Like many of her works, Mianmo's Foundational Myths of Kerofinela is (at least on its surface) a compilation rather than an original work, arranged in such a way as to give the reader a basic understanding of what the peoples of Kerofinela believed. However, underneath the surface, her Illusion Rune can be seen winking back at us. After all, we have only her word that these sources existed, and until further archeology finds any evidence to the contrary, we will just have to trust her that she did not make them up on the spot.
Whether they exist or not, she plays different sources against each other, refuses to standardize the names of the gods she speaks about, expects her audience to follow her as she stitches these stories together before and after the weaving of Time, and makes odd substitutions. Most notably, rather than referring to the Greatest Goddess, Arachne Solara (who she could not have been ignorant of, given her Lunar associations), she attributes the weaving of Time to the Esrolian goose goddess Imarja, who shares a claim to omnipotence, albeit one infused everywhere with the Earth Rune. The result is a deliberate patchwork quilt, in which what she does not share is sometimes as important as what she does.
The question remains: who was her audience? In a culture which was dominated by the oral tradition, she produced a document intended to be read. In a culture obsessed with the origins of things, she sidesteps them as quickly as possible and focuses on the dramas of the gods. In a culture dominated by the Lunar Empire, she includes subversive elements, but also a purportedly Lunar text. This translator's theory is that this was written to satisfy the curiosity of lowland Esrolia about why their northern neighbors were the way that they were, which neatly also explains the excision of Arachne Solara in favor of the hometown hero.
There was, there was not...
THE CREATION CYCLE
Sourced from the Codex Imarja; last entry by a later hand
- Nothing moved on the face of the Nothing. All was Nothing. Nothing was All.
- Darkness hatched out of the egg. It was not-Nothing. It was hungry and full of insects and secrets which have been forgotten now. It fought to make a space for existing.
- Darkness squatted and gave birth to the Waters, which flooded the space made for existing. The Waters were always changing and always the same.
- The Waters impregnated themselves and gave birth to the Earth, which is a cube. Part of one face broke the surface of the Waters, and this was a place good for living things. Animals and plants arose from their mother and played on her back.
- Fire erupted from the depths of the Earth and formed the Sky Dome, spreading itself greedily across her body. Between them was the Spike, the great mountain in the center of the world. The Sun took his place there, and the stars wheeled about the Dome.
- From Earth and Sky came the Storm. There was no place for him in the world, so he planted his feet on the earth and gripped the sky and wrenched them apart. This made the Middle Airs, which are the domain of winds and clouds and rain.
- The Powers, too, shaped the world. They are the Four Pairs, the Incompatibles. They are Life and Death, Truth and Illusion, Movement and Stasis, Harmony and Disorder. Once they were great and mighty gods; now they are forgotten, lost or dead. Only their power remains, and the memory of their names.
- The Moon is a lie. Its embrace of Chaos, the Worldeater, has invalidated its claims to proper existence.
THE ASSOCIATIONS
Sourced from the Codex Imarja; last entry by a later hand
- The power of Darkness is Strength. The sense of Darkness is Hearing. The weapon of Darkness is the Mace. The beast of Darkness is the Insect. The man of Darkness is the Troll.
- The power of Water is Grace. The sense of Water is Touching. The weapon of Water is the Lash. The beast of Water is the Fish. The man of Water is the Triton.
- The power of Earth is Endurance. The sense of Earth is Tasting. The weapon of Earth is the Axe. The beasts of Earth are the Cow and the Earthshaker. The men of Earth are the Elves and Dwarves, the Growers and Makers.
- The power of Fire is Cunning. The sense of Fire is Seeing. The weapons of Fire are the Spear and the Arrow. The beasts of Fire are the Bird and the Horse, which was once a Bird. The men of Fire are the fabled Men-and-a-Half.
- The power of Storm is Swiftness. The sense of Storm is Scenting. The weapon of Storm is the Sword. The beasts of Storm are the Shadowcat and the Sky Bull and the Sky Ram. The men of Storm were the Ancestors.
- The power of Moon is Delusion. The sense of Moon is Intuition. The weapons of Moon are the Scimitar and the Sickle. The beast of Moon is the Bat. The men of Moon are the Red Immortals.
THE LAWS OF UMATH
Sourced from The King With No Sword
- Violence is always an option.
- No one can make you do anything.
- There is always another way. (This law Ernalda’s husband Orlanth added.)
THE SONS OF UMATH
Sourced from The King With No Sword
Once, there were giants who bore the powers of the world. They were mighty lords of the directions. But they were afraid, because they saw Great Umath tossing the stars about and scattering planets like chaff, and because they knew Umath’s children would grow into men and kings of men, and kings of the gods besides.
These giants took the children to the pathless wood, to the places prepared for them, saying that they knew the secret by which the boys would become men. They gestured at the pits in the earth they had dug. “Here is your bed,” they said, and once the boys jumped in they sealed the pits. They laughed and began making a feast for themselves, for they had killed the sons of Umath (save Kolat, who had slipped between their fingers, having no body and no need for manhood).
At the bottom of his pit, Vadrus found the Well, which closed over his head. Down there, he should have drowned, but he screamed and roared and blew the lid off the pit. Only his lungs and breath saved him, not his heart or his mind. Afterwards he was a king of hungry men and a father of troublemaking gods for this reason, and he died standing with his sword in his hand. Winter and the Wild Huntsman are two of his sons.
At the bottom of his pit, Urox found the Animal Pen. The animals there were dirty and starving, and he should have been devoured, except that he proved he was the strongest; down there, he strangled serpents and skinned longtooth tigers. Then he broke the animals out of their pens, and they recognized him as their king, and on four legs he led them all outside; this is why he is better than Vadrus, because even his heart was moved down there. Afterwards he was both beast and man, and he took the name Storm Bull, and he treated all his enemies without mercy. He killed his brother, in the end, and his nephew too, for they were enemies of the world.
At the bottom of his pit, Humakt found the Fighting Men. “We are here to destroy you,” they said. Humakt explained to them that he would destroy no man who surrendered. When they laughed at him, he showed them the power of his battle trance, so that none of them held weapons, and only half still had their heads. Then the remaining Fighting Men surrendered and said that he was truly the best among them. He made a ladder of their spears and climbed out. Afterwards, his own brother stole from him, and he cut out his own navel; now it has no family and no child, only its vigil upon the wall that separates the living and the dead. Those who swear its oaths one day join it in Sword Hall, which is the watchpost of Hell.
