The Origin of Rain

[Sir_Godspeed]

There are several myths in Glorantha pertaining to when rain disappeared. 

However, are there any myths about when rain first came into being? It strikes me as a pretty world-altering event, introducing a natural phenomena that nowadays pretty much the entire world is reliant on, but at some point apparently did not exist. 

I know there are some quick mentions of Water invading the sky and air in the Sourcebook, and I know Jeff has mentioned that at some point Heler was king of the world, possibly before he was pacified by other gods, but that's about it. 

I'm mostly conflating Heler and rain here, although I'm open to the process/event being more complex.

[Joerg]

There was a moment in the Gods War when Heler fell afoul of a Storm God (likely Umath) and lost his connection to the Seas - possibly as the result of wrestling or similar. Possibly the same greater mythic event like the time when that Keet sage "blessed" the dancing sea god "may your steps be lighter" after having been trod on, initiating the Keet epic.

I think that the birth of Umath pushed down the body of the Earth (even though it had healed up the hole left by the Spike), ramming it down enough that the inner parts of Sramak's River had a chance to ascend to land. (As a side effect, this left higher and creased foothills around the Spike, creating the high valley of Dini.)

This pushing the Earth cube downward would have lured in all manner of rapacious Sea forces, and Heler always in the vanguard. Well, Umath showed him that the Lower and Middle Air was no place for someone with a direct connection to the Seas.

When Annilla and Lorion rose up the (inner) Sky Dome, Heler was always in place to lend them aid.

Heortling Mythology suggests another foe of Heler responsible for separating him from the rivers - Jagrekriand the Sky Defender who knocked Heler out of the celestial river. That enmity might explain why Helerings and Artmali weren't that friendly, despite their mutual reverence for Lorion.

[soltakss]

In my Glorantha, I think that Lorion invading the Sky brought the first rain, but from the Blue Sky instead of from clouds - When the Sky Wept.

Heler is the main god of rain, but there are others. Thunder Bird bathes in the Zola Fel and carries the water in its feathers, dropping it on Prax, in my Glorantha.

[Julian Lord]

On 3/6/2020 at 4:35 PM, Sir_Godspeed said:

There are several myths in Glorantha pertaining to when rain disappeared. 

However, are there any myths about when rain first came into being? It strikes me as a pretty world-altering event, introducing a natural phenomena that nowadays pretty much the entire world is reliant on, but at some point apparently did not exist. 

I know there are some quick mentions of Water invading the sky and air in the Sourcebook, and I know Jeff has mentioned that at some point Heler was king of the world, possibly before he was pacified by other gods, but that's about it. 

I'm mostly conflating Heler and rain here, although I'm open to the process/event being more complex.

It is somewhat complicated, including because there are many rain gods/spirits/entities ...

But from within the Orlanthi/Ernaldan and Godlearner (and to some extent Triolini) perspectives :

In the Myth, the Waters filled the Sky (this includes the myth about how the Sky is blue rather than its original yellow), but really it's a Flood myth about how the Waters filled the World -- below in the Underworld ; in the middle as the origin story of the rivers ; above in the Sky realm.

The sources describe these invasions as being three dragons, else one dragon in the three places.

Now, the Heler as King of the World thing is interesting -- because he was the Water entity who was War Chief in the Middle Air, and so he is the one who made the conquest/seduction of Kero Fin, hence becoming King of Dragon Pass and so King of the Gods (didn't last long in the position though, which was only ever really vacant because of Umath's death, so that in a way Heler became a Great God, however briefly, almost by accident).

The rain has two sources from all of that -- one from Life, the other from Death.

From Life, it comes from Heler's seduction of Kero Fin and of Ernalda/Asrelia, and his watering of their divine body to bring forth new fertility and growth (he is not the father of Voria, but he is sometimes considered as if the "biological father" of Voriof) ; from Death, it comes from Orlanth's defeat of the Blue Dragon Aroka i his War upon the invading Waters, so that the waters Above still bleed down their Waters into the below (this "predates" the movement of the other waters downwhill to fill the void in the centre of the oceans ; and so does the falling of the rains from Heler's seduction of the lands). (the defeat of the Waters in the Underworld is outside of my personal knowledge, except that they were indeed defeated  some of the Underworld waters do nevertheless still flow upwards

As for the reliance of the world upon the rains, part of that is positively from their intrinsic Fertility ; but part of it is also negatively that the world was broken so that the wounded land must draw upon the wounded waters to help safeguard all of the wounded lives.

But there is another story, which is that when Orlanth came to reclaim the throne of his father Umath from the usurper Heler, the Rain god changed shape from being the King of the Gods to being a loyal Thane of the King, and so he welcomed the Rightful King of the Gods back into his own Domain. This alliance of Peace between the Storm and the Waters is why the Rains still reside within the Wind, and helped for a while to return a measure of the God Time back into the heart of the Gods War.

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Honestly, I'd love to see a good Praxian story about the origin of the rains, and how they were lost with Genert ...