Yara Aranis and Other “Spiders” — What’s in a Name?

[mfbrandi]

45 minutes ago, Ynneadwraith said:

I knew there was a reason I liked you. That’s one of the measures I use to judge someone’s character by.

Don’t worry, though, in every other way I am despicable. 😉

[mfbrandi]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:54 AM, davecake said:

Also known as the Quail, the active part of the Pillar (the fire board is the eagle - cf Entekosiad pg 78), and … restored by the Red Goddess (cf. Fortunate Succession, page 72). Hagu, now known as Natha's Well … is known as Glorantha’s Quail.

While I quite liked your gender flip (i.e. it may be better than the truth), chasing down the references (my Entekosiad is differently paginated), I am not sure that it is what the text says. If the Quail = Natha’s Well = “the place where earth was penetrated” (not the thing which penetrated the earth), then the Quail is the fire board/yoni and the Pillar is the eagle/lingam, and the universe is made stable by re-socketing the latter in the former. The point that one needs both parts to make a spark (of illumination) stands, but we still get the oh-so-tired recapitulation of spirit = fire = male and matter = earth = female. So the RG fixes a gender (or sex) imbalance by restoring a socket for the Pillar, no? The quail is the drilled stick (i.e. the board), not the drilling stick. (References tucked away below.)

Does the eagle and quail terminology come from IRL fire making or is it a Stafford invention? The only reference I could find to eagle and quail was in a Bahá’í text echoing Isaiah (2:4 & 11:6–8):

• During his sovereignty even the animals were to enjoy blessings and comforts, for according to the prophetic texts he should establish peace to such a universal extent that the eagle and quail would live together, the lion and deer would feed in the same meadow, the wolf and lamb would lie down in the same pasture. In the human kingdom warfare was to cease entirely, spears would be turned into pruning hooks and swords into plough shares. Now we see in the day of this would-be Messiah such injustice prevails that even he himself is sacrificed. How could he be the promised Christ?
  — Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’: The Spirit of Prophecy

Too much of stretch for this to be a reference intended? They say the RG is a false prophet/god, but in fact she is the real deal: she is not a naughty boy, she is the messiah. It fits with the Lunars as Iranian, anyway.

Spoiler

• We know now that it was because Yelm, the Sun abandoned his own consciousness and thereby removed the quail° of the Pillar. Now the Red Goddess has reinstalled the quail and the drill, and the universe can stand once again.
  ° quail. the drilled stick in fire making
  — The Fortunate Succession (ISS 3003 PDF, p. 74)
   
• This place manifests the power of Natha. Hence we call this place Natha’s Well. We now know this is the actual place where the First Pole was rubbed. This is Glorantha’s Quail. This is where Ghelotralas landed when he brought spirit to matter. Here earth was penetrated.
  — The Entekosiad: The Path of Addi: Hagu
   
• Ezelrufa rekindled it. Where the bright flower had grown, she made it grow again as only she could. With eagle and quail°, she brought forth the flower again. It blossomed forth again.
  ° eagle and quail. These are synonyms for the fire drill and the fire board
  — The Entekosiad: Some Other Myths: Palanku

[soltakss]

In my Glorantha, Yara Aranis is an avatar of Arachne Solara. After all, she weaves a web that binds the powers of the Moon (Glowline).

[g33k]

Digressing (for a moment) from y'all's linguistic digressions onto a bit of tech...

On 5/28/2024 at 1:26 AM, Ali the Helering said:

... (the n should carry a tilde, but I don't know how to insert one!) ...

"n with tilde" is its own whole character, in computer terms; not a diacritic mark over a regular "n"
You may have an alt-mapping on your keyboard, or a keystroke sequence.

When all else fails, I Google for it (in this case, "n with tilde") and grab an instance from online... cut there & paste here:
ñ
comes from Wikipedia, where it has its own whole page on the history & use.

[mfbrandi]

On 6/1/2024 at 8:33 PM, g33k said:

"n with tilde" is its own whole character, in computer terms; not a diacritic mark over a regular "n"
You may have an alt-mapping on your keyboard, or a keystroke sequence.

Spoiler

Thanks for that. I do like a digression, and seeing as it is my thread …

I had thought of chipping in, but I figured with different OSes and keyboard mappings, it could get confusing. One can often type it as if it were a letter–diacritic combo. For example, on my British keyboard (# and ~ share a key), Linux system, and mildly customised mapping both of these work:

• AltGr+#, then n -> ñ
  AltGr+#, then v -> ṽ
  AltGr+#, then e -> ẽ
   
• AltGr+n -> ñ

As in all things Glorantha, Your Keyboard Will Vary.

Discussion of keycodes moved to Alastor’s Skull Inn.

Edited June 3 by mfbrandi
pointer to ASI

[g33k]

12 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

...

As in all things Glorantha, Your Keyboard Will Vary.

Indeed.
My daily driver is a chromebook; I bought it in the USA market, and haven't done keyboard mappings so it is as God and Google last updated it.

I cannot find any way to get these marks out of my keyboard:  Alt+n or AltGr+n or Shift+Alt+n all produce the same thing -- no character typed (when I throw Ctrl into the mix, "n" is new-window) so I most-often resort (when I need such marks) to my old murderhobo ways:  I find someone else who has what I want, and steal it from them.

As I advised Ali, above.

 

(n.b. at least one "how to" doc online explicitly lists "AltGr+n" as a method that should work; but my pudding proves otherwise).

Edited June 2 by g33k

[Ali the Helering]

4 hours ago, g33k said:

I find someone else who has what I want, and steal it from them.

As I advised Ali, above.

But I'm a good boy, I am🤣🤣🤣

[mfbrandi]

On 5/29/2024 at 2:41 PM, mfbrandi said:

So is YA a reversal of tedious gender crap or does she just combine the rôles, male and female? I suggest likely the latter (after a fashion)

We do get this for Gerra:

• But as Quail and Eagle she was Illuminated here, and she ignited herself and the spirit of the world.
  — The Lunar Way (PDF, p. 25)