At the bottom of his pit, Orlanth found the Strange Gods. These alien powers surrounded him and fought with him, but he knew how to talk and fight at the same time, and so he taught them his name and learned how to say their names in turn. No one else had ever done this. Then he taught them his boasts and learned their boasts in turn, and together they found a way to escape that accursed place. This is why he is the Greatest God, because he can fight and make peace, and knows when to do so. Afterwards, he made the first tribe out of his kinsmen and their kinsmen, many hands to one purpose, and they all acknowledged him as the best king.
But the Nameless Brother did not escape his pit. Kolat led the brothers to the seal, and Orlanth led them in song and prayer and chanting, hoping that it would give him the strength to succeed. Finally, Vadrus and Storm Bull broke the seal open, and Humakt lowered Orlanth down into the pit, which smelled of sweat and sounded like screaming. The Nameless Brother was feverish and burning-eyed, and cursed his brothers for pulling him out just as it was getting good, but he had no strength to fight them. Afterwards, he claimed he knew secrets of the Earth which made him the wisest and the best of the brothers, but nothing he did ever turned to good, and he proved that bad seeds grow bad crops. His pride and his lust were his undoing, and when Storm Bull found him at the end of all things, he begged his own brother for death. So ended the Father of Chaos, whose name is erased, whose son was the Devil.
But that came long afterwards. What happened then was that Orlanth led the brothers to the feast, and the surprised giants gnashed their teeth and smiled painfully, and offered the victorious new-adults their rightful share of the feast, and Vadrus made sure that not a bite was left in the end.
TRIPTYCH
Sourced from the Journal of Albrit Finehands (Dark Season 1615) – See Illustrations
- A mosaic in honor of one of the Grain Goddesses. She holds a sheaf of wheat with impossibly bright purple heads, constructed from chips of amethyst. Her hair is dark and straight, her neck is hidden by copper rings, her smile is regal and haughty, and she has a cow’s tufted tail. The Queen of Heaven holds a circlet of copper above her head, and a smiling white-haired woman holds the train of her dress. At her feet, silver flowers bloom, each one delicate and eight-blossomed. Her free hand makes a mudra of benediction. On either side, the other Grain Goddesses show her honor and lift their own sheaves to her. The people who made this died long before Time began, and its secrets are lost.
- A charcoal sketch, done as a character study by a thoughtful scribe. The foreground figure is a barefoot woman, her feet and hem caked in bloody mud. Charms and trinkets dangle from her bruised wrists and her tufted tail. Her dark hair hangs limply on her shoulders. Her eyes have been deliberately scuffed out by the artist, creating the illusion of holes dug in yielding earth. She clutches a swaddled child to her chest, fingers cruelly digging into the cloth. One small, chubby, six-fingered hand pokes out of the wrapping, already sporting a fine coat of fur. Behind her are shadowy onlookers, both men and alynxes. Scrawled underneath: “His head, Thunderer. Your brother’s head is my weregild.” The familiarity with Sartarite depictions combined with a shocking willingness to portray the taboo suggests the artist was a Lunar-educated scribe from Dragon Pass.
- A sacrificial tapestry unearthed from the bogs north of Runegate. Earth Witch sits enthroned in the center, wearing her neglected robes and her enveloping headdress of bones and horns; her dark hair is long and unkempt, and her tufted tail coils in her lap. She makes a mudra of malediction with one hand, invoked against the bestial Broos which throng on the margins of the scene, begging for her blessings. Behind her stands a horned silhouette, which the artist has refused to detail; it rests one wrongly-shaped hand on her shoulder. “WE ARE NOT YOUR CHILDREN, BROOMOTHER,” is written beneath her feet. “TURN YOUR DOOMS AWAY FROM US.” Witch Eyes, ritually gouged, peer out all along the border, entwined within the purple briars.
HOW THE SUN DIED
Sourced from Heort’s Way
In the beginning, the Sun ruled the entire world as the Emperor. He had the power of Naming and the power of Being. He would look at something, or someone, and name it, and it would be so. He never rose or set. All things were in their place, and all places recognized his authority. The Good Green Earth was his slave.
Orange-eyed Stormboy entered into the presence of the Emperor, wearing dogskin and followed by his cat-shadow. He accused the Emperor of executing his father for the crime of Defying Imperial Authority. The Emperor conceded this; his headman, the bloody-handed Red Planet, had done this in his name.
Woad-skinned Stormboy challenged the Emperor to three Tests. By the Emperor’s own laws, this was permitted. First came the dancing test, then the magic test, then the music test. Each time, the Emperor’s judges failed to understand Stormboy, or were afraid of him, or laughed at him. With tears in his eyes, Stormboy asked the Good Green Earth to run away with him, and she told him that it was impossible: so go and do another impossible thing, and then I will run away with you.
Black-brooding Stormboy sulking found Trickster, in the shape of a raven, eating the eyes of the first corpse. This was a new thing. Stormboy caught Trickster and threatened to wring its neck if it didn’t squawk, and this is the story it told Stormboy:
in the dark in the deep dark in the stinking places there was a power and i found it me I did it was eerie and i was scared so i stole it and looked around for somebody anybody who could keep it safe and i found your brother the serious one the addled one he is strong stronger than you even i’m just saying and so i toss it to him and say no takebacksies but he was boring and didn’t even try it out can you believe that and don’t you want to know what it is too so i said i said grandfather/grandmother first ancestor hey hey listen let’s play a game get your spear get your shield get your mask and pretend to jump out and attack him it’s a game imagine the look on his face hahaha he’s the weird one right doesn’t know how to play games and so they did and they hid behind that bush there and jump out shaking the spear and challenge him to a fight first one to lose their head three times has to concede but out flash that power in his hand black as my feathers right through grandfather/grandmother’s chest and they fall down and don’t get back up and i am starving and it’s not like they’re going to miss these eyes right because i think they’ve stopped missing anything which is to say they’re missing everything but listen hey stop squeezing just listen hey he made a promise not to let it fall out of his hands so serious so grim right but i am the bestest best at borrowing things so let me go and it’s yours down cat bad cat let me go and it’s yours promise promise promise
Soon Stormboy came to the palace of the Emperor with a new thing, a stolen thing, in his hand. He issued the Emperor a fourth challenge: a challenge of arms (and in those days war was a game, and all the wounds were fixed at the end). The Emperor took out his bow and his arrows and his chariot and rode around the field, shooting Stormboy from three different places as fast as a blink.
“This is a bad omen for someone,” Stormboy said, pulling the golden arrows out of his body, dropping the black arrows to the floor. Then he drew Death-the-Sword and thrust it through the Emperor’s ribs.
