Farming in Prax

From: Martin Dick <mdick_at_insect.sd.monash.edu.au>
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 13:00:27 +1000 (EST)


With regards to the thread on farming, I think (IMO) that the infertility of Prax and the Wastes has a magical basis and that magic is necessary for farming to exist even near the Zola Fel. Why do I think this? Well, because I come from the Wimmera/Mallee in western Victoria in Australia which while being far drier than Prax (according to the tables in River of Cradles and also a pretty infertile area, is also a major wheat-growing area in Australia). So if people can make a go of it in the Mallee, I think magic must be involved, especially around the Zola Fel.

I see that an outside clan has to get the blessing of Eiritha for their stock to do at all well in Prax which requires

  1. Making friends with some Praxians who will vouch for them at the Paps
  2. Having some Uraldan (CowMother) initiates/priestesses in the clan
  3. Travelling to the Paps and heroquesting (if given permission) to prove that your stock is deserving of Eiritha's blessing. The clan in my work got belssing for their cows, but not their sheep.
  4. Living in one of the less marginal parts of Prax, i.e near the Zola Fel or some other permanent source of water

here's some stuff from some work I've been doing with regards to an exiled Orlanthi clan living in Prax

A Chief's Lament

For as far as the eye can see, a great grey plain stretches around you, tainted, brown, half-dead scrub rises just above your ankles. You reach down and feel the earth, it is dry, crumbly and your fingers are left slightly numb as if it has already started the long process of draining your soul. A vision of a field of stunted wheat the colour of bleached sandstone fills your eyes, a far cry from the rich golden fields of your home. A hoarse cry breaks from your lips, whether it is mocking laughter or a sob, not even you can tell.

Lifting your head to the sky, you curse the Sun and its Lunar whore for what it has done to you and your clan. You have spoken brave words to them, about how they will start a new life here and raise their children to be strong and healthy, but they ring false in your heart. All that awaits is a long slow painful death as your soul is worn away by years of backbreaking labour until they bury your bones far from the home of your ancestors.

An Praxian HeroQuest to bring Water

When the Darkness came upon the true people of Prax at this place, Meirthia of the Sparkling Waters, a handmaiden of Eiritha, used to maintain a wondrous garden which she used to feed all the herds of the tribes, animals which ate from her garden grew healthy and strong and always had twins. The source of the blessing that she bestowed upon the tribes was a magical spring that her mother had given to her.

Now when the Chaos came to Prax, at first it was only small, but before Wakboth came and slew Genert, many smaller but powerful creatures of Chaos came before him. One of those was Erukanni who was the son of an Air god and a River. Erukanni had been corrupted by Wakboth and now was the Thirsting Wind. For the Thirsting Wind lusts for water and will drink the very water from your body.

And Erukanni the Thirsting Wind came upon the Garden of Meirthia and drank up the spring that her mother gave her and all the plants of the garden shriveled up and died and forced himself upon Meirthia, and drained away all her life. But as she tried to fend off the evil wind, her favourite bird, the tall, elegant and pink flamingo fled to fetch her help. Erukanni chased after the flamingo, but valiant bird that it was, it kept flying, though the heat of the evil wind turned its beautiful pink plumage to a burnt brown and shriveled its long and elegant body to a short and squat torso. So, almost dead it arrived at Eiritha who rewarded the valiant bird by allowing it to sit on the beasts of the herd and live by removing the insects which plague them So that is how the sacred herd bird came to be and why it is beloved of Eiritha and why it must not be hurt.

Then upon receiving this news, Eiritha went to her husband, mighty Urox and asked him to slay this evil spirit for her. Now when she arrived, Urox's little brother was there as well and when he heard that his pretty sister in law needed help, he sidled up to her and asked if he could go and aid her for Little Brother could never resist a pretty face, even if she was family. Urox laughed and said 'Come and watch Little Brother and maybe you'll learn to be a warrior.

