Sir_Godspeed

This just reminds me how stupidly huge RW sauropods are, even in a fantasy setting were there are other exaggerated imaginary critters around.

So we just had a semi-lengthy discussion over a fan interpretation of a fan article without even questioning it. Well, I certainly have egg on my face.

I'm not sure I'm aware with the exact text, all I know is the general outline of the myth as told to me by others. I'm just projecting YGWV, I think.

I hope this suggestion isn't in poor taste, but given that the Orlanthi are a bunch with moral values that aren't always palatable to us (ie. slavery, public murder, occasional infanticide), it is possible that they separate what one might call "assault rape" from other forms of what is commonly now considered sexual assult in real life, ie. engaging in sexual activities with someone who is not conscious, or under the influence of something that makes them unable to consent. The term "seduction" has always had a hazy semantic field, ranging from simply being very charming, to deceiving someone or giving someone false promises and the like. Zeus changing shapes to women's husbands to have sex with them comes to mind. Again, in the courts of a lot of countries in the real world, these things would absolutely be considered sexual assault or rape (and I'd certainly would), but it might be that the Orlanthi don't view it like that. Taking the advantage of someone who is drunk might be conceived differently. Presumably still badly, but maybe not Chaotically. I don't know. There's also the possibility that this thing is contextually sensitive. Taking advantage of an unconscious or drunk person normally? Horrible to Orlanthi. Doing the same to a cosmic force that almost just murdered the entire cosmos? They'll just let that slide. --------- I suppose I'd like to imagine that BOTH Eurmal and Babeester got wasted, and then sorta just hooked up because they were suddenly in the mood (with probably different reactions afterwards), but I realize this is probably not quite what the texts intends.

The main elemental sequence as envisioned by Malkioni thought, and in some theistic theogonies, is one of gradual "condensation" and/or "concretization" (for lack of better terms). Amassing from Chaos/Void, we have Darkness, which further "condences" to the material Sea, which "condences" to the solid Earth. This brings up the awkward position of Fire/Sky in the process, however. One might posit that Sky springs from Earth in this lineage, which is valid, but there is another possibility. Fire does not actually follow the main sequence, but rather is a by-product of the overall condensation process. When the matter-less and penetrative qualities of Darkness get excluded from Sea and Earth more and more, these somehow form their own element, an expansive one known as Fire or Sky. While Sky might seem as the opposite of Darkness, by the logic of this theory, it is rather more of a refinement of certain qualities already present in Darkness, but filtered away from its other descendants. This goes some way to explain why Sky is often considered a somewhat aloof or transcedent element, because its origin is effectively the opposite of that of Water and Earth. Moreover, this also sheds some light (no pun intended) on the extreme potential of Fire-Earth interaction (as they're the respective endpoint refinement of opposing qualities found in primordial Darkness), which resulted in the cosmos-shaking birth of Umath and the creation of the first (and possibly only) "heteroform" element, Air. More consideration is needed.

Dark Earth (Gor), surely? Maran Gor surely seems like the kind of incarnation of Earth who was around to knock in heads while Ernalda was asleep. She's not exactly a Bijiif character, but close enough. And of course Babeester's defining trait is that she was literally born from the dormant body of Ernalda to stand watch over her. Gorgorma is an interesting perpendicular of Babeester, Maran and arguably TKT?

Welp, now I'm imagining Gorites bashing down starving rioting peasants while the Asrelian priestess look down form atop their granary-temples. Oof.

Considering that land ownership in Orlanthi culture, as per Jeff's comments, is ultimately tied into the Earth temple institutions (being the worldly manifestation of Earth sovereignty, one assumes), I think we're also overlooking the less "noble" and more prosaic role of Babeester Gorites as, well, muscle for the economic interests of said temples. Failure to pay tribute, failure to deal fairly with temple priestesses, failure to honor contracts, etc. are all effectively "violations" of the Earth. I mean, boiling feminine interests down to bodily autonomy is a bit reductive. Orlanthi women have extensive political and economic interests (and traditional entitlements), and Gorites are a part of that, I can only assume. EDIT: Seems Qizilbashwoman kinda said the same thing.

