The courtship of Redalda / Redaylda / Redaylde - canonically recurring?

[XcessiveNinja17]

Events I've noticed:

0. The Book of Heortling Mythology, pages 158 & 159 - Says that Redalda married Elmal. The book also contains the brief summary of Redaylde marrying Beren.

1. Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind - The portrayal of the courtship of Beren and Redalda. Beren is portrayed as Elmali, and thus explains both of the stories of Redalda within the Book of Heortling Mythology.

2. Six Ages: Lights Going Out - The portrayal of Beren and Redalda as mythic figures who are now outside of normal time. People who knew them when they were mortal (it would be spoilers to explain how you can have these people) definitely notice this.

3. Edge of Empire, pages 36 & 37: After The Dragonkill. This would have been at least 1120's ST. Redaylda, also called Redaylde Redmane, offered her hand to suitors again. This resulted in Laram winning and founding the Laramite tribe. Laram also recovered the Golden Bridle of Beren.

Was the third event a Heroquest of Laram going to the God's Time to meet Redaylda? Or was there a second Redaylda who got merged onto the first one as part of a Heroquest? Or something else going on here?

Could the Laramites mythologically take more stuff from the Berenethelli? Like what if they tried to rebuild the walls of Berenstead on top of where Barnborn is right now, would they have the mythological lineage to do so? I imagine that anyone could attempt to do so, but only some would actually get a bonus or additional hero points for the attempt.

Edited May 5 by XcessiveNinja17
fix formatting

[soltakss]

There are several ways of looking at this:

• The actions of Deities in the GodTime, so Redalda marrying Elmal and Beren would fit here
• HeroQuesting to GodTime to court and marry Redalda is a case of proving your worth as an Elmali and returning  as a worthy Clan or Tribal Chieftain
• Performing the Redalda Marries Elmal, or Redalda Marries Beren HeroQuest to court and marry a woman on the Mundane Plane, in which case the HeroQuestor performs a magical rite and tasks, emulating the actions on Elmal or Beren, to ritually court and win over his intended bride

So, (1) describes the GodTime, or Mythical, deeds, (2) might be Mythical Deeds or a HeroQuest to marry Redalda, and (3) would be a case of performing the HeroQuest to marry Redalda or a HeroQuest to marry someone with the same name.

13 hours ago, XcessiveNinja17 said:

Was the third event a Heroquest of Laram going to the God's Time to meet Redaylda? Or was there a second Redaylda who got merged onto the first one as part of a Heroquest? Or something else going on here?

My guess is that it was a mixture of the two. The person, Redaylde Redmane, might have initiated the HeroQuest to look for suitors and might have become an Avatar of Redalda, incarnating the Goddess for a mythical boost.

14 hours ago, XcessiveNinja17 said:

Could the Laramites mythologically take more stuff from the Berenethelli? Like what if they tried to rebuild the walls of Berenstead on top of where Barnborn is right now, would they have the mythological lineage to do so? I imagine that anyone could attempt to do so, but only some would actually get a bonus or additional hero points for the attempt.

Yes, of course. One of the benefits of HeroQuesting is proving things. So, Laramites could show that they are really Berenethelli by demonstrating that their culture is the same as that of the Berenethelli. Of course, by doing so, the HeroQuestor may well change the Laramite Culture so that it becomes more like the Berenethelli, which could make them more traditional and resistant to change, for example.

[jajagappa]

17 hours ago, XcessiveNinja17 said:

3. Edge of Empire, pages 36 & 37: After The Dragonkill. This would have been at least 1120's ST. Redaylda, also called Redaylde Redmane, offered her hand to suitors again. This resulted in Laram winning and founding the Laramite tribe. Laram also recovered the Golden Bridle of Beren.

Was the third event a Heroquest of Laram going to the God's Time to meet Redaylda? Or was there a second Redaylda who got merged onto the first one as part of a Heroquest? Or something else going on here?

Since I wrote Edge of Empire, I can tell you more specifically about these tales.

There's a long mythic tradition in Saird/Holay about the Red-haired goddess Redaylda, the one who married Beren, and she is seen as both a Horse Goddess (reincarnated later as Holaya who gave name to the subsequent Queendom) and a Goddess of Sovereignty in the region. Queens in the region are consequently titled Redaylda much as the Queens of the Grazelands are titled Feathered Horse Queens.

Historically, a Queen in the region of Mirin's Cross at this time initiated a Marriage Contest. Suitors for her hand sought great gifts by which to win her favor, and often the best gifts of course are from the Otherworld. Laram (and the other suitors) initiated Heroquests to find such gifts. Part of Laram's quest clearly occurred in the mundane world: "Laram found his way into the Nest of Debris in Vanch where he recovered the Golden Bridle of Beren." (The thieving Vanchites are well known for gathering, borrowing, and collecting assorted treasures over the centuries and incorporating such into their own rites.) However, it is quite likely that part of Laram's quest went into the Otherworld, probably to meet Beren and perhaps find the spirit of the Golden Bridle. And the marriage rite undoubtedly saw this historical Redalyda and Laram enter the God-time to take the places of the Horse Goddess and Beren and complete the rites there (and gain the blessings of those deities).

17 hours ago, XcessiveNinja17 said:

Could the Laramites mythologically take more stuff from the Berenethelli? Like what if they tried to rebuild the walls of Berenstead on top of where Barnborn is right now, would they have the mythological lineage to do so? I imagine that anyone could attempt to do so, but only some would actually get a bonus or additional hero points for the attempt.

They could certainly undertake Heroquests to draw upon ancient Berenethtelli myths and gain boons or blessings from that, but you'd need to assess what abilities Beren might offer. While I don't think of him as a wall-builder, if he was, then you might gain the skill to Craft Fine Walls. Or, perhaps Beren knew the secret to Command Giants and used that power originally to have giants raise the walls of Berenstead. In the latter case, you could regain that magic of command over the giants, and if you found some giants, and got them to the site, then yes, you might raise/rebuild walls equivalent to old Berenstead (note "equivalent to" - they would not be the old walls as those walls are long gone).