Holy Country maunderings - Caladraland

[David Scott]

On 17 November 2015 at 08:56:47, soltakss said:

I thought that Caladra and Aurelion had Harmony as one of their runes (Fire/harmony and Earth/Harmony) to counter their father's Disorder. They used harps to communicate between temples, as I recall.

With the new understanding of Gods and Runes, i'd say that Caladra & Aurelion are are a two Rune Cult, like likely with the runes of Fertility and Harmony.

Tessele the True is a hero of the cult with Harmony

Veskarthan the Deep is likely also two rune with Fire and Disorder

[Jeff]

Caladra and Aurelion are worshiped as one cult - Fire, Fertility, and Harmony. They acquired Harmony during their reunion.

 

[Stew Stansfield]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

With the new understanding of Gods and Runes, i'd say that Caladra & Aurelion are are a two Rune Cult, like likely with the runes of Fertility and Harmony.

Tessele the True is a hero of the cult with Harmony

 

37 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Caladra and Aurelion are worshiped as one cult - Fire, Fertility, and Harmony. They acquired Harmony during their reunion.

I'm afraid I'll have to raise some objections here.

Firstly, Tessele has always been a complex, mysterious entity and the association with Harmony (which was a distinctly God Learner addition)--rather than Truth which has been emphasised elsewhere--is little curious, David.

Secondly, I'm not quite keen on like attempts to shift the Twins cult to this new-era runic model.

Some background. Glorantha likes its elemental and gender associations; so much so that they can muddy our thinking of concepts that take a different tack. If you scroll up in this thread, you'll see a common perception of a feminine Fire aspect and a masculine Earth aspect.

I understand why people think that. Yes, switching around the typical Fire=male, Earth=female aspects is interesting. Caladra is described as a 'beautiful, orange-skinned woman with fiery hair'; Aurelion a 'handsome, black-skinned man'. Caladra is associated with a fiery volcano; Aurelion a lump of rock in the sea. Caladra is described as inheriting 'her father's element'; Aurelion 'the lore of the wealth within the Earth' from Asrelia. Caladra in her initial form was a 'subcult of Lodril'; Aurelion 'a minor Earth god of Jrustela'.

Unfortunately it's not quite correct. The point of the cult is not that they are two disparate elements united in Harmony--one Fire, the other Earth--but that they share both elements. As Chuck writes on the role of men and women in the cult:

Quote

By the evident nature of the cult, men and women are equally able to take up any role offered by the cult. Women identify with Caladra and men with Aurelion, but either sex can identify with the Hot (purifying, warrior) or Earthy (fertile, nurturing) aspects of the Twins. The ultimate goal of the worshipper of either sex is to master both in Harmony.

As Chuck says elsewhere: '... the Twins resolved to share ever after their elemental natures -- Fire Within Earth.'

Which leads me to Jeff's post. Recasting the Twins without the Earth rune feels like... I don't know. A union of Fire and Earth without Earth feels weird. This may be because of a disinclination to have two elemental runes together in the same cult, in an era when we're using runes more actively as game concepts. I understand that, but would suggest that the Twins cult are an oddity that can be an exception to this. They are a decidedly funky God Learner creation that transcends the normal pattern; one of the most individual outside creations, and I think we can allow them some leeway.

If anything is an interloper in the original association (Fire, Earth, Fertility. Harmony) it's perhaps the Fertility rune. It's more of a 'consequence' rune reflecting the warming, nourishing aspects of Fire in Harmonious union with the bounteous potential of Earth. It describes the cult very well, but if something has to go... Not that I think it necessarily does: I think the weirdness of the Twins works with a four-rune description.

As politely as possible, I don't think we need to alter the runes in this way.

[Stew Stansfield]

2 hours ago, David Scott said:

With the new understanding of Gods and Runes, i'd say that Caladra & Aurelion are are a two Rune Cult, like likely with the runes of Fertility and Harmony.

Incidentally--and in a seemingly rather bizarre contradiction of what I wrote above, wishing to retain elements and discard Fertility!--I think this is a good two-rune summation, if you wish to treat their elemental natures as a heritage and focus on the prominent product.

[soltakss]

1 hour ago, Quackatoa said:

 

I'm afraid I'll have to raise some objections here.

Firstly, Tessele has always been a complex, mysterious entity and the association with Harmony (which was a distinctly God Learner addition)--rather than Truth which has been emphasised elsewhere--is little curious, David.

 

 

As a Hero, I thought that Tessele was associated with Life/Fertility, after the TwinQuest.