So Urox and Little Brother went off to the Garden to face the monster Erukanni. When they got there they found the Garden a parched wasteland and the spring bone-dry. Little Brother started boasting about he was going to slay this despoiler of his sister in law's handmaiden and just as he started on the terrible things that he would do to Erukanni, the monster itself leapt out of the sky towards them, blowing a hot parching gale about them. Urox immediately leapt into battle with the Thirsting Wind, but this was one of the first times in which he had fought Chaos and as Erukanni was of his own kind, Urox found it very difficult to lay his hands upon the evasive Chaos creature.

Looking around for Little Brother to block the Thirsting Wind, he saw that Little Brother had wet himself and was standing in a great pool of mud caused by his urine and looking very sheepish. Urox grabbed the mud and threw it at Erukanni who got wrapped up in it and while he was trying to remove it, Urox sprang upon him and broke his back, covered him in a layer of mud and then when it had dried, buried him deep beneath the earth.

But the spring never came back and the water that is here, is the piss of Little Brother, which will never be as sweet or clear or as clean as the waters of Eiritha's spring.

The Orlanthi Myth

Long ago in the GodTime, when the darkness of Chaos was gathering on the fringes of the world, Orlanth went to visit his brother Urox to talk about the terrible omens of evil that he had seen in the lands. For while he knew that his brother was slow to understand, he also knew that in a straight fight Urox was second to none and that the news from the north was strange and threatening. Leaving his mountain home, he descended into the thick airs of the verdant plains of Prax, where his brother lived as the champion of the Garden King Genert. When he reached his brother's hall, his brother's wife Eiritha made him welcome and showed him into the Hall of the Storm Bull.

There Urox was carousing and drinking with his followers, telling tales of their glory and the many battles that they had won. Orlanth sat by the side of his brother and said "Brother, have you seen the strange omens that come from the north?" Last week, a strange goat-headed creature was born to one of my cows and my thanes had to kill it, and my bard has been taken with strange visions of darkness and death. Indeed, the winters grow colder and longer in recent years and my winds from the north bear a strange taint and are slow to respond to my command." Urox looked down with his great ox head at his smaller but greater brother and laughed.
"Brother, look around, can you see any threats in the Garden King's
lands, I defend them and what creature or God would risk my anger? Drink of Minlister's golden brew and tell me stories of the mountains as a good guest should!".

Honouring the laws of hospitality, Orlanth sat and drank much of the fine mead of Minlister, though he knew he would regret it, as he always regretted it after visiting his brother. Then, beauteous Eiritha rushed into the hall and began to berate them "How can two such heroes sit there, when my handmaiden Meirthia of the Sparkling Waters has been ravaged by a strange wind out of the North and destroyed my garden which she watches over for me? Have you no shame? Are you not the mighty Storm Winds? How have you allowed this to come to pass, my husband?". With a mighty roar, Urox grabbed his axe and rushed out of the Hall. Orlanth spoke to his sister in law and said "Daughter of my wife, do not abuse me in such a fashion. It is for such reasons that I have journeyed to your husband, but let me know where to find the Sparkling Waters and I will venture there immediately to succour your handmaiden." Abashed, the beauteous Eiritha let him know the way to the Sparkling Waters, so that he could rescue the fertile Meirthia.

Leaving the Hall, Orlanth could see the Raging Wind travelling in a fury in the wrong direction, so he performed the three moves of the Chariot and appeared before his brother. Dodging the wild blow of his brother, "Hold brother, let us go together against this evil creature and find out its secrets and who sends it to our land, for is it not truly said that companions are the best weapon of a hero?" Calming down, Urox nodded and followed Orlanth towards the Sparkling Waters. As they traveled, they came to an area where much of the verdant grasses of the plain had been eaten bare, perhaps this was where the creature was, but Orlanth knew that they had not followed the track to its conclusion.

Looking around, they saw a great black beast with fiery eyes eating the vegetation and the herds in the area. Holding back his brother, Orlanth said, "Let me first talk to this hideous creature, for I fear that in times to come, we will need all the allies that we can gather" and his Brother replied "Do not talk, brother, kill this beast before it allies with these new enemies from the North, I have seen its sort before and all you can do is kill it!" But Orlanth was right, though not in this case and with the words of his wife in his ears, he approached the beast with signs of friendship. The beast snuffled and with fiery eyes leapt at Orlanth and dealt him a great blow to the head. Orlanth staggered back, but Urox leapt forward and with an even greater blow sent the beast flying away, bleeding fire from a great wound in its hideous dark hide. Urox strutted around and laughed at his brother, but Orlanth kept his peace and knew that soon those that would not help each other would die.

