Re: Cathora, Herd Mother

From: jorganos <joe_at_b-ug_Ycs71ojUZwF7HjyUBvguCozxyR9xlYfhZS6jXJypTaLimf_067MF5-Mj8hxHCm3tmc7>
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:56:41 -0000

Keith:
> The point is though, that Cathora is clearly from the earth. She is not a celestial body. She is not a Moon Goddess, she is a Moo-Goddess.

> Eiritha is a beautiful Earth Goddess who is known to have had many paramours. Why not an arrogant and pompous god like Artmal? Sure, perhaps the blue-skin people claim descent from someone else, but the Lopers, I reckon, are Eiritha-beasts. how else would they survive in Prax?

The point with earth deities is that usually they are tied to a specific part of the earth. Moving them around tends to cause big magical trouble, so if you want to have Artmal having a dalliance with Eiritha, you'd best let it happen near the Paps.

I don't really see the Lopers as a special case with regard to survival in Prax and the Wastes.

Any ruminant can survive in the better places of Prax, or with some humans to help them. Even beasts as unsuited to grassland as the high llamas. ("What do herdmen and high llama riders have in common? They pick up plants and feed their beasts.")

Pol Joni cattle is doing fine.

The horses of the Pure Horse People and of the Pol Joni didn't suffer anything like those of the Six-legged Empire, either. The main difference appears to be that they don't benefit from Eiritha's Protection - they don't get a Protectress.

Unless the Lopers had herds manifesting a protectress, I wouldn't make them anything like the Praxians. Just riding a strange beast doesn't make you an animal nomad.

However, if you really insist, let's spin this tale:

We know that Storm Bull led his sons down the Spike into Genert's Garden. We also know that another Storm Leader by the name of Desero led his sons down the Spike into Pamalt's Veldt.

Somehow, Storm Bull had his herds along already during the descent, meaning that his sons (the Founders) already had mated with the Protectresses. That would mean that at least the herd mother aspect of Eiritha might have been present upon the slopes of the Spike, and accompanied Storm Bull and his descendants. (The Land Goddess aspect of Eiritha was firmly tied to Tada...)

Now, if Storm Bull could take Herd-Eiritha along, so could Desero. And thus we can have Eiritha meet the Artmali, see her children wither away, and be gifted a different kind of beast as a bridal gift.

If you really insist, that is...