Afterwards, the Good Green Earth was crowned Queen of Heaven underneath the stormclouds, and though she took many lovers, her husband was always her favorite. Afterwards, the underworld people came boiling up complaining about the dead wailing Sun who blinded them and boiled them. Afterwards, War cut out his own navel and threw it at Stormboy, and then War went on its own journey to reclaim Death-the-Sword, and since then it has had no family and no breath, only Truth and Death. Afterwards, for a while, things were good, even without the sun, and only after the Devil was born did things go to shit.
HOW THE SUN HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO DIVIDE HIMSELF INTO SIX PARTS TO UPHOLD HIS OWN INVIOLATE JUSTICE
Sourced from Inevitable Victory: A Sacred History of the Dara Happan Tripolis
Yelm was the perfect authority. His older brother, High Dayzatar, refused to lower himself from the Vault of Heaven to assume rightful authority, and this was his failure. His younger brother, Low Lodril, wallowed in the mud like a peasant, burying his heat in gross matter and polluting himself thereby, and this was his failure. Yelm hung between Heaven and Earth, sustaining the perfection of Heaven, and this was his victory.
He acknowledged the necessity for a lesser representative of his perfection, and appointed his son, Murharzarm, to rule as the First Emperor. Murharzarm succeeded in the Ten Tests and gird himself in the Imperial Regalia, as befit his station. He tamed the River Dragon and made her serve the farmers, and he built the Ten Original Cities of Dara Happa. All things were better when Murharzarm ruled the world.
However, foolish rebellion brought the Golden Age to its end. Yelm assigned a new divinity the identity of Right Air, but it declared itself Wrong Air instead. Wrong Air led the Rebel Gods by deceit and trickery into the Palace of Yelm, but found that it could not even touch Yelm with its invisible abomination weapon, which we now know as Death. So the Rebel Gods instead seized noble Murharzarm, who had been blinded by a bat’s wings, and they murdered him before Yelm’s sight. For this reason, Wrong Air was named Rebellus Terminus after this heinous act was carried out.
Murharzarm fell into six pieces. Yelm’s Inviolate Justice demanded that he, too, fall into six pieces: three of light and three of shadow. One piece was the King of Birds and another was a snake. One part remained in the underworld; one part never died at all. This he did of his own volition. It would have been wrong for him to do anything else.
Things were bad after that, as they always are when right law and Justice are brought low by the scheming of the wicked. The world was flooded, and Anaxial had to save the animals and the good people in a city which was a ship. Only Yelmalio shone in the dark, at the dawn and at the dusk, and offered the world his father’s lifegiving light, even if he had no heat. Eventually, the Rebel Gods repented of their folly and descended to the underworld to beg for Yelm’s forgiveness, which he granted in exchange for concessions and acknowledgement of his preeminent glory. Then he restored the Righteous Line of Emperors and made life better for us all.
THE LIGHTBRINGER QUEST
Sourced from Heort’s Way
One day, Chieftain came back to his great hall and found it empty. The hearth fire had gone out. His Three Thanes were gone from their seats. His cat-shadow was not sleeping in his chair. His Beloved was not spinning cloth at her loom. Even Trickster was gone.
Chieftain called for his wife. And the answer came back from the empty hall: she is dead. (This is not true; she was sleeping in the house of her aunt under the earth, wrapped in her black shroud, hands crossed over her chest.) With her have died Marriage and Love, Food and Drink, Wealth and Skill, Peace and Plenty, for these are all her blessings to give. Her daughter, Harvest Girl, has Death-the-Axe and is breaking heads with it, and she is fighting No Navel for it, who is also fighting Cold Lightboy, who is also fighting the Dark Which Burns, and they are all battling up and down the four sides of the world. Would you yet know more?
Chieftain called for his warriors. And the answer came back from the empty hall: they are fighting your nephew, King-of-Nothing, whose father is the Outlaw Wind and whose mother is the Earth Witch and whose midwife is Killing-Fever. His armies are the No Earth People, the Scorpion People, the Dog People, the Boneless People, the Cannibal People, the World Termites, the Corpse Eaters, the Blood Drinkers, and the Bat-with-its-Skin. He tore down the center post of the world and now all the waters are rushing down to fill the hole. One Like A Rainbow is under siege in their fortress of clouds, Man Like A Sun is leading the militia from danger to danger, and Man Like A Shadow is guarding the Last Families. They are not fighting to win; they are fighting to see how long they can lose. Would you yet know more?
Chieftain called for his friends. And the answer came back from the empty hall: they are each alone. Heals-Everyone has gone to save the world. Knows-the-Way has gone to find the last road. Writes-Everything has gone to find his dead wife. And Trickster is murdering a holy man at the edge of the world. Alone, they will all die, and then so will you, and then so will everything and everyone, and All will be Nothing again, as it was at the beginning. Would you yet know more?
Chieftain thought about this in his empty hall, shivering in the cold. Then he put on his boots and his mail shirt, his sword-belt and his helmet, his cloak and his torc. He went out from his hall and found his friends, and the other two, and together the seven passed the doors of the dead, and together they descended to find the Emperor.
Down there, each of them failed, but each of them also saved the quest, even Trickster. Heals-Everyone could not heal herself, Knows-the-Way got lost, Writes-Everything discovered something that ate all his thoughts, Chieftain froze and burned to death, and Trickster broke hospitality through secret murder. But Heals-Everyone taught the Last Judge compassion, Knows-the-Way taught the dead how to accept offerings, Writes-Everything solved the impossible riddle, Chieftain overcame death and made friends with his enemy, and Trickster got them across the Knife River. (It also got them out of the Night Castle’s dungeons, but it was its fault they were in there anyway.)
Down there, all the living and the dead made an agreement and wove the net named Time together. Down there, they all defeated King-of-Nothing, who fell screaming into the net with Breaker-of-Spines roaring at his heels. Then the Emperor rose into Dawn, and Time was his cloak, and Chieftain awoke his Queen with a kiss.
THE SEVEN TRIALS
Sourced from the Codex Imarja
- That he saw the Gods assembled in the Last House. His victory was in weeping.
- That he faced the Dead Sun. His victory was in offering to prove himself once more.
- That he fought the Keepers of the Gate. His victory was in his panoply of companions.
- That he made the Promise of the Future. His victory was in understanding that all pasts would still be true.
- That he was submerged in the Baths of Nelat. His victory was in the earnest prayers of all who still lived.
- That he saw the Fall of the Devil. His victory was in gathering the Gods and the Net.
- That he held the Net and the howling Devil within. His victory was in offering the Net to the Infinite Goddess IMARJA, Mother of Time, Weaver of Glorantha.