Travelling further on, the pair came to a large mound of earth in the plain and Urox challenged his brother to a race to the top of the mound. As Orlanth nodded to his brother, Urox charged ahead and began to run up the hill. But strangely enough, the more he ran, the taller and taller the hill got and eventually (for even the Raging Wind must stop sometime), he ran out of breath and came rolling back down the hill. Enraged, he ran back up the hill and got even higher, but not to the top and came rolling back down the hill again. With the air around crackling from his anger and bushes catching alight around him, the heat of his anger was so strong, he charged back up again

Up, up, up he ran, like the burning desert storm, like a hairy star burning through the sky, Urox shed flames behind him and almost but not quite reached the mountain's top, but he fell short only a hands length from the peak. Then he tumbled down the mountain almost as fast as he ran up it to land in a panting heap at his brother's feet.

Orlanth sat and pondered his brother's plight, for he knew that only very powerful magics could have outrun the Desert Storm. So, he proclaimed "Master of this Hill, I go to aid the handmaiden of the beauteous Eiritha, mistress of the beasts who walk this plain. From the vantage of your hill, I may be able to see my enemy and then come down upon him with the strength of the storm.

Then from out of the earth arose a gigantic bronzed warrior, girded with the accoutrements of war. Snarling, the exhausted Urox half-rose to his feet, but his brother held him back saying "Learn a lesson, brother, the power of the earth may be slow, but it is stronger even than the Storm at times." Then the bronzed giant said,
"You are wiser than your brother, Storm King, but do you know who
I am?" Now, Orlanth pondered and wished that his grey-bearded sage who knew the names of all things was here to help him, but or that his silver-tongued LawSpeaker was here to trick the giant into telling him the name, but neither was, so he knew that he would have to make do.

So he thought back to the stories of green-grassed Prax that he had heard and remembered the tale of Tada of the High Tumulus and then staring into the eyes of the bronzed giant, he called up his Inner Wind and thus divined the secret name of Tada of the High Tumulus. With respect, he knelt before the Earth King and whispered his secret name in his ear.

The bronzed giant nodded and with three giant strides Orlanth reached the peak of the hill. Far to the east he could see a bizarrely twisting sandstorm set amidst the green-grassed plains of Prax. With a leap he landed at the base of the hill, bowed to King Tada, picked up his brother who was still snarling and panting and grunting in frustration and went on his way.

Trekking across the plain both Orlanth and Urox were very tired from their fight with the dark beast of fire and climbing the mountain, so when they came upon a beautiful pool surrounded by fruit trees, they decided to rest before approaching the monster. As they lay down by the pool to eat and drink, a beautiful nymph, water streaming off her lush and naked body, rose from the pool. Both of the brothers were transfixed with lust by the sight. Both stared until their eyes were almost out of their heads, then both leapt into the pool after her.

Laughing and giggling like a mountain brook, she danced around the two clumsy brothers like raindrops in the air. Thrashing about in the water, the brothers were soon soaked and exhausted. Then, while up to their chins in water, the nymph stepped out of the pool and turned into Orlanth's wife.

Urox bellowed "Mother in Law, what have you done with the nymph!" Orlanth elbowed his brother in the ribs and he subsided as he realised what had happened.

"Foolish men" laughed Ernalda, "How will you face the strange evil
wind, if you cannot catch even a nymph! Listen to me well, I have delved deep and have found much about this new enemy which you need to learn if you are to defeat him."

Orlanth laughed. "I can never resist you wife, whatever guise you take! My brother and I will listen well to your advice." Urox just grunted. Ernalda gestured and from the ground arose a sumptuous banquet with wine as dark as blood. Orlanth and Urox fell upon the feast and felt themselves fully restored in vigour and the wound that Orlanth had taken from the dark beast of fire was healed as if it had never been. Then Ernalda gathered them close and whispered words of strength and protection in their ears. Thus, fortified, they all set out for the Spring of Meirthia.

