RE: Re: Heler and the Water Tribe

From: bernuetz.oliver_at_...
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 15:56:32 -0400


 Philippe asked :

> Well, OK. A great and mighty tribe it is, then.
> Is there a mythic explanation for their being freshwater when the seas
> are saltwater ? (I suppose oceans and seas are salty in Glorantha ?).
> Sramake is very salty, and the farther away they are from True Ocean,
> the more feeble (and fresh) they become ?
 

Here's a myth I wrote explaining why the seas are salt :

The following is an Esrolian tale that masquerades as a merfolk (probably triolini) myth. It attempts to explain why the seas are salt when rivers and lakes aren't. It may or may not be what the merfolk themselves believe (though why they would care one way or another is beyond me).

Why the Seas are Salt (a merfolk myth)

Why are the seas so salt, O noble finned father? Listen well, O little finned one, and learn,

Long ago the seas and all the lesser waters were fresh and all could drink of them.
Then came a time when the creatures and gods of the land and air betrayed the waters.
Magasta forgave and forebore but betrayal followed betrayal.
Then some weak land thing found Death and Magasta wanted it for Himself.
Through horrific magics and unimaginable sacrifices Magasta changed His very nature and made of His very body a weapon against the land and the air. Thus do we creatures of the deep water drink safely of the sea while the poor pathetic land and air creatures die when they do so.
The Father of Waters has never changed His nature so water is not naturally salt but mighty Magasta changes all liquid that enters His body into salt water. The poor pathetic waters that cross the land are too weak and forgiving to poison the land so their water is not poison to the land and the air.

Oliver

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