The Sun (and bats)

From: Stephen Tempest <gd_at_stempest.demon.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 00:03:53 GMT


Peter Larsen on the Crimson Bat:
> She was little and sneaky to Murharzarm (who was either a Big Guy
>or the Bat grew some (and grew grusome) in the intervening millenia).
>Shargash skinned her? That I did not know....

Maybe that's *why* the Bat is gruesome, if it has no skin anymore? It also inspires a myth as to why Teelo Estara left the Bat behind instead of taking it with her up to the heavens when she apotheosized: she could *never* get the blood and slime stains out of her dress after riding the Bat at Castle Blue...

Peter Metcalfe on Yelm:
>Sun Spears have long been part of Solar myth before Avivath
>smote Emperor Huradabba with them. But Sun Spears are only
>available to worshippers of Yelm. They are not available to
>worshippers of Yelmalio or Elmal.

I've wondered about this: Avivath was a real-life one-armed bandit; the son of a street sweeper, born in the slums of Raibanth, a beggar and a thief, the descendant of mere half-citizens with no property. So how did he ever come to be a worshipper of Yelm? Surely Yelm would not sully Himself by granting His powers to such a vile and lowly individual?

On the subject of the Many Suns: what year was the Dawn? 1 ST would be the obvious answer, but as far as I can make sense of GRoY the Dara Happans say Dawn happened in 111 ST (when Antirus rose), with a bigger, better Dawn in 221 ST (when Yelm rose). All that happened in 1 ST is that Shargash's planet started following a regular route through the sky instead of wandering freely; and in about 75 ST Kargzant's planet began doing the same, and it was possible to distinguish day and night for the first time.

So what's going on? Did Plentonius get his dates completely wrong, either through error or a wish to glorify his patron Khordavu? Is this all a Yelmic mystery, unintelligible to outsiders ("The sun you see is not the True Sun; only the blind can behold the True Daylight")? Or were there actual, observable differences to the Sun after 1, 75, 111 and 221? In that case, do other cultures have myths to explain these events? Did Elmal's torch keep flickering until 75, when he dipped it in tallow to make it burn more steadily - and then in 111 he got a new, brighter torch? I find it hard to swallow the alternative, which is that first Sunrise in Peloria was a century later than in the rest of Glorantha.

Stephen


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