>
> After Jane's Good King Wenceslas, I started wondering what other modern
> tales might hide Heroquests
>
> So we're looking for a tale where the Hero goes on a transformative
> journey, the Community can offer their support, The forces of Evil are
> thwarted, and it all ends happily ever after - Talking Animals may be
> involved...
This beggars a related topic. We know that the Red Goddess birth myth involves talking animals in Torang. What other talking animal myths are out there?
I'm really curious about Heortling talking animals. Do some kinds of magical Alynxes talk? Divine companions of powerful Orlanthi magicians? Does Yinkin normally carry on conversations with Orlanth? I'd imagine that at certain points, Yinkin had some choice words for his brother. I also really like the idea of intelligent talking Alynx PC's who act like dumb tomcats when the Lunar tax assayers come around, but then wreak havoc. "Are the stupid Lunars gone now? I'm hungry and need my stomach rubbed."
Don't ever refer to Durulz as "those cute talking ducks from the Barbarian lands to the south", unless you want a Durulz sword or spear in your gut. "Yeah, quack, quack, you stinking Lunar." Ducks are animals, and Durulz are people. Same goes for Morocanth and Baboons, obviously, as well as awakened Praxian herd animals.
Further, Eurmal/Trickster seems to have a talent for bizarre shapechanging, and no doubt appears in many tales as an animal of some kind, who most likely talks.
This also brings up something about speech, on a related note - the Storm Gods may have invented verbal communication. You need air in your lungs to talk. I can imagine possible myths like "Umath's First Shout", "Issaries gains the gift of speech", "Lhankor Mhy makes words still", and "How Dar spoke the storm (A myth about leadership and oration.)
"Umath's was the first word, the first shout, the first rebellion. Before Umath, there was silence. All communicated by their faces or by dead, useless words written on sheepskin or on walls. Yelm ruled by his glare. Umath, when he demanded his own realm, was the first shout of defiance, the first cry of despair, the first exclamation of joy. There was no speech before Umath's First Shout, the shout that demanded, Freedom! The Storm gives us the right to say what we please and to communicate as how we choose, in such a way that none may naysay us! As the Air gives you life, it is always your right to speak in lawful moot! Also remember that Umath's were the first words of kindness, the first words of succor, and the first song, such as when Harana Ilor was his year wife."
"We Storm people have the right to say what we want, when we want, no matter what you and your stinking coward emperor think, Lunar."
Best wishes for the new year!
CB
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