STORM BULL FIGHTS THE DEVIL
Sourced from Ten Years of Prax
Once there was a great Earth King. His house was just over there! All around you, everything was good and green. I know it is hard to imagine! But it is true. Everything in the world grew here, until the Devil and the Evil Tribe rode here on their horses and the king’s walls could not protect him. Walls are a trap. The Devil was a hole in the world, and he destroyed the king and made all the good and growing things run away to the other side, or else deep beneath the earth. That is why our land is like this now, and only when you walk with the spirits can you see the Garden as it once was.
Great Khan Storm Bull came raging when he heard that the Devil was here, and all his sandstorms came before him. For he knew the secret! Beneath the earth, his wife the Good Beast Mother is still hiding from Death. He could not let the Devil find her, or Death would find her, and then all life would be lost!
He fought the Devil there with great hate and fury, and three times the Devil knocked him down, and he tore off his uncle’s ear with his awful teeth. But Storm Bull refused to die. He asked the earth for strength, and the earth gave all it could so that he would still stand to fight. The place where he stood there is still dead; you have seen it. There is no more magic there, no life; it all was given to Storm Bull, who defended us all.
Storm Bull bellowed defiance, and called on the whole world to fight alongside him. The Devil made to tear Storm Bull apart, but just then--
Just then--
The Square Mountain fell out of the sky and crushed the Devil! This was fitting, for it was a splinter of the pole that had held up the sky, which the Devil and his Evil Tribe had shattered. Waha Bullson later diverted a river to wash the filth of the Devil away, but the waters grew ashamed, and that is why the Devil’s Marsh lies there beneath the foot of the Square Mountain to this day.
Storm Bull was in his death rage. He died then, all so that he could chase the Devil into the land of the dead and continue fighting. He never stopped. That is his gift to us: the strength to never stop fighting Chaos. A good thing, too; otherwise, the gods never would have been able to overcome the Devil, who was a hole in the world, who was everything that is wrong and wicked, who was his father’s child and his mother’s curse. Everything that is still evil today is his child, and we must show it that we have learned Storm Bull’s lesson until we, too, fall into the land of the dead and meet with Death.
THE WOMEN’S SECRET
Sourced from Rites of Clearwine
In the darkness which did not end, the Speaker for Night came to Storm Hall, with his cloak wrapped around his shoulders and his dark glasses rimmed with frost. Mahome could barely warm him up, because her hearth fire was going out. Kesta could not offer him the food that an honored guest deserved, because there was none left, and Istena could not fill his cup with good beer, because the barrels had all burst in the cold. The lamps had all gone out, and Ernalda was wrapped in a thick quilt of patchwork by the hearth, and she did not lift her head.
“My lady,” Night’s Son said, stooping low to kiss the back of her cold hand, “I see that you are troubled. Please, share your burdens with me. After all, you know that I know best how to listen.”
“Flamal Plantfather is dead,” Earthmother said, and her eyes did not lift from the fire, though her fingers curled around his. “All his seeds are withering without him, and nothing grows, except for Thed’s briars and weeds. I miss him. I miss her. I thought my husband would be better for the world than that selfish jackdaw, but now the world is dying. And Elmal says that an army marches to Storm Hall, led by Dead Nontraya. We are not strong enough. They will tear all of this down, and he will kill my handmaidens, and then he will take me down to Hell, and then he will force me to marry him there. I don’t see another way. I can’t see another way.”
“I cannot see it either,” the Speaker for Night said, and he sat beside the dying hearth. “Even if your husband were home, the army of the dead cannot die, not without Humakt of the Battle Trance here to defend you. But he has lost Death, and wanders the world in its footsteps. I saw him by Flamal’s grave this very night, and he is half dead himself. So that is that. You cannot kill dead men, Ernalda. So don’t even try. Defeat them without battle.”
They sat together, for a time, and he offered her his company. Then, in the dead hours of the night, Ernalda saw a snake curling at the side of the fire for warmth, trying to bury itself in the ash. She cried, then, and laughed, too, and shook Night’s Son awake, and demanded that he take the last treasures of her safebox in exchange for the bales of black cloth in his trading pack. Then she gathered her handmaidens together and told them that to live, she had to die. They spent all day and all night in the loomhouse together, save for when they did secret work in the brewhouse.
So when Dead Nontraya began the march on the last mile before Storm Hall, he was greeted with wailing. Soon he found the Handmaidens bearing a bier down to the Dead Field, their hair loose, their dresses torn, their cheeks wet with painful tears. He shoved Nandan and Mahome aside and tore off the queen’s black shroud. Beneath, she lay without breath and without motion. Dead Nontraya screamed in her face, and she made no reaction. He beat her breast and wailed, and she did not speak or breathe. Finally, he mounted on his wolf once more, and he went off into the awful marshes to lurk in the mud and bite at his fingers and lure travelers to death. So much for him.
The Handmaidens came to Dead Field, where they met with Ty Kora Tek, the aunt of the queen, in her black gown and her white bones. Ty Kora Tek bent over the face of her niece and touched one cold cheek with her cold fingers. “Ah,” she said. “She is not dead; she is sleeping. I cannot wake her, and neither can you. But I will keep her safe.”
The Keeper of the Dead brought her niece into the darkness that is beneath the earth, into the room that is dry and still, and sat vigil over her. She remained asleep until her husband returned from death himself, carrying breath in his lungs, and shared it with her.
YOUR DEATH
Sourced from Rites of Clearwine
When you die, perhaps you will not think that you are dead. But your body will be prepared, and then the people who are still living will say the words of Daka Fal over you, and these words are:
Go! Go! Don't be Slow,
To the place that Life don't know.
Stay Away! Stay Away!
Night is there, this is Day.
Flee! Flee! Flee from me.
Your kind here never can be.
I am free. Not thee.
Go, you can't touch me.
Then you will understand that you are dead. Maybe you will weep. Maybe you will curse the gods. But only the greatest heroes can find their way back now, because you will realize that you are lost now, daughter.
But you do not need to be afraid. Issaries will find you. Perhaps he will be in his cart, with his wide-brimmed hat, or else walking with his staff in his hand; perhaps he will be holding a lantern, or else a torch. He will offer to guide you, and you must accept, because otherwise you will be lost between the world of the living, which has no more room for you, and the world of the dead, which is waiting for you.
