> strife between brothers would not be uncommon.
> But sharing the same ancestors still ought to be a reason to stand
> together against external threats - much like Vadrus did lead the
> host of the Storm Tribe in the first conflict with the seas.
I totally agree.
> > I have splitted my yggites into two bloodlines :
>
> > 1) the Wos (male bloodline) who worshipp Ygg, Valind and vadrudi
> > pantheon (sacrifice). They are in charge with war, plunder, trade,
> > navigation, protection from the outside
>
> > 2) the Oreas (female bloodline), who worshipp (ecstatic rites) the
> > earth spirits of the islands
>
> This is fairly similar to what I did for my own Vadrudi splinter
> group finding refuge under the Glacier (unpublished...) - a male
> hunter/monsterslayer culture, and a female shapechanger/gatherer
> culture surviving on giant crabs, shellfish etc.
>
> Not appropriate to my idea of the Yggites, though - which has a
> strong dose of Erik the Red, Viking chief of Greenland.
So my Glorantha will vary ! :)
I like the idea of the splintered male and female bloodlines, because
2)I think my vadrudi Yggites need to be tamed by nasty attractive witch with some powers of soul-stealing. It's the price of civilization, unless they would the psychopath which Peter Metclafe describe.
(I 've created a little legend explaining why Ygg marry Wendreas, the leading earth nymph of the "thousand hills" that have becomed the Ygg's islands.
Briefly, Wendreas needed a protector against the flood and the water spirits. And she heard about Ygg's victories against some sea leviathans. So, she laid a trap. She gathered the thousand nymphes on her hill. They waited for fair wind. Then undress herselves, singing and washing each other on the icy shores.
Their singing came to the ears of Ygg and his band. Charmed, they flew to find out the beings who sang so voluptuously. Mesmerized by this multitude of gorgeous maiden, they drop their weapons to "take on them". The maiden embraced the storm brothers.
And at the agreed signal, the nymphes captured the storm gods souls in the net of their beautiful, heady and sensual hair.
Enslaved, the storm brothers were forced to protect the "thousand hills" nymphes against the great flood. But they were also properly rewarded by the maiden, who gave thus birth to the yggite people.)
3) the vikings, AFAIK, frowned seas more than they worship sea gods. I didn't know any real sea god in the norse pantheon.
The giant Aegir is a friendly mythological figure which hosts great party (beer pours in his palace), but sacrifices were made to appease him before setting sail, as he was known to capture boats and sailors.
And his wife, Ran, the goddess of storms, was known to collect the drowned in her net.
So I think that my Yggites need some earth roots and allies to protect them from the seas : their wives.
> I wasn't aware of Valind's relation to the Wartain tribe other than
> through Ygg's marriage, but I don't see a need for a strong Earth
> element there, either. Yggite farming is a secondary means of
> getting nourishment. Fishing, herding (shaggy goats) and
> hunting/gathering (reindeer, moose, seabird eggs, shellfish) are the
> main sources of food.
You're right.
I just think that Yggites will be more fascinating if they live on
tiny bits of rock, assaulted each year by the sea gods who are longing
to sink their islands, if they live surroundings by ennemies (even the
sea itself), if each navigation is a travel in ennemy territory
(wateritory ???)...
So, my Glorantha will vary.
> I don't regard either Valind or Ygg as half water deities any more
> than I regard Orlanth as an Earth god (even though his ancestry is
> on quarter Fire and three quarters Earth), but as Storm Gods.
You make a point !
> It is possible that such offspring either gets a choice to remain
> merfolk, or that it has to give up the merfolk abilities in order to
> survive(compare the HC Andersson fairy tale of the little mermaid).
> That would not be dissimilar to the Entekosiad myths of how humans
> were the leftover of the Tree People or the people craving
> immortality.
Nice idea, I will reuse it !!!
> To me, the Yggites are a splinter group of Vadrudi origin who are
> different from the rest by adopting their island-based culture,
I agree.
> One group I wrote up for my Frozen Skies project (mentioned above)
> slowly got corrupted by taking their (unattractive, sea-related
> selkie) wives from the same sources over and over again.
Do not hesitate to post something about them when you fancy it... ;)
> The weak ones that followed Orlanth? You wouldn't worship them, but
> raid them. Yes, they might beat you back several times, but that
> won't stop you trying. Rather worship Thryk Stormraider than some
> soft Orlanthi deity.
Yeah, woe betide these cowardly Heortlings !!!
> > The laws of kinship is again an Orlanthi construct. Vadrus
> > slew Barntar for example and the only regret he ever felt
> > was when Orlanth kicked his teeth in as punishment.
>
> Still, kin are those you fight only when there is no one else worth
> taking the trouble.
I share your opinion. Even if kin is not sacred for them, they still prioritized their abuses : foes first, then strangers, allies and kin at last.
> Ygg is the cultural deity. A huge motherfracking glacier doesn't
> give you ideas how to survive. Ygg does.
Yes, Valind's cult is nearly useless in everyday's life. But I think, Ygg's too unless there are some subcults : Ygg the sailor, Ygg the nasty king, Ygg the beer-drinker...
Much of theses subcults are related to his sons : Yggdrasyl, Yggerias, Yggtaryl, Yggstafford, Yggmetcalfe, Yggbaumgartner... :)
> >>There's not much to gain from the worshipping of Valind... more
> >>snow and ice ?
>
> > How to live in the coldest winter.
>
> Many, if not most Yggites prefer to live where that doesn't happen.
But Peter made a point. Valind can give them ways to survive on their frozen islands : resist frost, heal childblains... at the cost of sufficient sacrifices of course !
> >>Valind's Winter Palace should represent paradise for the Yggites.
>
> Why?
Maybe because he's their distant tutelary deity... some kind of ancestor god : the father of Ygg Allfather. Maybe because HE has the power to preserve flesh from the effects of time (with his frost breath)...
But dead Yggites can also join Ygg's hell fleet in death...
> > Well, I don't think the Yggites built ships until the Imperial
> > Age. Before then, they were mainly land dwellers in Bija or
> > Winterwood.
>
> I disagree - if they didn't live on the islands, they wouldn't be
> yggites. If they live on the islands, they need boats.
>
> I see plenty of room for land-bound Vadrudi in northern Fronela, at
> least in earlier ages. But those wouldn't be Yggites (unless driven
> there at some time).
I agree.
What's the point of having the Sea Storm as your tutelay god if you
are "land dwellers in Bija or Winterwood".
Furthermore, "you're under attack of bloodthirty ex-land dwellers" is less dramatic than "you're under attack of natural born pirates who continue a pre-dawn tradition of psychopath killer"... :)
Boris
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