Aldryami myth of spring (and end of Winter)

[Manu]

I'd like my player to participate to the (Pamaltela) Aldryami spring 'heroquest' where they beat the winter (and the mountain snow as the forest is beside a mountain) and allow the spring to come.

 

Any idea on how the 'myth' should be structured? I'm not a myth specialist, but I want something nice and divers.

[Runeblogger]

Have you got the Aldryami book by Mongoose? That should include the myth about how the elves see the end of the Great Darkness and the beginning of Time. I guess this is the crucial myth they  celebrate during Sacred Time. The Great Darkness is the worst winter possible, when all the Earth goddesses were dead (they were really sleeping in the Underworld). After the Compromise, the first spring happened. According to Shannon Applecline, I guess it was right then that the elven cycle of death and rebirth was created. ❄️🌺

Some great Aldryami heroine must have travelled to the Underworld to awaken the goddess(es). In the process, he has to learn that all the gods that harm the forest must be part of the Cycle for the world to be born again.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Runeblogger

[Manu]

Alas no I don't have this book

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Manu said:

Any idea on how the 'myth' should be structured?

Some thoughts.  First, this is the Sacred Time myth.  Second, like the other Earth Goddesses, Aldrya has retreated into the Underworld, hidden from the forces of Darkness, Winter, and Chaos.  The Seeds of Life are with her, hard and cold.  To awaken the Seed will likely need gifts of warmth and water.  And the Seed will need a path by which either it can be physically brought into the world or its awakened self can come back to the world.

So, steps/stations that I might put into such a myth:

1) Obtaining the Gifts - you have to come to Aldrya bearing the Three Gifts (because 3 is always the nice, mythic number): Water, Warmth (not Fire), and Food (for some reason the Dung of the Bull comes to mind here).  Whether this is one step or three, you need these.  And maybe you need something more?

2) Descent into the Underworld - you have to know how/where to reach Aldrya's Underground Palace.  This may be multiple steps.  You depart from the Dead Wood, and there should be some foe that tracks/pursues you (perhaps the Taker and Waster?).  Perhaps the entry to the Underworld is down the Steps of Deepening Slumber - and there is some chance that you will succumb as well to the Unending Sleep.  Probably have to cross the River of Forgetfulness.  And then there is the Test of the Nightwood.

3) Presentation to Aldrya (if you have GtG, see p.747, the Glyph 3 picture) - you must convince Aldrya to give up the Seed of Spring/New Life.  She will require you to prove you have the Three Gifts, and she will demand Three Oaths from you:  to protect the Seed, to nourish the Seed, and to guard the New Life.  

4) Departure and Attack - you must defend the Seed (and the Three Gifts) against those that would use it for their own food.  This might be uz, mostali, demons, maggots, or something else that wants to eat it.

5) The Planting - you must find the right place to plant the Seed and provide the Three Gifts to the Seed.  This may be before or after you've climbed from the Underworld.  Either way, you're still in the Otherworld.  Depending on where you choose, you will face different foes who want to nourish the Seed in their own way (e.g. chaos wants to turn it into chaotic/mutant growth or blight it; spirits want to turn it into the Seed of Hatred; etc.).

6) The Path to Life - the Seed bursts open, and you must guide the Child of the Seed to Life.  There will be one final foe here - the Keeper of the Dead - who will claim that the Child is of the Dead, not the Living, and cannot pass.  You must determine how to overcome the Keeper of the Dead (battle, subterfuge, or whatever).  Success here means that the Child of the Seed reaches the Living World and greets the Rising Sun.

[Manu]

Yes I like it. A little bit too much for what I want to do, but very good ideas. Thanks