Issaries will take you past Sword Hall, where there is great clashing of weapons, and where there is a wall which faces the underworld. Here you will see Humakt on the walls, and all its swords, and all the ones who bear them. It will let you pass with a nod and a curt word, because it does not protect the dead from the living, and because Issaries is with you. Some great heroes may find their way back in the between-time, and may convince the warden of Hell that they have business with the living yet, but after that period of grace none of the dead are permitted to pass, and those that do are the prey of the Humakti in the world.
Issaries will guide you past every danger, which he remembers, because he has walked all the roads of the dead before. And besides, all roads come to Daka Fal, the first one dead, whose duty is to be your judge. There are many doors in the House of Daka Fal, and Ty Kora Tek is the one who keeps the houses behind the doors. But it is Daka Fal who you must be judged by, and it is not kind. Only the intercession of the gods can save you, daughter. You shall see Ernalda there, Great Mother, and if you have served her faithfully and well, she will tell the Mirror of Man that you are spoken for, and Daka Fal will open one of the good doors. But if she turns her face away from you, all the gods shall do the same; and if that happens, Daka Fal shall open one of the bad doors.
On the other side are the Houses of the Dead, which are kept by Ty Kora Tek. Many are silent and dark, and only the sacrifices that your descendants make in your name will reach you there. When the time comes, you shall move on from that place and come around again, but you shall also stay in that place; you do not understand this yet, and neither do you need to. But some are full of life and light and food, and these are the Houses of the Goddess; and some are full of anguish and torment, and these are the Houses of the Forsaken.
AXE MAIDEN IS BORN
Sourced from Heort’s Way
In the black days and the dying of the world, an army came to the Lintel. One side of the army was made of the Broos, who are born from the wombs of animals and eat the flesh of men. The other side of the army was made of the hopping Talokans, who were dead but did not rest, whose legs were backwards and whose whips were made from scorpions. They came to the Lintel to find the body of the Dreaming Queen, thinking that she was dead.
The Broos were there because they wanted to cut her stomach open and climb through it, making a square door of her womb. Then they would be able to pretend they were humans, they thought. The Talokans were there to open her veins and drink deep of her blood and flesh. Then they would be able to pretend they were alive, they thought. They came without offering any blood to the Earth Tribe, and so they came without any blessings. They thought that the Empty Grandmother was an old woman, huddling alone among the shrouds and the urns.
Only, they found that Death was waiting at the Lintel’s door. It was shaped like an axe with two heads, and its haft was two serpents, and it was half-buried in the ground; it was still slick with the sap-blood of First Sower. They did not understand what this meant, so the boldest of the Broos approached in order to take it and be like the Lords of Death.
Axe Maiden burst from the Earth-her-mother screaming. There were snakes in her hair and there was dirt under her nails. She took Death and buried it inside the Broo, then took his horns in two of her hands and split him like wood. Then she showed the army her white war stare, and her red red tongue, and that she knew the Four Step Dance.
The Broos ran away, but the Talokans locked their shields together and hopped forward. This is why there are no more Talokans in the world.
When she was done dancing, she threw her axe to the ground and made the mountains tremble and sway. Then she screamed again, and it was the scream that had been locked safely inside her sleeping mother her whole life. Then she licked herself clean, set her bare feet on the Earth, placed her hands on Death, and waited. Only two people ever survived approaching her while she waited at the Lintel with her necklace of hands and her belt of scalps. (Trickster said it was the third, even though it lost its stick, but it isn’t even in this story.)
The first was War, who came looking for Death. “She is my burden,” it said, and held out its hand. Axe Maiden leaped out and brought Death down on its head, but it did not flinch away, and neither did it die in one blow. This had never happened before, and so they sat together and came to an agreement. War walked away with its black sword, and Axe Maiden kept her copper labrys, and both were pleased to call the other a worthy warrior. This is the origin of the One Blow Challenge that the Gors are permitted to demand of any Humakti.
The second was the Chieftain Returning, and only because he held her newborn sister Flower Crown in his arms. Flower Crown jumped out of his grasp and wrapped her innocent arms around bloody-handed Axe Maiden, and pleaded that she let their stepfather pass. This she allowed not for his sake but for hers, and she promised there at the Lintel that she would never let harm come to her beloved sister. This is why no Gor will let harm to a child go unavenged.
Now Axe Maiden stays by the door of the temple with her labrys in the crook of her arm, her tongue lolling and her feet bare, her eyes white and her body painted in black and white ash. She is frightening, but lucky for children, and she is the one who taught us all how to harvest the crops and preserve food for the winter. But that is a different story.
THE HILL OF GOLD
Sourced from The Book of the Sun Dome
Yelmalio took his watch on the top of the Hill of Gold, tending to the beacon, for in the greatest darkness was the greatest need for light. His shield was slung over one shoulder and his spear was orange and sparking in his hand. He kept vigil there, as was his duty, watching for those innocents who had survived the onslaught of Night.
Yelmalio soon saw a naked barbarian daubed in warpaint, his eyes sharp with desire, clambering up the slope on his belly. "That's a fine spear you have there," he said, unable to disguise his greed. "Won't you share it with me? The dangers in the night threaten us both, after all. Be generous, like a great man, be open-handed with your friends!"
Yelmalio swung his shield before him and leveled his wonderful spear, for he recognized the blustering storm god who had stolen away the Fair Mother. "A soldier does not surrender arms," he said. So they fought there on the Hill of Gold, but the cunning barbarian tripped Yelmalio up and ran away with the spear as fast as he could, whooping and howling. Ever since, the mightiest spear has been in the hands of the barbarian tribe, and it only emerges when the sky is black with clouds.
Yelmalio refused to use this as an excuse to despair. He readied his spear of cedarwood and continued to keep vigil there, as was his duty. Too late he saw a shadow coming towards the light, rather than away from it; it reared up and blotted out the stars. "PUT IT OUT," it screamed, raking at him with its claws. "PUT IT OUT PUT IT OUT PUT IT OUT. IT BURNS AND BLINDS, IT HURTS OUR EYES."
Yelmalio gritted his teeth. "A soldier does not hide his light," he said. He fought bravely, refusing to yield an inch, but the shadow attacked him from all sides with wicked fangs and pummeling blows, and in the end the brave soldier collapsed to the bloody grass, which turned golden underneath him. Behind him, the shadow tried to eat the fire, but it burned on in its stomach, and it fled the hill wailing. Ever since, trolls have fought like they have fire in their stomachs, and their berserk war-god is named Burning Darkness, or ZO-RAK ZO-RAN in their brutish tongue.