After some time, they could see that ahead the green-grassed plains of Prax and the blue open sky were covered in a huge dust storm. The closer they drew towards the dust, the hotter and drier it got, so hot and dry that without the words of Ernalda to protect them, they may not of made it through the storm. All around, the verdant plants of Prax, slowly withering and dying, turning from a vivid, living green, to a dull and dying brown. The green-grassed plains of Prax were turning into wastes before their eyes.

Then through the dusty air, strange evil creatures came upon the trio, so revolting and fearful that Ernalda was appalled and turned away from them and Orlanth was taken aback. Urox was so filled with anger that he flinched not at all and bellowed out his rage straight from his heart with such force that the creatures turned and fled, but like a ravening wolf amongst the lambs, Urox fell upon them and tore them to pieces.

Urox stormed on through the storm, destroying all that got in his way and ignoring the pain and wounds that the storm brought. Orlanth and Ernalda followed behind shielded by the Raging Bull.

Then they arrived at the eye of the storm, the wind and dust stopped to reveal the Garden of Meirthia. A garden no longer, but a desolate, corpse of a garden. Decorated with the dead verdure of a plentiful glade. In the centre of the garden, a withered brown corpse lay at the bottom of a pool. Its brown cracked flesh mirroring the brown cracked earth upon which it lay. Even the Bull paused at the horror before his eyes,

But paused but a second as before him arose Erukanni the Thirsting Wind, son of the traitorous wind, Molanni to the Evil Emperor. But this was no ordinary wind; this was not a wind that any of them had seen before. Something dark and evil and rotten and corrupt infested the wind, something new and wrong. Urox bellowed and charged at the Thirsting Wind, Orlanth thought more and drew his weapon and moved thoughtfully to the attack.

The battle raged for hours, but this was well before Orlanth and Urox had learnt much of the devious ways of Chaos and everytime that they cornered the evil creature it slipped beyond their reach. Ernalda seeing that soon the two would be exhausted and prey to the Thirsting Wind, reached into her bag and covered the body of Meirthia with a salve which she had made and then prayed to the Dark One at the Gate to release the spirit of Meirthia. Slowly, the spirit returned to the body, complaining and whining each step of the way, but the Earth Mother comforted and coaxed the spirit back into her body and the pool filled with a sprinkling of water to turn it into a chalice of warm, brown life giving mud.

Calling to her husband, she gestured at the mud, and Orlanth as quick as a flash, gathered it up and threw it at the Thirsting Wind. Hitting its body, it was dried out immediately and covered its entire body with a rock hard coating of mud. Urox then picked the body up with his winds, and threw it high into the sky. It sailed up and up into the sky, almost reaching the dome and then plummeted to earth where it shattered into a thousand pieces.

All around the dust storm stopped and Meirthia filled the pool with clear sparkling water, but while the plants stopped dying, they never returned to their former green but stayed a dry dusty brown with only a hint of green. But far worse was to come before Orlanth defeated Chaos and atoned for his mistake.

The Ernaldan Myth

The women of the Orlanthi nod wisely when the bards tell the story of the Garden of Meirthia, for they know that while what is said is true, it is not the whole story. This is what is told by the mothers to the young women.

And that is a story for another time :-)

Afterword

In some versions of the story both Praxian, Orlanthi and Ernaldan, it is said that later that Wakboth found the body of Erukanni and breathed corruption back into it and till this day, parts of the Thirsting Wind can still be found in Prax, but children are not told this story.

In game terms, the heroquests associated with this myth are used to find water, restore a spring or to cleanse a water supply. The Praxian version is generally far harder to succeed at, though the Orlanthi and Ernaldan versions require two simultaneous heroquests by different groups who must both succeed and meet to achieve their goal. As such it is quite a difficult quest, for the return and thus is rarely performed in Sartar (where a shortage of water is rarely a problem). The Praxian version also gets less and worse quality water than the Sartarite version

The clan actually has to repeat the quest every year to keep the water there.

Martin


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #604


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