The idea of a tsundere Babeester Gor and her off-and-on dumbass Eurmali lover is hilarious and kinda endearing.

This makes sense. (Unless you get a bit conspiratorial and argue that Ernaldela is a post-Dawn name attributed to a region that previously carried another name HOWEVER I will refrain from doing this as I'm sure you get enough obstinate folks in the Elmal thread. 😄)

Wasn't there something about how the name "Ernalda" originated from Saird?

Do we have any specific Rune on how the humanoid Aldryami came to be? Either from the perspective of elves or other groups? Do Aldryami recognize Grandfather Mortal as an entity, or is it a more abstracted thing?

While that makes sense, I should probably add that Subere isn't actually considered the ancestress of most troll gods or trolls, at least according to the Sourcebook's genealogy. That genealogy is of God Learner origin, so people'll have to specify how it deviates, if anything, from Uz beliefs. Jumping off from the above point, I'm wondering if people here are mixing Subere together with Nakala? The latter who is considered primal darkness. I have no issue with them being the same, or Subere being a fraction of the former or whatever, but at least the Sourcebook separates them explicitly.

Woops, just realized I posted this in your heretical gloranthas and not the dumbest theory thread. Oh well, works both places!

Lieutenant Columbo was an Illuminate Riddler. "Just one more thing..." is a traditional Nysalorean phrase.

The Sourcebook seems to say that she mothered the Dehori with Dehore (makes you wonder why they're not called the Suberi, but that's another issue). Is there a myth about this? Probably not, but there could be. Perhaps the Dehori themselves have myths. EDIT: Although, it's worth keeping in mind that the Sourcebook genealogies are based on God Learner theories. I'm guessing this point doesn't deviate too much from indigenous Uz beliefs though.

Kinda satisfied that my (speculative) ideas about life in Alkoth are also where Jeff is going.

That is almost certainly someone's belief in-universe.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this, but if "cold" and "dark" can be runes (even though in RW physics these aren't anything at all), I'm sure we'll figure something out.

I've been considering making up a deity of sound. Either sound as an element in itself, or maybe as a condition rune or something, I don't really pay too much attention to the runes, tbh. The question would be where they come into being (much like air, sound may have always been around, just not personified). My initial thought was to have them spawn off Umath's birth roar. But then sound would have been important in the Underworld, I'm guessing, so maybe that's their true origin. Maybe Umath pulled them up from the Underworld? As for worldly impact... A deity involved in the eventual creation of spoken language, and song and music, as well as having a hand in thunderclaps and animals roars and wave crashing, and whatnot. Sort of a sideline-yet-everywhere kinda deity-archetype, maybe a bit like the Talking God or the Knowing God, or the White Lady, etc. Also a fun way to introduce some sound-based shenanigans from the Elder Scrolls (tonal architecture, thu'um, etc.)

My first instinct when looking at the pic was that the three upper left deities where the three primordial Sea deities. Framanthe, Daliath and Sramak. However, this doesn't really seem to fit with how they are portrayed elsewhere.

Idea: "Eel" means something like "seed" or "fruit" in a procreative way. Berneel Ashagern is the serpent that carries Yelm's seed (his virility, his fecundity). Eel-Ariash is the "Seed" (ie. descendants) of Ariash. (I don't think this actually works out, but still)

Hm, okay, not really dildos, but still feel free to make fun of me: Female-centric horse-riding Celestial society defeats and emasculates (Storm?) barbarian invaders, symbolically adding their horns to their mounts. Some less phallic ideas: - Horse riding Celestial society quests to get herd beasts accepted by Eirithia. Horns are part of the result (not like horns are even inherently masculine in most horned mammals anyway). - Horse riding Celestial society preserves the radiance of stars in a single ray, turning it into a shimmering horn. I think the last one is my favorite, tbh.

Qwizil is going to be so disappointed, none of these are dumb enough!