Re: Thundermills was Windmills

From: rmv1_at_...
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 19:49:06 -0000


[John Hughes and Ian Cooper write volumes in two small posts on the subject of windmills.]
> Try this for spurious leap of logic:
> [Snipped]
> - OT sounds 'right' to me as the god grinds Ernalda's grain
Actually, Ohorlanth's winds and those of the Thunder Brothers will all have a hand in it. I see windmills more as a way for those kin who happen to be winds to help out with the tasks of working on the farm. I'm working up a modification to the 'Hiorl Harnesses the Wind' heroquest that's been mentioned so that I can place it IMG. The working title (for lack of further inspiration) is 'Hiorl Gets His Family To Help.'

> - That grinding, those large stones rubbing together is going to
> sound like - Thunder. You might call those millstones -
> Thunderstones.

I like the imagery, but I'm still working out where the millstones come from in the myth. Hedkoranth's blessing finding a peacetime use? Not sure if that's the 'best fit'...

> - That's right windmills are associated with Hedkoranth (though
> Orstan the carpenter makes the post mill - i'm post mills by look
> and feel over horizontal mills. The knowledge might not be Dark
> ages but... They would of course of the small variety that the
> miller/god-talkers can turn on his own to face the wind)
In a story I'm writing for my players to go along with the myth, I'm also having Enferalda invoked to bless the stone 'piers' (actually beruned menhirs) that hold up the crossbeams at the bottom of the mill. The Ernalda calls up four of her men to 'enter' homes prepared for them 'in the stones,' as the narrator perceived it, and the Ohorlanth priest calls up the Four Winds to fill their quarters (so that the winds blow strongly and steadily).

> Perhaps Hedkoranth is also known as Hedkoranth the Miller.
I'd prefer Hiorl the Miller, mainly because I see him as a subcult of Orlanth Allfather -- although the mill sort of acts as an Axis Mundi between Earth and Storm, and between male and female, the Miller I see more involved with food production than semi-ecstatic storm worship. YMMV.

Hiorl the Miller
During the Darkness, when there was no food because the goddesses were all asleep, Hiorl went on a quest to find the tools and allies he needed to feed his family. He found a new way for the winds to help the people -- the first windmill. Windmills are now a part of Heortling clan life and only the poorest clan goes without one.

Hiorl the Miller
Physical Skills: Climb, Lift Heavy Burden, Trim Windvanes. Mental Skills: Guage Wind Strength.
Virtues: Patient.
Affinities: [air] Winds (Increase Wind, Decrease Wind, Summon Wind Daimon, Speak to Winds)
Secret: Orlanth's Fyrd. (After such a long time spent working with the many winds to do stead-work, devotees of Hiorl develop relationships to the wind daimones that frequent their tula. This secret works like a Relationship; the devotee can attempt to use this Relationship to call upon those daimones he knows to come to him in times of great need.)
Sacrifices: Members of the Hiorl's subcult make sacrifices of one seventh of every bushel of grain ground in their mills to Hiorl and Orlanth.
Worshippers: Millers.
Manifestations: Hiorl is present in every windmill. His devotees claim to be able to hear his words in the creaking of the inner works, his work-song in the grinding of the millstones and his good cheer in the whistling of the wind through the windvanes. Other Side: Hiorl's mill is on Orlanth's tula in the Storm Realm.
>From it one may enter into the Storm Age or the Silver Age.
Other Connections: Hiorl is one of the Storm Tribe. His followers are experts, and are almost always carls or thanes. Disadvantages: Hiorl's worshippers must spend much time in their mills. Unlike farmhouses which can be rebuilt with moderate effort when destroyed, mills are extremely expensive to build and maintain. A miller without a mill is nothing.

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