Dr. Michael Hitchens <michaelh_at_2aH7CBWXbsyyWgrnXYw_luZ67eNF8gPTs3Ut_yO9rixE2FQExerGn3p5DEKRHPvoL4rAiyCL2F-14TbE.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> Anyway, that wasn't my real point. My real interest was in the
> possibly of Ragnaglar being the oldest son of Umath and what
> potential could be mined by that, especially attitudes to oldest
> son inheritance amongst the Orlanthi.
- *I* think that Urox and Ragnaglar were likely twins. If not twins,
then full brothers (like Eric and Corwin from the Amber Chronicles, or
Nissyen and Evnissyen from the 2nd Branch of the Mabinogian) with LOTS
of sibling rivalry. They both covered the animal storm worshipers like
the goat men and the animal peoples who became the Praxians. I think
that the God Learnerish term "violent" meant physical, rather than
spiritual, energetic, or intellectual. Thus Umbroli are almost purely
mindlessly physical winds while Orlanth's are almost humanly smart with
a large Otherworld component. Alternately, the GLs had more problems
controlling umbroli than wind daimons or essences, and expressed this
spitefully, as "violent" rather than "spiritual".
- Whether the Brother Whom No One Remembers was first, second, or
third born isn't going to affect things much. Orlanth was last born,
so I always assumed default ultimogenture, just as among Migration Era
and Dark Age Germanics. OTOH, it is documented that the Orlanthi also
often practice tanistry, where the "best" person is chosen to inherit
regardless of birth order, so the two systems are probably mixed
together in practice (i.e., last-born unless another was clearly
superior, or the last-born was a clear loser, or someone's spouse was
better to act as Chief Mother and the magic works better when the chief
and women's chief are actually wed, or someone could pay better
bribes).
- The professor asked about the "potential to be mined" which implies
to me that, from the YGMV principle, it is a matter of *your* ability
to make an interesting myth, rather than ours to site sources and
anthropology to demonstrate the "correct" answer. In my version, that
Ragnaglar was Umath's begetting is devotee-level knowledge at the
widest, whereas, in yours, it might be as commonly known as the Cthulhu
Mythos is in August Derlath's Mythos stories (where it seemed to be
covered in Anthro 201 or earlier, so call it initiate-level in the
Lozenge). In this case, good luck, and remember to post the pertinent
myths here if you can stand to let others read it.
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