Yelmalio forced himself up to his knees, seeing with horror that the beacon had gone out. He fumbled with his flint and tinder, but the cold wind blew the sparks away. Snow swirled down from the black sky, covering his shoulders and the hillside, and down with it came a beautiful maiden in a white cloak. "So the fire is finally out," she said, draping the cloak over his shoulders; with it came the warmth of dead winter beyond the cold. "Come with me, Yelmalio, and you will no longer have any need for fires. You will be the lord of the light on the mountain peaks, my beloved consort, and you will not need to suffer any more."
Yelmalio nearly broke, for when she touched his cheek, all of his pain grew numb and he could feel it no more. But he pushed her hand aside and bent low over the fire, striking the flint as hard as he could. "A soldier does not abandon his duty," he said. A blizzard roared a woman's vengeance all around, but Yelmalio shielded the beacon from the ice and snow with his cloak, and soon a weak fire burned again, and there was light on the Hill of Gold once more. Ever since, women have tried to distract men from their duty with wicked promises, and have raged when they are denied their wanton pleasures.
A noble man was fleeing through the darkness, him and his household, harried this way and that by demons and wraiths. He surely would have perished, but that he saw the flickering of the beacon, and he led his household to safety upon the Hill of Gold. There he found Yelmalio, with his broken spear against his shoulder, his rime-rimmed shield resting against his side, feeding the last strips of his red cloak to the fire. The noble man offered Yelmalio wealth, honors and a bride, but Yelmalio shook his weary head and smiled. "A soldier is satisfied with his duty," he said.
ELMAL AND VINGA
Sourced from The King With No Sword
When Orlanth went West, he left Elmal and Vinga to guard the Last Stead. Some did not understand this, arguing that Elmal was from the Sun Tribe and that Vinga was not a man born, and that so they could not be trusted to protect the last of Vingkot’s people. So these doubting people went out into the wilderness, trusting in their own strength, and died.
Elmal stood by the gate of the Last Stead, and his wife Redaylda the Horse Woman stood with him. Over and over again the things of Chaos came to menace the stead, and over and over again Elmal was torn apart; only, Redaylda was always there to put his pieces back together, even if his golden blood lost its heat in the mending. She would take the form of a horse to bear him back to the hearth, and Vinga would guard her with vis arm like lightning.
When Chaos tried to tempt him away from his duty, he refused each seduction: that of lust, that of ambition, and that of authority. For the first time Chaos came in the form of a Sun Tribe woman, and the second time in the form of Orlanth’s crown, and the last time in the form of the Emperor himself. Nothing swayed Elmal from his task. “An honest man does not abandon his duty,” he said every morning, bearing Orlanth’s shield (for he had freely traded his spear and shield with his king).
While Elmal guarded the gate, Vinga stood within. When Valind Vadrusson came to blow out Mahome’s hearth and steal Mahome away to his palace of ice, Vinga hid Mahome in vis red cloak and fended vis cousin off with vis shining javelins, chasing him away while running on the tops of trees. Ve visited each house every day, and so no one died forgotten and unmourned, and some lived who might have died. Ve stood guard over Heort’s birth, and taught the starving Cattle Orphans how to fight, and tricked the Eat Everything Army with an army of straw men riding the backs of Voriof’s herd. And as Heler is to Orlanth and Ernalda, it is said that Vinga was to Elmal and Redaylda.
In the end, the awful beasts of Chaos surrounded the Last Stead in numbers without count, howling for Elmal’s head. Elmal and Vinga came to agreement then. Elmal mounted up on Redaylda, and every Vingkotling not afraid to die followed him into the dark, and Chaos followed howling after them. But the young and the old hid underneath Vinga’s red cloak with Mahome and the Handmaidens, and ve fled the empty stead while all eyes were on Elmal’s brilliance.
At the last there was Elmal, alone, upon the slopes of Kero Fin. His militia was either dead or scattered, and he bled his cold blood on the snow. Still, defiant, he shone, and knew joy without cause, and faith without hope, and anyone who saw him illuminating the Sun Dome from afar marveled at how he refused to hide his light. There he was waiting loyally when his king returned, bringing the true sun in his wake.
HOW MANKIND WAS SAVED
Sourced from Tales of the Holy Country
There once was a maiden in the Holy Country named Norinel who rejected every suitor who came to her doorstep, because none of them were worthy of her. But it was her misfortune that she lived at the end of the world, when monsters roamed freely and clouds choked the sky. The crops were dead and the larders were running dry, illness and violence stalked the world hand in hand, and she was ready to admit that she would die without knowing any of the pleasures of the marriage bed.
Then came as her suitor a most unusual man. He wore a hooded cloak of feathers and armor, and the armor was shaped in the form of a handsome man, but she could not see beneath the armor, for he was the Man You Cannot See. He went abroad under a piece of the night sky, held up over his head by four of his cousins, and his voice was as soft as velvet.
“Why should I marry you?” she asked, as was proper.
“Because I keep my word,” he whispered. “And because I am a friend of the dark and the cold and the night. You do not love these things, but the sun is dead, and we are not. We are alive.”
She assented to marry him, not for love but for duty. They made promises, then, and she discovered later that he abided by them to the letter, and so she chose not to make him stumble. She could have demanded to see his face, but he reminded her that they made a promise, and she chose to treasure his heart instead. He could have been cruel to her, but instead he showed her that the night can be as gentle as velvet. So he fought bravely for her and her people, bringing her back victory after terrible victory, until they were forced to admit that another victory would destroy them all.
“In my father’s house there are many rooms,” he said to her. “Let us take a third of what we own and offer it to the gods, and then take a third of what we own and leave it as a trap, and then take a third of what we own for the journey. This is not a victory, but it is survival. We are alive.” She agreed, and convinced everyone to follow her husband. They gathered all those who still remained alive and proceeded to the House of Black Glass, on the Shadow Plateau, where his family waited.
There, in the darkness, they were safe from the end of the world. There, in the darkness, he gained a new name from the two peoples who followed him: Lord Victory Nightbrother. And there, in the darkness, he taught his wife’s people how to speak to the dark and how to hear what it has to say. Because of him, there was long peace between the men of the day and the men of the night in that land.
When the sun rose again, Lord Victory Nightbrother led the march to the First City. There, he slew everything that was of Chaos and rebuilt the walls, consecrating them in Norinel’s name. He was the one who found the other survivors: the elves shivering in the woods, the dwarves huddled beneath the mountains, the people of Heort who knew the Star Heart Secret, the dragonewts who walked the invisible roads, and even the Gold Wheel Dancers. He taught them that they were still alive, and they named him the first among equals. For a hundred years, the world knew peace.
