Re: Ernalda Options

From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_VLOw6Xf1LmjByk1lMEekjwnoV-drsI5ss6Pl_jIGgjjN7HMOjNppO4HbTp-nA2tLz1R0y>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 16:16:39 -0700 (PDT)


Sam Elliot (samclau_at_4Yh3vzA0LJQ5fECcqMPFRRr7yfJbg11NZK0SvolcsiMLlfUAoF0_ze_HyrddzqBfBZerQIn3vpYD.yahoo.invalid) wrote:
> (1a) Ernalda weaves the world together. How does this relate to
> Arachne Solara?

Tangentially, I expect. AS is very much an enigma related to the restart at the end of the Gods War, I expect, never really prominent before, or obvious (except in retrospect) after, and never giving mundanely useful magic. Heroquesters might find her surprisingly useful, but they make up a tiny portion of the populace, even at the height of the Hero Wars.

> Are there myths specifically involving the two of them?

Doubt it.

> Do they agree with one another?

Hell, I doubt that Her myths agree with Orlanth's, except in the rawest of facts (at least until one gets to the Devotee versions). As an example, it is obvious that She has a rather different version of Orlanth Makes the Storm Tribe from Orlanth's (read the Orlanthi devotee version for more details; basically, She set up the troll attack just as Themistokles set up the Persian attack at Salamis). Given that, I would really doubt that Her myths agreed with those of something SO different, as Arachne Solara is.

> (1b) She also animates the world. Does this relate to Donandar?

Not really. Also, she only animates the world to Her POV, not to gods from outside her two families. The Kralori ignore her completely, I expect.

> (2a) With all this weaving the world together, she (or her
> followers) might be pretty good as sensing what is going on
> elsewhere, some of the undercurrents or currents.

Heortling women relocate to their husbands' families (usually) upon marriage, and thus spread the news in the loom houses. Likewise, they will visit their old clan(s) and tribe(s) more than the average man, and watch things that he is likely to ignore. This can give the impression of great wisdom, when it is really just looking at things a bit differently than the men.

> (2b) For the same reason, she could be pretty effective at
> pulling at certain strands and affecting things, being more
> manipulative,

Yes. See the Founding of The Storm Tribe myth, mentioned above.

> more active

OOPS. Wrong. Not active, except very much behind the scenes.

> Doing magical things which affect people at a distance. Being
> a bit more, well, witch-like, like Morgana and that lot.

Sederosa (which is Her being friendly with spirits, as opposed to messing with them all the time and ignoring the important things like crops and grandchildren, like Orlanth's brother Kolat)(Ernaldan POV, there)

> (3) I never get the impression she gets things wrong.

Well, SHE certainly claims that. And when someone claims that She WAS wrong, you can bet that She has some story to prove that She was right all the time (in some crazy way of looking at things, like claiming that the Holocaust was all a Jewish Plot to make anti-Semitism disreputable, even when it is occasionally justified).

> Couldn't she be a bit more terrible at times? A bit more scary?
> (And at the same time, make the Gors a bit less so, give them
> something else too.)

No, you don't understand. She IS the Gors, when She is being Terrible, and They ARE Her, when They are being gentle.

> (5) Witches! A witch is a wonderful thing. How about a bit of
> cursing, shrivelling of members,

When an Ernaldan does this, she is calling on the Gor powers (and thus isn't to blame when innocent bystanders die, as well).

> overly long fingernails stirring bowls of water, the
> occasional cackle, cruelty to amphibians, invertebrates and
> flying mamals, cauldrons, blasted heaths, you know the stuff.

Yes. Stupid momsense. BTW, the bats and newts are dead before the potion is brewed, you know (at least, usually).

> You know it makes sense.

Only to foreign gods. I expect that Malkioni have tales like that, just as Orlanthi myths totally misunderstand Solace, saints, wizards, etc.



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