Ging Na Shar and the Godlearners

From: Robert William Vesterman <buoy37_at_mail.webspan.net>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 22:49:28 +0000


Comments welcome (to buoy37_at_webspan.net)

Ging Na Shar and the Godlearners
A Tale from the Island of Rathmorasomangron

On the neighboring island of Masalata lived Farin, god of gall bladders. Farin and Ging Na Shar had been friends since before Time began. Every so often, one of them would hop to the other's island to visit. On these occasions, Ging Na Shar would style Farin's hair, and Farin would ensure that Ging Na Shar was properly passing bile, and there would always be great merriment among their peoples.

One day, Ging Na Shar hopped over the water to Masalata, and saw his friend. Ging Na Shar thought that Farin looked a little different, but wasn't sure exactly why. Farin saw Ging Na Shar, and greeted him, as always, with, "Hello my good friend Ging Na Shar, god of barbers and of Rathmorasomangron!" Ging Na Shar responded, as always, with,
"Hello my good friend Farin, god of gall bladders and of Masalata!"

Farin paused a moment, taken aback. "You forget my name and domain, friend. I am Farink, god of extraneous internal organs and of Masalata."

Ging Na Shar did not understand what had gotten into Farin, but he did not want to offend any further. "Of course, Farink! I deeply apologize for my slip. I do not know what I was thinking."

Although Farin was obviously afflicted, he was still a good and honest god, and accepted Ging Na Shar's apology whole-heartedly. They quickly put the episode behind them, and reminisced while Ging Na Shar gave Farin a haircut. Ging Na Shar noticed that Farin had a few new hairs in spots where he never had hairs before, and was missing some hairs that he had always had. He mentioned this to Farin, who, not understanding the gravity of the situation, said, "Well, you would know better than I would." Ging Na Shar was troubled by the change of hairs, but did not press the issue with Farin.

After Farin's haircut was complete, Ging Na Shar laid on Farin's Sacred Operating Table for an inspection of his gall bladder. Farin poked and prodded Ging Na Shar as he always did, and announced, "I am glad to say that your gall bladder and your appendix are in perfect order." Farin had never mentioned Ging Na Shar's appendix before, and this troubled Ging Na Shar even more than he already was. Ging Na Shar rose and thanked Farin for the fine inspection, and hopped back home to Rathmorasomangron. There, he pondered the strange anomolies he had seen that day from Farin.

While Ging Na Shar had been on Masalata that day, a group of men had sailed into Rathmorasomangron's harbor. The people of Rathmorasomangron greeted the strangers and gave them the traditional Haircuts of Welcoming. The strangers said that they were on a mission to collect information about the gods, and wanted to learn of the god of Rathmorasomangron.

Paladaran, at that time the High Barber, proudly told the strangers,
"We worship the god Ging Na Shar." The strangers quickly looked at
each other, obviously excited. Paladaran told the strangers the tales of Ging Na Shar, while the strangers furiously and excitedly wrote it all down. When Paladaran told the tale of the Sun being blown from the Sky, and the quest that Ging Na Shar undertook with the King of the Winds and the other Lightbringers to restore the Sun, the strangers could not hold back exclamations of wonder.

That evening, as Ging Na Shar was pondering what had happened to his friend Farin, he suddenly felt a pull from some unknown force. He was unable to resist it, and it took him Westward. After a while, he saw another god being pulled Eastwards, toward him. Although Ging Na Shar had never seen this other god before, he knew that it was Ginna Jar, who in certain vague ways was similar to Ging Na Shar. Specifically, Ginna Jar had also undertaken a great quest to restore the Sun to the Sky. However, there was so much that was dissimilar about them: Ginna Jar, for example, didn't know the slightest thing about hair care.

As they were drawn closer together, Ging Na Shar saw a third God forming in between them. This was an entirely new god, Gingna Jar. Ging Na Shar then understood what had happened to Farin: he had been drawn towards the god of appendixes, and the two gods were fused into one, Farink, god of extraneous internal organs. Ging Na Shar's friend Farin was forever gone, absorbed into Farink, as was the god of appendixes.

At this realization, Ging Na Shar was anguished, but he had little time to mourn. He and Ginna Jar were almost to Gingna Jar, and Ging Na Shar knew what would happen if the three were to touch. In desperation, he raised his Mirror to the face of Gingna Jar. When Gingna Jar looked in the Mirror, he saw himself as he truly was: nothing, waiting to be filled. When Gingna Jar realized that he was simply an empty shell, he promptly disintegrated. The force which pulled Ging Na Shar and Ginna Jar together abruptly stopped, and the two gods happily went their separate ways.

Ging Na Shar went to call upon Arachne Solara. He told her of what had happened, and said, "The very existence of gods everywhere is threatened by these mortals. By the conditions of the Compromise, you must allow me to interfere with the world." Arachne Solara knew that Ging Na Shar spoke the truth, and bade him to set matters straight.

As soon as Arachne Solara gave this approval, Ging Na Shar went and visited every mortal who had the secret of drawing gods together. These men were unprepared, as they had never had to deal with the raw power of a god unrestrained by the Compromise. Ging Na Shar caused their hair to grow long, and to wrap itself around their necks and squeeze. By the next dawn, there was no one left who could so threaten the gods.

Ging Na Shar was not yet finished with everything he wanted to accomplish before stepping back into the bounds of the Compromise. He wanted to ensure that such a thing would never happen again, so he caused the oceans to be closed to all sea travel. Thus, mortals would have a much more difficult time comparing gods from greatly separated places. Next, he caused hair to grow shaggy and thick all over his body, so as to hide any resemblance between himself and Ginna Jar. Finally, he told his people of Rathmorasomangron that his name, Ging Na Shar, and the entire Lightbringers' saga, were now never to be revealed to outsiders. That is why, from that day forward, the world outside of Rathmorasomangron knew Ging Na Shar as Comb and Braid.

Bob Vesterman.
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