<lots of great stuff deleted>
>As opposed to the Orlanthi...the foundation of Theyalan Myth, regardless of
>Pantheon, is, imo, the "I Fought, We Won.", or more correctly, their
response to
>it. Yelm's Illumination was his answer to the I fought, We Won...instead of
>defying Chaos, he compromised it and integrated it, to the extant of not even
>*knowing* what it was. This was perhaps Yelm's greatest victory, and
greatest
>failure, resulting in a variety of mixed results for his people in Time.
I'd have called the Lightbringer's Quest the core of the Orlanthi mythology, but I can follow your argument.
>
>Now, as opposed to the Orlanthi, and Orlanth. Orlanth's reponse to the "I
Fought,
>We Won", was to change himself and strive to re-create the world,
personally. As
>opposed to Yelm's identifying, unddrstanding on a deep soul level, giving
up and
>giving in, Orlanth assumes the Draconic secret of taking responsibility
and (re)
>creating the world through his actions. Up until the quest for Heler and the
>meeting with Aroka, the Blue Dragon, Orlanth simply watches out for
himself and
>his kin, performing quests, deeds and battles to protect Ernalda and the
stead of
>the Storm Tribe.
This quest occurred after the death of the Sun/Evil Emperor/Yelm, but before the LBQ ?
> However, the encounter with Aroka and learning Aroka's secrets
>spurs him to accept responsibility for his actions, and become entangled
in the
>affairs of the greater world, feeling compassion for *everyone* and
*everything*.
>At the moment of his accepting responsibility and becoming entanngled into
the
>world, Orlanth transcends it, caring not for himself. This is also
expressed in
>the quest for Daliath's Well of Wisdom, and the learning the secrets of
the Sea
>Gods.
*smile* was Orlanth's getting of Wisdom when he drank from the Well, or when he realised that Wisdom was something he needed ? :)
>I always felt that the Gods of Storm and Sea would have much mutual
>understanding, anyway. This commitment to the Lightbringer's Quest, the
saving of
>the being who would rightfully see him destroyed, is in direct
juxtaposition to
>the Dara Happan view of Justice as being intrinsic. In Orlanthi culture,
Justice
>comes not from the Cosmos as an unnamed force, but from Life and within.
An argument can also be put that Orlanth had to resurrect the Sun so that plants would grow, so that the animals could come out of the barns, so it would stop being so dark and cold etc - he did it because it would benefit his Tribe (ie you can assume Orlanth is a selfish s.o.b. and have him rescue the Sun from hell).
<more great stuff deleted>
>
>Every Orlanthi and perhaps Theyalan knows Chaos, not only through their
personal
>experiences in the material world, but also through the vision of the I
Fought, We
>Won, which gives spiritual understanding of the threat that the Hungry
Void is.
>The anihilliation that Chaos offers is the Nysaloran Transcendence.
Lunars see
>this as a good thing which leads to peace, Orlanthi see this as the road
to the
>annihilation of the Cosmos, which almost happened in Myth. Orlanth and
his allied
>deities *can not* abide Chaos, in any form, as from their personal
experiences
>(mythically, at least, for your subjectivists) confirm the terror and
despair that
>is Chaos. In the portion of the Lightbringers Quest where each
Lightbringer faces
>defeat, they perhaps look Chaos squarely in the eye, become one with it
(as Greg
>describes all Gods being Illuminated), and made their choice.
Where does Humakt fit in in all this ?
Ian Whitchurch
Powered by hypermail