WRITING Peter:
> Esrolia (and the rest of the Holy Country) is considerably less
> literate than either of the above cultures. ...
The Orlanthi of the area are as illiterate as
> other Orlanthi.
I believe Esrolia is where the Heortlings borrowed most of their literary and numerical expertise, such as it is. Id expect the Earth to remember her secrets, though in surprising and often mysterious ways. Whispering down votive shafts, accompanied by an offering perhaps?
> The Orlanthi, wherever they are found, are mostly illiterate; they
> have an oral culture. ...Sheets of barks painted with relatively simple
> ink (probably lamp black)
Don't forget trollkin urine as a source for metallic inks, and other sources for more mundane colours. Bistre from burnt beetles. Oak galls. Gum arabic and acacia shrubs, buckthorn berries and rose madder. Chalk and powdered metals and stones, indigo and lapis lazuli and vermillion and malicite.
An oral culture *remembers* and learns many memorisation tricks that are reflected in storytelling and song.
PAPER Call me old-fashioned, revisionist and down-right grumpy, but the idea of Mostali using paper sits as comfortably with me as Humakti berserkers (i.e not at all. Well, hardly ever.) Whats wrong with acid-etched metal, I ask you? Now in a forced compromise I might begrudgingly accept ticker tape. But PAPER? By Mostal's sacred and secret copyrighted gear ratio workers, don't you have to GROW the stuff? Just my two clacks.
BROO And to those who seek purified broo: think castration rather than chastity belts. Think artificially bred all-female bands. Then add some chaotic regeneration. Or bits in the wrong places that fool the broo-sexers. Result: some wonderful scenarios errr brooing.
NANDAN One recent post seemed to stop the Nandan discussion dead. Little wonder, though it had little to do with Nandan and almost nothing to do with the real world either. I'd like to raise the issue again by
(Subtle pause as i don (unfamiliar) universalist spectacles for ease of argument).
Atum-Ra births the first humans from his mouth, as does Prajapati, and as Ymir does from his sweaty armpit. Athena springs from Zeus' forehead, Dionysus from his thigh. Shiva births another god from his semen, just as Uranos births Aphrodite. Loki births Odin's horse. Kun births the first Hsai Emperor. Buddha conceives himself. Eve is born from Adam's rib. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Initiation is perceived as men *making* men, and initiation is also a time when female influences are seen to be defiling and taboo.
Now transvestism is also often associated with magical potency: the 'muliebri ornatu' of Tacitus' Germans, the seithr cults of the Poetic Edda , Roman priests of Magna Mater, the Krishna cult's gopi men.
It is also often associated with shamanic power; the Amerindian berdache and the cross-dressing Siberian among dozens of others.
So the mythic antecendants of Nandan are many. Before we jump into the fine (and no doubt gory) details of its Heortling manifestation, let me ask the question, what's gong on here *mythically*? What is male birth *about*? Why is male (albeit limited) control of birth magic so important? What does Nandan do to the balance of power and trust between Earth and Storm?
Whats being claimed here? Why is the notion of male birth so important to men? What does it say about male thinking?
As the one shouting questions from the sidelines, I'll hold off on my own opinions just for now. And reserve the right to flame myself at a later date.
Cheers
John
nysalor_at_primus.com.au John Hughesjohnp.hughes_at_dva.gov.au
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
They have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
Isaiah 1:14.
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