Why The Seas are Salt (a Corflu fisherman's myth)
Why is the sea salty father?
Son, long ago before the great darkness all the seas and rivers were fresh clean water. Men could sail across great Magesta and never carry casks with them, for the sea god's body provided the sweetest drink that they could ever wish.
Then the gods of storm really buggered things up. Orlanth Hot Wind killed the great sun god because he couldn't bare being second best, and caused chaos to invade the world. All the gods than banded together to defend themselves, but Wakboth the devil pissed on the base of Yelm's palace. The perfect celestial spike was destroyed.
The father of Waters was enraged at such an action and rose to confront Wakboth. 'Twas a terrible battle. Magesta grew so tall to wrestle with the devil that the bottom of the ocean was laid bare and all the rivers wondered where their water had gone! Back and forth they struggled and entire lands were submerged by the tsunami that was the Father of Waters.
No other god had managed to fight the devil to a standstill. Wakboth desperate to break free of the ocean which engulfed him, picked up a long shard of the spike and rammed it through Magesta's body so hard that it passed completely through the earth and ended up in the underworld! Magesta, mortally wounded, died and he passed through the newly created hole to journey into hell.
Now son, what happens when something dies and is left out for a few days eh?
It rots father, and icky moldy stuff grows over it.
Well son, that's exactly what happened to Magesta's sweet body. The once crystal clear sea grew cloudy, and great mats of algae and scum covered the surface. All to soon the ocean looked so much like a plain of green grass that bison would walk out on it and drown! Fish started dying and the other sea creatures wailed in fear as Magesta slowly rotted around them.
Oh no father! What happened then?
Well son. What do we do with our fish to stop them from rotting, um?
We cover them with salt father.
Exactly! The rivers of the world were troubled at Magesta decomposing. They could no longer explore the land since they didn't dare to take their water from his body. So, Zola Fel, our lord of our river came up with a masterful idea. He told all of the other rivers to find all the salt on the land and carry it back down to ocean. Then perhaps they could preserve Magesta's body and stop him from rotting anymore.
In those days son there were great hills of salt which Mostal had used to create pretty crystal hills. The rivers eagerly carried off the salt and moved it all to save Magesta. Even today the rivers still flow down towards the sea carrying the last few gains of salt they can find.
The great work succeeded and the carpet of scum was destroyed by the pure whiteness of the salt. Once again fish could breath and see the stars, though the water was never so clear as it was before the darkness.
So now the sea is salt and we can never drink it again.
But father. Why doesn't Magesta take all the salt and return it to the land?
Because son, although Magesta lives again after the compromise, he must still spend half his time in the lands of the dead. Just like great Yelm. His body is half alive and half dead. At the edges of his realm where the sweet water of the Zola Fel dilutes the preserving salt, Magesta's body rots once more. Green algae covers him and the smell of his putrefaction annoys our noses. That is why we live in this nasty swamp.
<sigh> If only the river could find and pass through another source of beautiful, purifying salt then Corflu would be a pleasant place to live like it was in the god time.
Father? If the salt is preserving Magesta then why aren't the fish we catch already preserved for us?
Son. Shutup and get back to work! By the Father of Waters, you'll turn into a Lunar sorcerer if you keep on asking questions like that...
Pete
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