HEORT FINDS THE SECRET
Sourced from The King With No Sword
In Heort’s day, everyone lived in the hill forts, and if the hearth fire went out, everyone would die. Plants and children struggled to grow, and there was never enough to eat. Barely anyone remembered to pray.
Heort was one of the Deer Folk. He carried messages between the forts, and saw the things that lay outside them, things which made his head reel and his heart ache. This was the end of the world.
Despair filled his heart, and he walked until he could walk no more. At the end of his strength, he found Vingkot’s Second Son, whose grandfather was Orlanth, whose shoulders scraped against the sky. The Second Son taught Heort the things which are not permitted to be spoken freely: the secret of the Star Heart, and the battle which is named I Fought, We Won. Heort took his own place in this battle and fought alone against oblivion, only to find that everyone else had fought alone beside him.
Heort then walked to the very end of the world, where there is nothing else, and he fought the Devil there, and he won. He came back bearing the secret of the Star Heart, which he taught to the men. He came back bringing news that the gods had not abandoned man, and that they were returning. He came back with a crown on his head and he led the children of Orlanth to victory over Chaos with the power that was inside their hearts.
If Heort had not come back, then Orlanth would have found all his children dead when he returned in glory. I give you this first of his secrets: this is the power of one man and all men. To learn the rest, you will have to become a man by walking Heort’s road.
THE RED GODDESS
Sourced from HER NAME IS LIBERATION!
This happened inside of Time, which is why it is a miracle.
There was a queen of the Bird Peoples who selflessly sought liberation. To the east of her kingdom roamed the Sun Horse People, who know the secret rites of fire. To the west loomed the cataphracts and magi who worship an invisible god and who rule with an iron fist. She wept whenever she gazed upon her kingdom, for she saw War’s shadow, and she could hear the coming fires.
Her advisors were a sage whose writings had all been burned, a warlord in exile, and a witch who spoke with spirits. They were joined by one about whom nothing is known. Out of such humble origins came the heroes of the Wanes to come!
The conspirators took an outlaw and a poor girl into a dark room. They named the outlaw the Bridge and the Key, anointed him in oils, and aided him to the other side. They named the poor girl the Virgin, and perfumed her head, and aided her to the other side. Out of a bowl filled red sprang forth a new goddess.
Her message of liberation was spread by the Faithful, who preached that Love could overcome any hardship. But when the Goddess saw that to the east were arrayed the Sun Horse People, and to the west were gathered the cataphracts and the magi of the invisible god, she frowned and admitted she did not yet know how Love would overcome them. A second journey outside Time was needed. She departed on her holy quest, and three years passed as the Faithful waited with unceasing prayers, and the men of the west finally brought War’s shadow to that kingdom.1.1: I am the Red Goddess, I am Sedenya. 1.2: Before Time I died and was split into seven pieces, forgotten by the gods and by men. 1.3: I am the goddess of the Sixth Part, the one which you have forgotten, because it was broken before Time. 1.4: I am the one who has achieved enlightenment for the salvation of all living beings. 1.5: For outside Time I fought against the Devil and overcame him with the secrets I learned from the Riddle-man, the one born under a still sun. 1.6: I am armed with Freedom, Truth, Life and Love. 1.7: Fear not, for we are all one.
The warlord, who is Ram-and-Warrior, followed her trail at the last, and what he found there is sealed by the Censors of the Black Moon, who protect us from the things we must not know. But when the Red Goddess returned to Time, she rode the terrible demon named the Crimson Bat, and Ram-and-Warrior followed her, and so did the Bridge and the Key, and so did the Virgin. When she returned to that place, the sage sat up and pulled the arrows out of his chest, and the queen’s blood flowed back into her veins.
2.1: Down there, where white is black and black is white, I won. 2.2: Down there, where Death is Life and Slavery is Freedom, where Lies are Truth and Hate is Love, I won. 2.3: For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. 2.4: I have seen where the dragons go, where All is Nothing and Nothing is All. 2.5: I bring Life, I bring Death. 2.6: I will show you all the power cupped in my left hand and my right. 2.7: I do this for you, my children, because I love you now just as much as I now hate them.
At the end of her ministry to the Faithful, Sedenya danced the Moon into the sky, which is her throne in the Middle Airs. She won this by right of battle against the gods who sulk outside of Time, chief among them the sullen, stubborn storm-god of the barbarians, who is named Rebellus Terminus, or worlanth in their tongue. There she rules alongside her Seven Mothers, and her voice in the world below is her son, the Red Emperor, who lives and dies and lives again. Hail Moonson! Hail Her Lunar Empire! Hail the Seven Mothers! Hail the Liberation of Time!
Sourced from Scenes From Boldhome
Four evil empires have arisen, and three times have they fallen.
The first evil empire was the Sun Tyranny. Yelm ruled an unchanging world where each day was just like the last and the next. The Sons of Umath put a stop to that. Change and death go hand in hand, dreadful but necessary.
The second evil empire was the Liar’s Empire. Gbaji the Liar was born when the sun stopped in the sky. He called himself Nysalor, and said that he brought light; he spoke in riddles that could make you think good was bad and bad was good. Arkat the Savior had to make three great betrayals in order to defeat him: he betrayed the wizards of the west, he betrayed the ways of the good gods and goddesses, and he betrayed our people by becoming a troll. Sometimes freedom means doing terrible things.
The third evil empire was the Dragon Worship Empire. They split their tongues and brains to speak to dragons. They wanted to awaken the dragon soul of the world. Then the dragons ate them all, because only idiots trust dragons. Our ancestors survived because they knew not to worship evil, and left for other lands, and only returned once we knew the right way to return.
The fourth evil empire is the Red Moon Empire. They worship the bloody wound in the sky, torn from the earth’s flesh. They think in circles and have fallen for the old riddles. They openly embrace Chaos, the Worldeater. They seem strong, invincible, kind to their friends, cruel to their enemies. They think they will last forever. Do you understand?
Sourced from The King With No Sword; last entry by a later hand
- SARTAR, King With No Sword. He knew the Change Secret, and he was friends with everyone, even the Elder Races and the wolfmen. He built the walls of Boldhome in a single night, and he built the Prince’s Roads, and he founded the tribal confederations and their cities. He traveled his kingdom in disguise, helping the virtuous and the innocent. He married the Feathered Horse Queen and was named King of Dragon Pass. He did not die, but his body was devoured by the sacred flames while his spirit joined the immortal gods.
- SARONIL, Prince Goodstone. He raised towers across his father’s kingdom. He warred in Tarsh against the Lunars, saving Tarsh for a time. While young, he was a friend of the dwarves, but they quarreled after a time, which was his doom.
