Me:
>> The stories about the births of Obduran the Flier and Orlaront Dragonspeaker are almost identical in that a midwife recognizes that the newborn infant is left-handed, and orders it killed.
> note, first, what these two men have in common: draconic connections
Sure. In case of Orlaront, there was a clear precedent which to follow, and only his surprisingly and selectively corrosive blood saves his life.
The extent of Obduran's draconic nature however was unprecedented. Vistikos Left-eye became active only 40 years before Obduran's birth. Can we assume that Vistikos and his followers, or the members of the cult of Drolgard, had or developed violet blood too?
>> This is the only recorded case of infanticide among Orlanthi,
> draconic orlanthi
The would-be killers - the midwives - would have been strongly traditionalist Orlanthi.
>> although I suspect that physical defects would be treated similarly.
> why?
Jeff's suggestion. The way I see it, severely handicapped people might have a future in fringe magical activities (shamans, tricksters, hermit seers, sages), but are fairly unproductive in the mainstream Orlanthi society, so there is a limit how many can be supported. Strong deformities often are associated with Chaos curses, triggering all the defensive instincts of the Heortlings.
How would a midwife react to a newborn displaying all signs that it would become a trickster?
>> This appears to be an Ernaldan trauma that existed even before the EWF.
> I see no reason to assume that
At the time Obduran was born, the Orlanthi had seen 40 years of draconic tricksters doing weird things in the forests, and of dragonewts becoming less hostile. The EWF was still far away - it was Obduran who would lay the foundations for it by taking a position on the Ruling Ring.
>> What is the deal?
> I suggest that it has more to do with dragons than not remember dragonewts are all left handed
> where are the right-handers?
It appears that right-handedness is more strongly enforced by the Gloranthans than by last century (pre-68) upbringing.
> as for learning this upon birth--perhaps it is not literal left-handedness, but the draconic taint that is detected
In these two cases, quite likely. I still wonder why Obduran was persecuted already at birth. That midwife must have been more prophetic than usual.
> they were spared, and look at what they became
They became tricksters and changers (if judged by traditionalist Heortling standards). Tricksters may at times be necessary, and how beneficial the actions of changers are, often cannot be seen until generations later.
The Machine Wars saw close cooperation between forces from the EWF and traditionalists. The EWF agitators don't appear to have been strongly draconic - Varankol was an Aramite, and while he profited from the chain of veneration set up by the Third Council, he didn't show any dragon powers at all. The forgotten EWF hero mentioned in the triad alongside Renvald and Varankol as Great Living Hero probably was draconic in nature, and therefore forgotten.
Anyway, the EWF appears to have been necessary to overthrow the Zistorite experiment and the God Learner experimentation. A necessary and costly evil, as the Dragonkill proved.
>From what I have seen about Argrath, the Hero Wars developments are in no way different. Lots of evils become necessary to wield enough destruction in order to make the world change into a new Age and avoiding it getting lost.
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