 

Secondly, I'm not quite keen on like attempts to shift the Twins cult to this new-era runic model.

Some background. Glorantha likes its elemental and gender associations; so much so that they can muddy our thinking of concepts that take a different tack. If you scroll up in this thread, you'll see a common perception of a feminine Fire aspect and a masculine Earth aspect.

I understand why people think that. Yes, switching around the typical Fire=male, Earth=female aspects is interesting. Caladra is described as a 'beautiful, orange-skinned woman with fiery hair'; Aurelion a 'handsome, black-skinned man'. Caladra is associated with a fiery volcano; Aurelion a lump of rock in the sea. Caladra is described as inheriting 'her father's element'; Aurelion 'the lore of the wealth within the Earth' from Asrelia. Caladra in her initial form was a 'subcult of Lodril'; Aurelion 'a minor Earth god of Jrustela'.

Unfortunately it's not quite correct. The point of the cult is not that they are two disparate elements united in Harmony--one Fire, the other Earth--but that they share both elements. As Chuck writes on the role of men and women in the cult:

As Chuck says elsewhere: '... the Twins resolved to share ever after their elemental natures -- Fire Within Earth.'

 

Yes, but individually, they clearly have Fire and Earth separately - Caladara shows no earth abilities and Aurelion no fire abilities.

 

When they joined, they gained harmony and it because integral to their cult. They communicate with magical harps, have temples across the seas around Glorantha (Genertela, Pamaltela and Jrustela) and the twin bond is very harmonious in nature. 

 

Which leads me to Jeff's post. Recasting the Twins without the Earth rune feels like... I don't know. A union of Fire and Earth without Earth feels weird. This may be because of a disinclination to have two elemental runes together in the same cult, in an era when we're using runes more actively as game concepts. I understand that, but would suggest that the Twins cult are an oddity that can be an exception to this. They are a decidedly funky God Learner creation that transcends the normal pattern; one of the most individual outside creations, and I think we can allow them some leeway.

If anything is an interloper in the original association (Fire, Earth, Fertility. Harmony) it's perhaps the Fertility rune. It's more of a 'consequence' rune reflecting the warming, nourishing aspects of Fire in Harmonious union with the bounteous potential of Earth. It describes the cult very well, but if something has to go... Not that I think it necessarily does: I think the weirdness of the Twins works with a four-rune description.

As politely as possible, I don't think we need to alter the runes in this way.

 

I would give the combined cult Fire, Earth and Harmony, but that breaks the "One element per cult" rule, as should Cragspider (Fire/Darkness) - Rules are meant to be broken.

Aurelion's earth rune might have some fertility aspects to it as this is the ash that fertilizes the earth, but his building aspects are stronger (The Breakwater, the volcanic cone).

[aumshantih]

In the Caladraland game I am currently PCing in, we've decided on the following runes for the pantheon:

• Vestkarthan - Fire (Heat) / Disorder / Fertility
• Esrola - Earth / Fertility
• Tessele - Truth / Death 
• Caladra - Fire / Fertility
• Aurelion - Earth / Harmony
• Kudja the Ancestor - Spirit / Man

As for the Twin Cult -  each worshipper can only get one elemental rune from either Caladra or Aurelion, but if you have the appropriate power rune, you can initiate to the other Twin.  So my hero has Earth / Fertility, while my twin sister has Fire / Harmony.

[Stew Stansfield]

25 minutes ago, soltakss said:

As a Hero, I thought that Tessele was associated with Life/Fertility, after the TwinQuest.

I'll lazily play the 'Greg' card here

Quote

[Tessele is] a goddess born when  the world was made... Her hands, spindly, enwrap her Y-shaped staff... Her function, from the dawn of creation, is to  hold forth the truth for whomever would see it. (Belintar's Book, Tradetalk#5, p.4)

and

Quote

... she seems to be a manifestation of, or a form of, or an aspect of, the Truth Rune. I suggest that she might be a Truth Power, which can provide the Silver Light of Truth on something when invoked. (pers. comm.)

Should clear things up!

On runes:

26 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Yes, but individually, they clearly have Fire and Earth separately - Caladara shows no earth abilities and Aurelion no fire abilities.

A lot of this depends on whether you think they can and do exist as to a degree as worshipable individual entities following the GL jiggery-pokery, Simon. There's always been a lot of confusion here on what happened, the degree to which the Twins survived the closing in more recent works, the confusion between the nature and role of Caladra vs Veskarthan, etc. With Jeff tidying this up and reaffirming the nature of the Twins cult in the Third Age and clarifying the role of Veskarthan, I'm happy to keep it simple and stick with the Twins.

