Re: pigs

From: sarahnewton111 <sarah.newton5_at_nFToldyDF5J5e9tqFIt787_HvkJsyvTQqStERpA5Xda0QzW5mCyhVQhUSz0dPL>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 18:53:09 -0000


Bryan wrote:

> 1- they are more earth tribe than storm tribe.

I get that feeling too - though there should still be plenty of occurrence within Heortling stories too, I should imagine.

> 2- For whatever reason they early on became associated with
> cottars, so by definition are not high status, and not cared about
> as much.

This occurred to me too, although the Western "dirty pig" prejudice is a relatively recent, post-agricultural phenomenon associated with cities, you could have something like a Middle Eastern-type taboo in operation. Parental_unit_2's comments below add to this.

> 4- Pigs were more heavily associated with some group of Orlanthi
> that did not survive the darkness so well. So dominant Heortling
> culturehad pigs kind of on the periphary.

More on this in Parental_unit_2's comments below.

> 5- Their storm tribe association is with (orlanth adventurous sub-
> cult of wilderness survival whose name I forget). I have a personal
> suspicion that when Orlanth was first adventuring in the wilds in
> this form he might have been something like a giant boar, or
> fought one, or sired one. You look at the cult description and you
> think of the pig family, and they just kind of match up well.

Did you mean Varanorlanth? I had a quick peek at Thunder Rebels, and feats like "Find Potable Water", "Burrow in Earth", and "Find Edible Food" do seem pretty pig-like - although I'm not sure about Run Like The Wind <g>! Fast, yup, but not exactly elegant...!

Parental_unit_2 wrote:

> Yet another speculation to add: Pigs are more strongly associated
> with the Harandings, enemies of the Heortlings.

Ah-hah. I couldn't find a reference in Thunder Rebels, but they are mentioned in KoS in "Orlanth the Justice Bringer", where Harand Boardick (!) contests the Battle of Arrowmound with Jarani and loses. I guess this is where Bryan's idea on the "other Orlanthi group" and "pigs are lower status" might come in - I hadn't drawn a direct parallel with the Wenelian boar orlanthi guys, apart from being aware of their existence - but this clearly suggests that the Heortlings reckon the boar orlanthi are beneath them - both literally and figuratively. Perhaps it's more an issue of cultural identity that the upland Orlanthi are more cows-and-sheep and the lowland (ie Wenelian) Orlanthi are more pig. I must dig out my copies of Tradetalk and have a look see if there's anything directly relevant there.

One other thing occurred to me - the whole Tusk Rider / Bloody Tusk / Gouger / Aram Ya Udram thing. I wonder if there's some mythical connection there whereby Orlanth (or some subcult) faces off against Gouger and wins Entra, or something like? The Tusk Riders were "created" in the Second Age by the EWF, according to Anaxial's Roster, so maybe there's some lingering mistrust there, too... Just a thought...

Sarah            

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