This is very cool - can we play with it a bit?
Jeff
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sat Mar 13 06:12:55 2004 To: whitewall_at_yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: CHARACTERS: Broyan
This is for the tribe so whatever the tribe wants to do with it is great by me! Following upon Jane's comments, here are a few pointers regarding specific allusions to Broyan in this text and other bits:
"I am Broyan called the Fervour because I called the Hoargrey the Biter to
be my second breath", refers to 'Greywind' from Jeff's summary plus I
imagine stats in Orlanth is Dead.
"I was called by Vingkot but when I followed his path I found only desert",
alludes to Vingkot stories involving Tada and (what is now) Prax.
"I sought solace among the Larnstings and learned the secret of the Bitten
Heel. My enemies among the night-men learned my weakness but I gained the
Path of the Wondrous Bridge," is a reference to Broyan specifically.
Couldn't resist the Achilles Heel parallel from Larnste getting bitten: so
Broyan gains the secret of the bridge to the City of Wonders from this
quest, but the Kitori ("night-men") discover his weakness (= Achilles Heel).
In KoS Broyan is killed by a Kitori demon, so this is where they learn how
to kill him.
"I am called the Spoiler because at the Palace of Pearls I wounded the
Pharoah, my father's enemy. I was cursed as the Doom-Bringer because after
this the Red Moon came to our lands." Jeff's notes mentioned Broyan passing
from clan to clan, but didn't say why. I assumed he was trying to find his
father's killer. He figures that the Pharoah is ultimately responsible and
quests against the Pharoah and wounds him/her. Result: when Jar Eel strikes
(maybe immediately or perhaps years after)the Pharoah is weakened and the
Lunars score a victory thanks to Broyan.
"When I returned to my people the assassins came at the Full Moon. This is
why I am called Nine-Finger and this was how I learned that King Gotalax who
was once my friend had become my foe. I am named Kingslayer after I killed
him and thirty scorpion-folk at the battle of Blood-Turning-Blue." Gotalax
is a Volsaxi King before Broyan: he's in cahoots with the Lunars (and the
scorpion queen) and uses them to try and kill Broyan, his up-and-coming
rival. Probably links to Pharoah thread, above.
"I brought together the Larnstings and convened the Council of Chiefs." This
is Broyan's initial play for Kingship amidst growing Esvulari/ Malkonwal
problems. The other orators are Esvulari converts who are proselytes: one is
discrediting the Larnsti.
"I am Broyan who swore an Oath to a Kingdom that did not exist." From Jeff's
notes. This is the oath to Rikard.
"I am called Ruthless because when the Three Suns clan turned against me I
murdered the fifteen thanes of my wife and challenged any to deny me
Kingship. In this way I grasped the Sword of Change that cuts the hand that
takes it, and I sent my breath to fight against the Red Wound in the sky. I
used Daga to punish my foes when I took cattle from the Esvularings, and
Orlanth when I gave them to feed the Colymar who would help us in our fight.
I plundered the temples in Smithstone to pay the Kitorings when we triumphed
in the Fight of Ten Vexillas." ...
...In my book all the regular stuff of Kingship and warfare! Sword of Change is a kinda' Larnsti thing, I thought--Broyan's point here is that change isn't always controllable or for the good. "Clan of Three Suns" could be any clan, in fact, but I liked the idea of three sun gods (ho ho! How about Yelmalio, Elmal *and* Ehilm?) NB. I'm not sure how big a Vexilla is.
"All that is precious has ebbed away and in the bitterness that remains we
will awaken each day as if we dreamed a nightmare and yet woken with the
blood on our hands." This is downbeat because, basically, since Tarkalor the
Volsaxi have only ever lost, and, let's face it, he *is* living in the
Greater Darkness.
Final note: I didn't really feel this outlook would make him any less a warleader. I don't suppose Ghengis Khan was noted for oratory, for example, but I imagine that he was pretty good at intimidating the enemy.
The New World Is Born On the Walls On Whitewall.
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