The possible elephant in the room here is Greg's notion of the Caladran deity that is the 'Soil Mother', who hasn't yet appeared in anything published.

I should first stress that Greg isn't perhaps as aware of the finer points of everything Chuck wrote decades ago as some of us perhaps think (I don't mean that as a criticism - I'm going through the proofs of something I wrote five years ago, and feel like a dunce); he noted that himself and spoke of his desire not to just gainsay Chuck's stuff. This was evident in some of the confusion between Veskarthan and (masculine) Caladra that was going on at the time.

But when asked:

Quote

How do you think the Caladran myth-culture views Earth? Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars mentions Asrelia. Are there any goddesses worshipped, or is there reference to an Earth Witch tradition?

Greg responded:

Quote

 

Asrelia is the Orlanthi name for the feminine powers that are deep within the earth. She is a comparitive analogue for the native goddess. I am not sure of exactly the name that th Caladrans use for her. She is the mother of Veskarthan, whose active essence (hot lava)  lives deep inside the earth.

Earth Witch is simply a misapplied shamanic worship of Asrelia.

The Soil Mother is a child of Veskarthan and the Deep Earth. She takes the form of ash and lava, and then transforms herself into soil.

The plants we eat are the child of Soil Mother and the cut-up portions of the plans that we plant.

 

My initial thought was to follow the rather Earth-y goddess-y template that we adopt almost on reflex (and is indeed suggested in my question). But looking at it, the description in terms of parentage (Veskarthan and the Deep Earth) and form (lava and ash) matches much of what Chuck says about Caladra. Folks have wondered what that 'subcult of Lodril' was that the God Learners acted upon; I sometimes wonder if we're missing a trick here.

[Jeff]

Strange as it may sound - the cult of Caladra & Aurelion have Fire, not Earth. They are the fire within the earth.

[Stew Stansfield]

26 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Strange as it may sound - the cult of Caladra & Aurelion have Fire, not Earth. They are the fire within the earth.

Jeff, the tone of what I'm about to write may not come across well, so please believe me when I say it's in good humour.

Glorantha's changed. I get it. The time from the later '90s to the later 2000s when it was a multi-authored world with all of us sticking our oar in with abandon has gone. That was put paid to. Many voices have disappeared. I don't think anyone wants to be disruptive and kick up a fuss for the sake of it, or make your job as the main writer harder.

But in light of all that's been written on the cult--and its fundamental purpose and nature--this just strikes me as weird. I simply don't understand where this comes from, or why.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Quackatoa
missing word!

[Patrick]

Just my 2 cents...

Nothing in the game mechanics of HQ:G prevents a character from having two different Elemental connections:

p44:

"1. Your Soul: Choose an Elemental Rune"

"3. Choose a third Rune
You can choose a second Power Rune, a Condition
Rune, a Form Rune, or some other Special Rune for
your hero’s third affinity. You cannot choose a Power
Rune that is opposed to your second Rune."

(restrictions are about the Power pairs, not Elements; and I take "other Special Rune" as including both Condition runes and Elemental runes)

We also know some cults do, especially Anilla (Darkness & Water), Wachaza (Darkness & Water), Lorion (Sky/Light & Water) - all according to GtG.

So, there's no reason why Caladra & Aurelion couldn't be a "combined" cult (like, say, the Seven Mothers), with e.g. Fire/Earth/Harmony.

Whether that's the direction Jeff wants to take is another story.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Patrick

[Stew Stansfield]

27 minutes ago, Patrick said:

So, there's no reason why Caladra & Aurelion couldn't be a "combined" cult (like, say, the Seven Mothers), with e.g. Fire/Earth/Harmony.

I think part of the difficulty here is the use of the phrase 'Fire Within Earth', which has become confused. I'm as much to blame for that as anyone. It's a great, evocative phrase and tends to get thrown about with regard to Caladraland and, yes, Veskarthan/Lodril - for whom it's also apposite, albeit in a different way. And with all the confusion over Caladran gods over the years, this is where the issues come in.

For ease of understanding, please queue up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmLMJRFM21w

When Jeff speaks of the the Twins as the Fire Within Earth, it's clear he is speaking of [their, i.e. the Twins'] Fire Within [other entities'] Earth. I think this is very true generally for Caladraland in the scheme of the Holy Country, and for character of Veskarthan.