- JAROLAR, Prince Longstride. He raised walls across his grandfather’s kingdom. He warred in Tarsh against the Lunars, but lived to see it fall under their shadow, and their new one-armed king raided the good lands of Sartar. He fell at Dwarf Ford defending the Free City of Alda-Chur against New Tarsh.
- JAROSAR, Prince Hothead. He laid roads across his great-grandfather’s kingdom, but died young, because spirits came down from the Moon to drive him mad.
- TARKALOR, King Trollkiller. He was Saronil’s son. He ended the bloody feud between the Yelmalions and the Elmali through the founding of the Sun Dome Temple. He laid roads across his grandfather’s kingdom and encouraged trade. He married the Feathered Horse Queen and was named King of Dragon Pass, but they died together in the shadow of Grizzly Peak, fighting against the Lunars to save Old Tarsh.
- TERASARIN, Prince of the Alda-Churi. He raised the city of Alone to be a shelter to the refugees of Old Tarsh. He saved Alda-Chur by force of arms, and he built the new walls and towers of Alda-Chur, after which the grateful populace begged to join Sartar’s kingdom. An Earthshaker devoured him, but only because a stray moonbeam blinded him while he climbed away from the fearsome beast.
- SALINARG, Prince of the Household of Death. He was Sartar’s great-grandson by young Eonistaran. In his doomed days, the Red Emperor came with a great host, and the vile Crimson Bat was his herald. The Household of Death stood by Salinarg’s side to defend Boldhome, but they all died, and so did Salinarg and all his family, but so did the Red Emperor and (for a time) the terrible Bat.
- KALLYR, Prince Starbrow. Ve is Sartar’s great-great-great-grandson, by the line of Jarolar. Ve still fights in these dark days, harried from place to place. Ve plucked a star from the sky, which rests upon vis brow, and it is said the star shows him what was, and what is, and what may yet be. How else could ve evade the Lunar assassins which harry vim? Ve still fights alongside King Broyan of Whitewall, the Last Free Heortling King! Hail the Starbrow! Hail Sartar! Hail Orlanth!
Sourced from The King With No Sword
One day, Great King Orlanth called his tribe together. He held the Lawstaff in his lap, so everyone knew that he was going to make new laws. Lhankor Mhy was there, and he had his book and his pen, so everyone knew that what Orlanth was going to say would be remembered as tradition. Issaries was there, and he set up the Peace Poles, so everyone knew that no fighting would be allowed, not even if Vadrus started it.
“Right,” the Great King said. “It’s obvious that nobody knows what they’re doing around here. Nothing’s getting done. The crops are dying, our clothes all have holes in them, the Darkness Tribe keeps stealing our cows, and whenever I ask for someone to do something, they tell me that it’s not their job. So that all ends right now, understand?
“Half of you, the ones with beards and sticks, you’re Men now. Just do the things that I do: defend our land, protect our cows, plow the fields, plow your wives, and generally just be brave and fearless. You can even call yourselves Orlanthi just so you remember what you’re supposed to be doing.
“The other half, the ones without beards and sticks, you’re Women now. Just do the things my wife does: cook our meals, make and mend our clothes, look after the valuable stuff that isn’t cow-based, raise our kids, and just generally be lovely.”
Next to him, Great Queen Ernalda rolled her eyes and mouthed: “Do the thinking for them, too.” Most of the Men squinted and tried to figure out what she’d said.
“All right,” the Great King continued, “you’re the Ernaldans. That settles it. Lads, we’re going to go out and get a drink. Ladies, Ernalda’s going to lead you off to the weaving house where you can get started on those clothes. Any questions?”
But before anyone could speak, Vinga Orlanthsson jumped up on a table, armed to the teeth, vis red hair unbound. “Fuck this,” ve declared. “Any man who wants to try to pack me off to the loomhouse is going to be unmanned. Any takers?”
Seeing that violence was about to break out, and seeing that other women were starting to pick up weapons and cutting their hair, and seeing that the Thunder Brothers were backing up Vinga (who was, after all, their leader), the Great King had an idea. “Wait, right, no one can make you do anything,” he conceded. “That was one of my first laws. A really good one, too. Fair enough. Any of you ladies who wants to do things with me and the Thunder Brothers, you can follow Vinga here and be the vingani. Ve knows the secrets of thunder and lightning, and knows how to fight just as well as any man.”
And since then, Red-Haired Vinga has been the goddess of women who must take up the sword, and new-men who forswear the needle and apron forever, and even women who need help with cattle while their husbands are away. Ve also knows the Good Spear Trick which makes women blush.
“Orlanth,” the Great Queen said, placing one gentle hand on her husband’s wrist, “what about Nandan? Ne’s as gentle as Chalana Arroy, ne knows how to perform the ten household skills perfectly, and ne’s the only one who can get little Vingkot to sleep. I am not losing ner to the cow pastures and the battlefield.”
The Great King looked over to his wife’s handmaidens, who were clustering protectively around Nandan with ner embroidered apron and braided beard, and he blinked. “Well, I suppose there is always another way. So Nandan can stay in the loomhouse and keep your secrets, but I don’t know that many men will want to become nandans.”
But ever since then, Nandan Ernaldadottir has been the god of men who must learn the skills of women (and there’s always more need for that than the Great King knew), and new-women who swear to keep the secrets of the Earth, and even men who need to put their baby to bed. Ne also knows the Womb Secret which lets ner bear children.
“What about me?” Heler draped themselves and their rainbow cloak over the armrest of the Great King’s throne, putting their feet in his wife’s lap. “I can’t bear to stay one thing or the other for long, you know,” they said, resting their head on their lover’s shoulder and shooting a glance at their mutual lover. “And there’s people in the tribe who are queerer than you know. Don’t they deserve a guide, too?”
Orlanth can never say no to Heler for long. “Fine,” he said. “There’s Men and Women, and then there’s people who Become Men and people who Become Women, and also there’s people like Heler who are both, or who are sometimes one and sometimes the other, and they’ll be the Helerings. Does that cover everyone? Good, everyone figure out who you’re going off with, and we’ll get this all sorted.”
But when the tribe was split up into their new roles, there were still people who weren’t in any of the roles at all, neither Man nor Woman, like the shaman or the trickster, and his spirit brother Kolat moved through and between them. And when he saw this, the Great King laughed and nearly started crying and eventually said again that there is always another way, and that they would be the Kolatings, the no-role people. And since then, everyone has been able to live in the way that is best for them, and everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing, and the tribe has flourished.
This is incredibly well done.
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