> Chris Bell:
>
>>For now(1620's era Tarsh.) From my understanding, when Argrath drives
>>the Lunars from Dragon Pass, Orlanth worship literally comes roaring back
>>into Tarsh with a vengeance, doesn't it?
> No. Argrath made an alliance with Onjur Fazzurson and placed one
> Mularik Ironeye from distant Tanisor in control. After Argrath has
> Mularik assassinated, the Lunars reinvade and massacre Argrath's
> army at the battle of Yoran. They control Dragon Pass for the next
> few years until Argrath returns at Dwernapple. The course of events
> after this is murky but it is clear that a Tarshite Lunar rules Dragon
> Pass while Argrath is away on the Lightbringer's quest. I find it hard
> to describe these events as Orlanthi worship coming roaring back
> into Tarsh with a vengeance.
According to KoS, Annstad of Dunstop becomes the Tarshite leader after Mularik, and remains so for the middle Hero Wars. Lunar control over Dragon Pass is a bit sketchy, too - Boldhome was saved by the collapse of part of its city (likely the Top Pocket), and the Lunars apparently brought in no reinforcements to storm the place over that rubble. Minaryth Blue spent the year after Yoran as garrison in Furthest.
>>Tarsh has very old and strong Orlanthi roots. Lunar religion
>>seems more of an outside imposition and subversion of
>>Ernalda mysteries than anything.
> There's nothing untoward or subversive about the Lunar Ernaldan
> mysteries. It's not imposed on the Earth Priestesses and they
> follow it because they believe it to be correct.
And because they tossed their rivals out of the temple. There is room for Lunar Ernaldan mysteries in the cult of Great Ernalda, but there is as much grounds for temple in-fighting or indeed civil war over this issue, as shown in Esrolia.
>>This also shows how much worshippers shape their gods. The reason there
>>is no place for Orlanth in Lunar mythology
> There is a place for Orlanth in the Lunar Mythology.
Bound, as the lesser steed of the goddess - the Star Bear.
>>- which, strangely, stubbornly
>>resists the rights of freedom that Orlanthi culture claims
> The right to conduct clan feuds? The right to bully neighboring clans?
> The clans of the lowlands are just as free if not more so under the Red
> Moon than they were before.
Freer than the Andrinic shires in Heortland, actually, because the royal appointee in the Tarshite clans hasn't got the core magical role the sheriffs have in the clan rites. The royal reeve can be blindsided, the sheriff who is connected to the shire wyter can't that easily.
>>Further, it seems as if
>>Sedenya was designed specifically to be a weapon against the Orlanthi
>>peoples
> She wasn't. The nearest Orlanthi were on the other side of the Pelorian
> Basin when she was born. Sedenya was a weapon against the
> _Carmanians_.
Against the Bull Shah Carmanians, who inherited the Bisosae traditions of the Hill Barbarian migrations. (Andam Horde: unsuccessful Hill Barbarian invasion of Pelanda; Bisosae: successful Hill Barbarian invasion of Pelanda. Just like Cimbri vs. Francs in the Roman Empire)
>>- the 7 Mothers were not interested in any kind of accomodation with
>>the southern barbarian peoples,
> The Seven Mothers had no contact or even political awareness of the
> southern barbarians, full stop.
Other than as potential allies. We ought to draw on the history of the Seven Mothers for parallels in the Argrath story arc - a minor country overrun by an evil empire, undertaking extreme magical quests to destroy and supplant that empire...
>>Entekos, one of the predecessor goddesses to Rufelza/Sedenya
>>who is often identified with her, is a Green Age goddess
>>amongst other things.
> Entekos is not a predecessor goddess to Rufelza. Valare Addi once
> thought so but she was wrong and wrote the Entekosiad to find out
> why. Entekos is another name for Dendara, the wife of the Sun.
Entekos is an unacknowledged aspect of the planetary goddess of the Middle Air Rufelza seeks to emulate in binding Orlanth. The disproving of Valare's theory can be undone, and IMO this is one aspect what the White Moonies are about.
> The Goddess and all those that follow her must accept that Chaos has a
> place within the Cosmos. If one denies that Chaos has a place, that
> undermines the foundations of the Lunar Way.
Or the Storm Bull cult's foundations... The Orlanthi magical ecology wouldn't work right, either, without Chaos as a force to project all bad things on.
>>Perhaps these secret, underground forces in the Empire assist
>>Argrath and those who work with him in the Red Goddess' Utuma
>>sacrifice,
Surely the White Moonies are interested in advancing the cycle.
>>where she finally repudiates and rejects Chaos in a rather Gerran
>>self sacrifice, as described in King of Sartar.
> I don't see anything about the Goddess rejecting Chaos in King of Sartar.
Neither do I. King of Sartar remains silent about the fate of the Goddess, all it has to say is that the Red Moon is going to be brought down.
>>It also seems to be that
>>the Lunars simply don't have the gut understanding of the danger of Chaos
>>that Heortlings and Praxians do - the peoples of the Oslir basin were
>>spared the effects of Chaos,
> Wrong. They know that the Rebels brought Chaos onto the Empire and
> their history is replete with the horrors of chaos and rebellion.
"The Rebels brought the Emperor's Other into the Empire. Only when the Emperor was reconciled with his Other, the world could be made right again. They helped make the Emperor perfect, for he wasn't before. But since it was the Emperor's Other who made them do it, they did it by the Emperor's decree. All hail the Emperor!" (or similar rubbish)
The Pelorian world order got right only when rebellion was assigned its place in the world. They reconciled themselves with rebellion, and all was well. Now the Lunar Empire is about to free the world of rebellion, leaving it no place in the world. Doesn't this appear somewhat fishy?
>>Heortlings and Praxians understand that Chaos can in no way be
>>bargained with, integrated, or balanced - it is the howling void,
>>which through either subtle lies, selfish hearts, or manifest
>>horror seeks to consume the world.
> To quote Ernalda, "There is always another way" to deal with Chaos.
Yes, you don't have to burn everything polluted by Chaos. Some things can be salvaged using the rites of Natyrsa.
There isn't much mythical ground for Ernalda or other powers of the Earth accepting Chaos. There's much of a "Not in my garden, you won't" approach here. The red earth of Naveria sought to hinder the rise of the Red Moon, and still seeks to draw it down.
Earth will feed Chaos, but then Air will be breathed and water be drunk by Chaos. Either three will be polluted by it.
The Heortlings tell how Orlanth's Justice failed in the case of Thed vs. the Storm Tribe, and that this led to the Greater Darkness. I'd like to note that Ernalda failed to point out another way, then, too. Chaos took its place in the world because Orlanth and Ernalda were unable to deal with Thed's case. Much like the Emperor was unable to deal with Umath's/Orlanth's case. Probably much like Yelm overcame his earth predecessor (after overcoming Basko, before his victorious encounter with Chaos, in the Jonstown Compendium tidbits from RQ Companion).
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