But when reading the Different Worlds/Tales of the Reaching Moon write-ups I'd suggest that within the context of the Twins themselves it's different. There if you follow through the description of the cult and its myths, Fire Within Earth would mean [her, i.e. Caladra's] Fire Within [his, i.e. Aurelion's] Earth.

That's why I struggle with a Twins cult that would include one rune but not the other.

But I'll bow out here and not pester further. It is what it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oblbLHYu6uY

(Hey, it was close enough.)

[Jeff]

58 minutes ago, Quackatoa said:

Jeff, the tone of what I'm about to write may not come across well, so please believe me when I say it's in good humour.

Glorantha's changed. I get it. The time from the later '90s to the later 2000s when it was a multi-authored world with all of us sticking our oar in with abandon has gone. That was put paid to. Many voices have disappeared. I don't think anyone wants to be disruptive and kick up a fuss for the sake of it, or make your job as the main writer harder.

But in light of all that's been written on the cult--and its fundamental purpose and nature--this just strikes me as weird. I simply don't understand where this comes from, or why.

OK the main reason is that we agreed that having a small cult like C&A (with maybe 15k initiates top - probably much less) with that broad a range of Runic powers didn't really work with our conception of how these pieces should fit together. And if you look at the old RQ spells for C&A, there's nothing there that can't be done with Fire, Harmony, and Life.

[Stew Stansfield]

Thanks, Jeff! Appreciate the response. I'll knock it off and put Monster Man back in his cell.

[Jeff]

A few other notes.

Very approximate cult breakdown (of adult population) [note Porthomeka not included]:

Caladra & Aurelion 30%

Ernalda 20%

Esrola 15%

Lightbringers 10%

Lodril (Veskarthan) 15%

Other 10% 

I got to admit, I am wavering on whether the cult may include the Earth Rune as well. These notes assume that Caladra & Aurelion include the following Runes: Fire (Caladra), Earth (Aurelion), Life (both), Harmony (both).

[soltakss]

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

I got to admit, I am wavering on whether the cult may include the Earth Rune as well. These notes assume that Caladra & Aurelion include the following Runes: Fire (Caladra), Earth (Aurelion), Life (both), Harmony (both).

I'd drop Life as the Earth rune has enough fertility for the cult.

[Martin]

3 hours ago, Jeff said:

I got to admit, I am wavering on whether the cult may include the Earth Rune as well. These notes assume that Caladra & Aurelion include the following Runes: Fire (Caladra), Earth (Aurelion), Life (both), Harmony (both).

I was under the impression that Caladra was an Earth Goddess originally worshipped as the Orange-skinned Warm Earth Goddess and Daughter of Gata and Veskarthan. Whereas Aurelion was originally worshipped as the native Volcano God of Jrustela at the Olodo city of Aurelion’s Breakwater. ?

So Caladra should have the Earth Rune?

The convention we have established is that lands in Glorantha are often named after the local earth enity hence Caladraland

so i am not sure what i am missing having caladra as a fire enity

[Stew Stansfield]

35 minutes ago, Martin said:

So Caladra should have the Earth Rune?

DO IT!

Consider this:

In the original write-up, Caladra was a feminine Fire deity from Caladraland and Aurelion was a masculine Earth deity from Jrustela.

In Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars, Peter's manuscript was garbled to read so that Caladra was a masculine Fire deity from Caladraland and Aurelion was a feminine Earth deity from Jrustela.

In Glorantha: The Second Age, this error was 'corrected' so that Aurelion was a masculine Fire deity from Caladraland and Caladra was a feminine Earth deity from Jrustela.

If we have Caladra as a feminine Earth deity from Caladraland and Aurelion as a masculine Fire deity from Jrustela... we complete the set! We get a prize! THE RITUAL BEGINS. ("'scuse me, Egon? You said crossing the runes was BAD...")

If I'm ever somewhat arsey about how Caladraland is presented in published Glorantha, guys, I think the above may illustrate why.

(Not aimed at Martin; I, as noted above, have my suspicions about Caladra not being as uniformly fiery as sometimes supposed. But...)

Edited November 19, 2015 by Quackatoa

[Jeff]

12 minutes ago, Quackatoa said:

DO IT!

Consider this:

In the original write-up, Caladra was a feminine Fire deity from Caladraland and Aurelion was a masculine Earth deity from Jrustela.

In Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars, Peter's manuscript was garbled to read so that Caladra was a masculine Fire deity from Caladraland and Aurelion was a feminine Earth deity from Jrustela.

In Glorantha: The Second Age, this error was 'corrected' so that Aurelion was a masculine Fire deity from Caladraland and Caladra was a feminine Earth deity from Jrustela.

If we have Caladra as a feminine Earth deity from Caladraland and Aurelion as a masculine Fire deity from Jrustela... we complete the set! We get a prize! THE RITUAL BEGINS. ("'scuse me, Egon? You said crossing the runes was BAD...")

If I'm ever somewhat arsey about how Caladraland is presented in published Glorantha, guys, I think the above may illustrate why.

(Not aimed at Martin; I, as noted above, have my suspicions about Caladra not being as uniformly fiery as sometimes supposed. But...)

Although I am inclined to structure the cult that way (CAVEAT: I need to make sure that doesn't cause any other problems with Gloranthan cosmology), I want to emphasize that my reasoning has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with G:ItHW and even less to do with Second Age. I can accept it in the case of Caladra & Aurelion only because it is a uniquely successful God Learner experiment. Basically they combined an Earth and Fertility cult with a Fire and Fertility cult using the Harmony Rune. Or something like that.

[Stew Stansfield]

In case it's not clear, I should stress that I was just joking in that post (on account of the errors mixing the deities' elements, genders and localities up and the confusion it's sown). Even poor Yelmalio didn't get this mucked about. (On more general issues of the combination? Cool!)

Edited November 19, 2015 by Quackatoa

[Martin]

I just feel to me it feels more comfy to have caladra as an Earth goddess...after all caladraland is named after her

I know we have exceptions like Heortland or Pamaltela but on the whole lands are named after earth deities so it just makes sense to me...

Edited November 19, 2015 by Martin
update

[M Helsdon]

40 minutes ago, Martin said:

I know we have exceptions like Heortland or Pamaltela but on the whole lands are named after earth deities so it just makes sense to me...

Genertela, Vithela, Umathela... There's no fixed standard naming convention, other than that lands are often named for a regionally important deity.

Edited November 19, 2015 by M Helsdon

[Joerg]

Thoughts about the material culture of the Caladralanders

These are suggestions rather than known facts...

Diet

Slash-and-burn agriculture doesn't use the plow, but still allows for grain cultivation alongside all kinds of vegetables and roots (supplying starch). However, I cannot thing about any vegetarian culture of spear-men. The spear is both a military and a hunting implement, and may be used for herding purposes, too.

What husbandry do the Caladralanders keep? If they keep cattle, it would be a breed specialized on browsing the forested slopes. The higher pasture probably is too broken for cattle, but fine for goats or sheep. The area around the settlements would be good for pigs, possibly of a smaller size than the lowland or forest breeds of Maniria. Marmots might be kept for meat and animal fat, too.

I expect a variety of colorful fowl to cohabitate with the humans. Peacocks of various sizes, possibly parrot variants feeding on wild fruit of the upper forest, pigeons, maybe some chicken breeds, too. Hardly any water fowl for lack of sizealy bodies of water. There are rivulets and small streams almost everywhere, but few water courses you couldn't jump across (unless they dug themselves deep canyons), and few depressions acting as catchment basins.

Do the Caladralanders keep animal companions? I'd hesitate to give them alynx or dogs, but perhaps they have mustelids or mongoose to keep pests down. Trained hunting birds are a possibility.

What is there to hunt? Small deer, wild pigs or rodents, monkeys, birds of any size and lifestyle, a few larger feline predators (puma? leopard/jaguar?), a breed of bears, tree lizards, snakes, frogs, salamanders, locusts, wild bees, ants,

I don't see much opportunity for fishing except in water-filled calderas, and there probably more amphibians than regular fish. Lots of water insects wherever it remains wet, though.

A couple of customary food insects might round out the diet. Possibly some variant of locust included.

 

Clothing

Fur and skin and birdskin (with feathers attached), weaves from feathers, plant fibre (possibly from palm-like leaf fronds rather than plant stalks (as for linen) or cotton). I don't see much potential for wool in that climate, although some kind of angora might be harvested.

 

Housing

As slash-and-burn farmers, we can assume either a certain mobility of their homesteads or otherwise a tula around permanent settlement sites with a migration pattern of the agricultural areas.

Or a combination thereof –. a permanent, fortified winter settlement site also serving as a refuge in case of invasions, and temporary settlements among the current field areas during the farming season.

