Thank you. I rather liked it myself. Just in case people think this is another manifestation of my Vinga fixation, I'd like to mention that it was Ian who first came up with the tie-in of warm wind and Vinga's Defender Wind. I did, mind you, jump on board enthusiastically.
> > So, bringing things to a swift conclusion,
battle
> > is joined with Valind, his sons, and his
followers.
> > Vinga calls up the Defender's Wind, defeats Hend
> > Valindsson in personal combat,
> er.... wasn't he a human hero from an Age or so
later?
Jeff Richard mentions that he lived in the Great Darkness, which puts it in the right time, I believe. Then there's the quote provided from the Entekosiad (thank you, David). I don't, unfortunately, have that, so I didn't know anything about Kalikos being son of Kargzant, etc. If he's a son of Kargzant, though, I don't think that he's human, per se. Demigod, at least.
> > There's some handwaving involved, as I know
the
> > chronology doesn't quite square with what's
published.
> If it's pre-Time, no problem with chronology. It's
> causality you need to be careful of.
Oh, yes, believe me, I'd be relying on that!
> > E.g., such as Vinga first showing her life-saving
> > Defender's Wind against Valind during the Greater
> > Darkness (p.168, Storm Tribe).
> But at the time she did that, clearly *she* knew she
> had it, it was just that Orlanth hadn't seen it
> before. Maybe it was on the trip north that she
> figured out how to do it? For once, she's the only
one
> present born of the Storm Tribe, the only possible
> source of wind. And we start to get a new myth for
the
> next time someone wants to learn a Defender Wind
feat :)
See, I just knew that little problem could be massaged! Mind you, I have Elmal accepting her help, and he wouldn't be doing that if he didn't know she had a bang-up power to throw at Valind. Well, I suppose that Elmal might accept her help without knowing that specifically - he knows she's sneaky, and she fights damn well, too.
Maybe it's the women who send the appeal south, because they're not too proud to beg for help. That would definitely draw Vinga's sympathy.
> > Most of the scanty references that I've seen
to
> > the Kalikos Icebreaker Quest mention priestesses
> > performing the rites. This tied in with our
Vingan
> > hypothesis, but doesn't answer the question of how
> > the Pentans learn the Quest.
> Direct worship of this departed "hero"?
Yes, I suppose that would have to be it. If we go with the modifications suggested below, then it's just the transferral to Vinga's successor.
> > I have some vague idea of
> > Vinga teaching one of the more independent women
> > (perhaps Yelorna?) how to call the Defender's
Wind,
> > and leaving Kalikos with her. The men credit
Kalikos
> > with all the power, and name the Quest so.
> The idea's good, but I'd be reluctant to give
Yelorna
> Wind powers. She just doesn't have them. Nor does
she
> use a javelin, the bow's her weapon. Pick another
> woman, any other woman, one you just invented for
this
> purpose. So Kalikos isn't in fact Vinga, (s)he's one
> of Vinga's pupils. With, perhaps, a promise to
return
> Vinga's javelin when she comes back for it? There's
a
> link for the Orlanthi to disrupt things!
It's true, I wasn't very happy with the idea of Yelorna as the inheritor. She was just the only female fire goddess of whom I could remember who had warrior skills. So, could be someone else whom Yelorna suggests. Be a slap in the face to all the men, mind you. "I'll teach this one. She has spirit!"
> Or indeed at that rate, leave the Pentan Kalikos as
a
> man, who takes over her javelin. (A good-looking
one.
> She lets him have the javelin because she quite
> fancies him and can't admit it).
Another fine in for Orlanthi to exploit. Actually, given the general refusal of the Fire Tribe to give any credit to the Storm Tribe at any time, I think it's possible to have Kalikos as a son of Kargzant, whom Vinga fancies, as above. Then I'd have to change names around a bit. Leave the spear called Kalikos, and pre-date the crush Vinga has on Kalikos to some earlier encounter. She names her javelin after him in secret tribute, and uses a different pseudonym herself on the trip up north. She gives her spear to him before leaving, as that's the only part of herself that she can leave behind, and the 'coincidence' in names makes it appropriate.
Over the years, as Kalikos proves his new skill against the forces of Cold and Darkness, the story is quietly whitewashed. The cunning warrior from the Storm Tribe is erased, and Kalikos is substituted as the original hero. There's the inevitable conflation of weapon-name with namesake, and all is good. Bends the truth a little, but doesn't actually break it. I'm sure that Kalikos Kargzantsson did acquit himself bravely in the original encounter, just didn't do the best work himself.
> > There's got to be some improvements possible,
> > or perhaps something completely different has
occurred
> > to someone. Have at it!
> If you're making it Pentans in particular rather
than
> horse-nomads in general, one other thing occurs to
me.
> Red hair. The present-day Lunars have a thing about
> red-haired Pentans, and as far as I know there's
never
> been a reason given for it. Can that somehow be
linked in?
As far as it being Pentans in particular, I wasn't being that definite. A bit of sloppiness in terms, is all it was.
I'd like to work on the redhaired kids angle, though. I checked back on 'Life of Moonson' for the full references. (I remember vividly and with deep frustration trying to balance the bloody Lunar economy as the Red Dancer of Power.) Collect 'em in sets of seven, and they're magically great. It did mention that I'd be getting them from Commodus, absentee governor of the Redlands, though. My interpretation of that at the time was that having them too available would make it too easy for me to perform substitutions. If it's only Redlands redhairs, that requires a bit more explanation.
Hmm, think, think, think. As it stands, red can be interpreted as a Vingan colour, a Solar colour, and a Lunar colour. Different shades of red, I'll bet, but still red. Maybe red-haired Redlanders are the ones dedicated to the Kalikos Icebreaker cult? Unacknowledged memories of Vinga's feat? It fits, and it feels good to me. How about you?
Alison
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