explain a little further what you mean.

Iceland has little or no ice -- any map of the world shows it as all green. Greenland, on the other hand, is entirely ice-covered, being mostly what is left of a great iceberg.

The point was, I believe, that the name of a place can have very little to do with its _current_ state, instead reflecting its state umpteen generations/years ago.

David Cake
Lodril used to be the ruler, and Pamalt is now. How did the changeover occur? It was obviously not too nasty, as Lodril is a loyal part
of Pamalts Necklace.

My belief is that the Lodril cultists claim that Lodril was the Chief of the World, and the Sun God the Protector. When the Sun God failed at his duties, and was killed by chaos, Lodril had to take over as Protector. He couldn't rule and protect at the same time (and indeed, the Sun God's fault was probably in trying to rule somehow, neglecting his status as Defender), so he turned over the duties of Chieftain to his friend Pamalt, who as a pretty decent fellow.

Lodril hasn't become Chief again because he is still needed as Defender, even though his youngest son (the current Sun) is helping him somewhat.

Also, I am pretty adamant that Lodril is not the actual name of the god among the Doraddi. Currently, I use Baba Ulodra or Baba Ulodri, derived from the Men-and-a-Half info in Borderlands. I note that Ulodra is close enough to Lodril to satisfy most of the God Learners (myself included).

The published Lodril write-up specifically states that Vangono is his son. Given that the current Sun is a Fire God to the Doraddi, I think he is Lodril's son as well.

Other Doraddi beliefs I hold:

Since the Twinstars have a period of Six days, and the Doraddi week has six days, I assume the two are linked. I think one good possibility is that the Twinstars are Faranar and Aleshmara, the Young Wife and Mature Wife. Since I view Artia as the celestial home of Vangono (the Young Man) and Lodril (who is a good choice for the Mature Husband, despite Pamalt being the main Husband type guy), and all are on the Southpath, this seems to work. for me, anyways.

I have worked out some possible correlations in the night sky for the Doraddi, which need discussion to test. I think Cronisper is the original Sun God, and is now the planet Lokarnos/Wagon -- pale yellow, old and slow. Jmijie is of course Mastakos, the fast planet. Entekos is a relatively slow feminine planet, so I think Yanmorla is a good choice. Finally, the "Fast Woman" Nyanka, is a good choice for Lightfore. Since I view the different constellations as being oases in the sky, Nyanka would be the one who travels among them the most often, very appropriate given her role as the one who can find the Oases (her spell in the unpublished write-ups is Pathway, the same as Ronance, which is basically a specialized Find Oasis spell).

The Jugger is probably Vovisibor, given its destructive nature, though I have little attachment to this belief. No idea who the Lost rocks would be.

I don't think Pamalt himself is in the sky -- I think the Doraddi view Orlanth's Ring as being the Necklace of Pamalt, travelling from the Meeting Place (Stormgate) to Pamalt's Chair (Pole Star).

Whaddayathink?

Peter Metcalf
>>Quite apocryphal, since it was not in the original Wyrms Footnotes
>>article by any means, and is nowhere else in print.

>I'm surprised by this as I thought that the artwork looked as
>though it had been in the original Wyrms Footnotes article.
>Might it not have been in the Dragon Pantheon? (Not that I
>have access to either).

With few if any exceptions, all of the article-relevant artwork in the Gods and Goddesses articles in Wyrms Footprints was new. As were pretty much _all_ of the blurbs on the side. These represented a compromise -- originally, David Hall wanted to rewrite the G&G articles to be more correct for Glorantha as we know it now, a move which I thought extreme. I thought his use of blurbs on the side to explain some of the more recent knowledge was an _excellent_ way to satisfy purists like me and the need for Gloranthan accuracy.

Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com

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The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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