The Guide tells us that the Caladralanders sow their fields and then leave to pursue other activities. This still can mean that they use temporary huts while in the neighborhood of the fields – both preparing the plots, and harvesting them.

Caladraland is probably the warmest spot in central Genertela, both with geothermal heat and mild coastal climate. The rugged terrain makes it possible to avoid wind exposure, or to seek it. Permanent structures will choose defendable sites – both against the elements (storm, ash, lava flows, earthquakes and hill slides) and against hostile visitors, whether human or beast.

Building materials will be wood (for frames and roof support, and woven branches for wall segments), volcanic rock or ash (which might be processed for some kind of lime cement taking over where other places use clay for plaster). Roofs should survive the occasional rain of hot rocks or ash, so thatch might be avoided for permanent buildings. Summer huts on the other hand might use huge leaves for thatching and walls.

I wonder whether the Caladralanders cultivate strangling figs or similar vines for wall segments, hedges or even bridges

I'm a bit curious about Caladralander storage solutions. Storage places need to keep of pests, humidity and heat. I see a lot of potential for baskets hung from the rafters, or even hanging platforms or framed nets for larger harvests.

I don't expect much local pottery (though plenty of imports from Esrolia – reused packaging of whichever goods were imported). Clay soil would be rare among the ejecta. Wines probably are stored in skins or possibly barrels, or amphorae traded from Esrolia. I expect many uses for resins harvested from the trees and bushes – incense, spice, conservatves, glues, waterproofing.

 

Tools

There would be a certain amount of brass available for local mining. (Brass, not bronze...)

Obsidian blades are widely used. The volcano priests might even have techniques to cast lava into raws for knapping.

Hunting tools include the stout spear for close combat, the atlatl/woomera for light, feathered javelins (bow strings are hard to maintain in the climate), throwing sticks (or slim obsidian-bladed axes) for prey in the trees, and nets or fringed lines with adhesives from tree or plant sap for smaller flying prey.

The main agricultural tool is a wood-bladed shovel shaped like an adze to shift the volcanic soil enough to place seeds or saplings, or to dig up roots and beets. Sickles for the harvest of grain are made from obsidian.

 

 

[Stew Stansfield]

16 minutes ago, Joerg said:

I don't see much opportunity for fishing except in water-filled calderas, and there probably more amphibians than regular fish. Lots of water insects wherever it remains wet, though.

Good stuff! Re: open-water fishing, this is what I wrote years ago:

 

Quote

 

Fire and Sea have always been foes in Kethaelan myth. Sshorg, Terror of the Deeps, surged forth to drown the burning world and its kingdoms; Vestkarthen, the Great Father, thrust his realm upwards and sent rivers of fire to parch the oceans to vapor and salt. Since the Dawn their children have borne the banners of this antagonism.

All Caladran tribes hold the Sea in an esteem born of fear, for it is the Watery Death that quenches the blood-fires of the soul. Most of those that ply the seas for food do so armed for war, unlike the Rightarm Islanders, whose ways influence only a few Caladran fishermen. Great outriggers of wood and bone are guarded by volcano-priests and warriors, and cast their nets to catch just those fish floating on the surface, boiled alive or suffocated along the Poison Shore. Only the bravest clan champions stride into the seas at dawn and dusk, to stand in the surf and cast a burning rock into its foam, crying challenges to Wachaza and his demons.

 

 

[Joerg]

42 minutes ago, Martin said:

I just feel to me it feels more comfy to have caladra as an Earth goddess...after all caladraland is named after her

I know we have exceptions like Heortland or Pamaltela but on the whole lands are named after earth deities so it just makes sense to me...

 

Typical Gloranthan country names end on -ela after the stem of a land goddess (Seshna, Frona, Ketha, Jrusta) or a ruling god (Genert, Pamalt, Vith, Wenel), -ia or -os after the stem of a land goddess (Esrola, Pelora, Manira(?), Ramala, Ralia, Teshna, Slonta, Vrala, Azila?, Sentana?). There are only a few -land countries, Heortland and Caladraland in Kethaela, Corolaland in Ralios, Rindland in Seshnela. Heortland is the land of the Heortlings. I would think that Caladraland would be the land of the Caladrings. There is no indication that Caladra is regarded as a land goddess.

[Jeff]

Caladra is the orange-skinned Fire goddess, Aurelion is the black-skinned Earth god. She is the fiery lava goddess, he is the god of the rich soil made from ash and cinder. Veskarthan is the great Fire within the earth, the father of them both.