Foxes and Elurae

[jeffjerwin]

More Vulpine notes.

'Ulurdum' - a now vanished planet - was also called Blue Fox. Ulurda is/was 'Blue Vixen'. Thus at one time there was a celestial fox pair. Ulurda was claimed as an identity of Rufelza, the Red Moon, by herself as Blue Moon. (http://www.glorantha.com/docs/the-orogeria-moon/)

Now, there are thematic similarities between the Moon Goddess and the fox goddess - certainly she is crafty, desirable, and autonomous of other divinities. Orogeria is a goddess of survival and finding things, which are of course, fox-like. Now, in our world, at least in East Asia, there are said to be foxes living on the moon. Kitsune are even said to be able to mimic a second moon in the night sky. This may be associated with the Buddhist Jataka stories: the moon-dwelling jackal of South Asia was 'translated' into a fox-spirit (much as the nagas were translated into dragons).

Were-Jackals are, according to Sandy Peterson, also a sort not-Hsunchen, much like the Elurae; Jackals are also associated with death and the underworld. [Arcane Lore, Forgotten Secrets ? - not sure]

Now, Orogeria has been identified in the Guide as a form of the Lady of the Wild, who is also the mother of the Elurae (curious, no...? considering who Velhara's brother is).

Hence one wonders if the partial dissolution of the Blue Moon and the current 'dislocation' of the Elurae across Genertela are connected. I am moreover reminded of the flying foxes, an interesting type of bat.

Edited September 2, 2018 by jeffjerwin

[jajagappa]

14 minutes ago, jeffjerwin said:

Jackals are also associated with death and the underworld.

As are the dogs and hounds of Jajagappa whose wild pack can run down the powerful dead and whose net can bind and drag them to hell.

[jeffjerwin]

46 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

As are the dogs and hounds of Jajagappa whose wild pack can run down the powerful dead and whose net can bind and drag them to hell.

The name 'Jajagappa' sounds a bit like a jackal or fox noise. Definitely some sort of canine vocalisation. 

[jeffjerwin]

How Vixen taught Yinkin to be lazy

 

One evening Vixen was walking past the Storm Village's barn.

"I see you" said Yinkin.

"What are you doing?" she said. 

"I am keeping watch." Yinkin walked along the boundary.

"You are wasting your time" said Vixen. "I wasn't doing nothing."

Yinkin hissed. "This is important".

Vixen yipped with laughter. "Let me show you something." She turned into a woman.

"Oh." said Yinkin.

Much later Yinkin was feeling more relaxed. "You need to take it easy," said Vixen.

"My brother depends on me," said Yinkin.

"Not really." said Vixen. "You just like to think so. If you conserved your strength, your feats would be more special, not less."

"Also" she said, "the inside of the barn here is much warmer and cozier than the edge of the tula. And there are delicious mice."

"True"

"And it is the prerogative of heroes to rest. You never know what dreams you might have missed!"

He was already asleep.

The next time she stopped by to inspect the barn she saw him napping.

Good thing too, because she had to get lunch back to the den. Such tasty little ducklings!

Edited September 2, 2018 by jeffjerwin

[jeffjerwin]

More notes:

From Anaxial's Roster.

We learn that 'Red Fox' was a shape of Trickster and his lover was a 'Dara Happan princess' whom he turned also into a fox. (...note that the Handsome Grinner [Air/Movement] mask from the Pavis book for HQ is given a beard of red fox fur).

This Trickster is probably not Rakenveg (despite his fire associations), as that trickster is a hare, a fox prey animal. [GRAoY] For this reason I suspect that 'Red Fox' is a Trickster god associated with a Dara Happan-adjacent culture, and we can perhaps exclude him from Pelanda, where Rakenveg is also situated in semi-canon material. In fact this 'trickster fox' may be a transformed form of Orlanth himself; 'fox' clans are common among the Orlanthi (I notice a few among the Hyalorings as well in Six Ages). Fox burrows are Earth burrows, and of course Ernalda, in a round-about away, could be said to be a Dara Happan princess, as a slave-wife of the Emperor.

In Arinae legend, Orogeria resurrected Vixen, who could change her coat with the seasons [Illusion rune], and was the most cunning of all beasts, after she was slain by her consort, Kenstrata, and her litter after her resurrection were blue. They could never be caught afterwards. (Kenstrata later slew and ate his son by Orogeria in the form of a deer. [Entekosiad]) Orogeria's resurrection of Blue Fox/Ulurda and her equation with the fox is probably a variation on a similar story.

Inora turned herself and a lover into white foxes and are the ancestors of that breed.

[Joerg]

I don't have any evidence for it, but I always assumed the elurae to take the shape and characteristics of red foxes. Possibly because those are the main type of fox you would expect in Dragon Pass.

There is this talking red fox stepping forth as a sort of ambassador of the Lady of the Wild in the King of Dragon Pass game demanding that your clan cease to cultivate more land in their tula. I don't think that that's an elura.

There are two fox clans mentioned in King of Sartar, the Running Fox clan which produced Monrogh Lantern, and the Jenstali aka Red Fox clan whose king tricked King Ortossi of the Colymar (from the Karandoli clan) into an Other Side hunt from which he did not return. Sounds like a possible involvement of a fox trickster, doesn't it?

One of the roles of a Trickster used to be to make a change in Gloranthan reality and myth permanent. Not saying that Monrogh was a trickster, but he did change the cult of the Elmali...

[David Scott]

On 2/28/2018 at 4:20 AM, jeffjerwin said:

Come, share your fox wisdom...

Elurae are covered on page 32 of the RQ Bestiary. Runes: Beast 60%, Fertility 60%, Illusion 60%.

Elurae are magical, they are not normal foxes, they are part of the beastmen and aren't animals but hybrids. Likewise as has been mentioned, not everything that's called a fox is interrelated. There is Trickster magic in RQG that can turn you into fox, but that doesn't make you an Elurae.

By comparison I'd say that Red Foxes are Beast 100%, and although an offspring of Trickster illusion 55%. Blue Foxes may not be related to Trickster, although by their latin name in AR, likely. They would be the same as Red foxes, although I say the runes for these creatures isn't so relevant. They don't need dominant elemental rune.

On 2/28/2018 at 4:20 AM, jeffjerwin said:

I see that Inora has her own kind of foxes. They do seem to be the children of Eurmal as well.

I think these are different and have a different name in AR. I'd give these Beast 100% and Darkness 20%, but no illusion.

[PhilHibbs]

On 2/28/2018 at 4:20 AM, jeffjerwin said:

Edit: The "Fox rite" is Fire Season, Illusion Week, Wild-day, which hints that the fox is red because of Eurmal the Fire-stealer. Fire? Though the fox is the least psychologically fiery of all creatures...

Fire is associated with intellect, and foxes are famously clever. Also there's the "fire fox" (red panda), which is technically not a canid but a relative of the racoon, but I don't think that matters in Glorantha unless you want it to.

Edited September 2, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[jeffjerwin]

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

I don't have any evidence for it, but I always assumed the elurae to take the shape and characteristics of red foxes. Possibly because those are the main type of fox you would expect in Dragon Pass.

There is this talking red fox stepping forth as a sort of ambassador of the Lady of the Wild in the King of Dragon Pass game demanding that your clan cease to cultivate more land in their tula. I don't think that that's an elura.

There are two fox clans mentioned in King of Sartar, the Running Fox clan which produced Monrogh Lantern, and the Jenstali aka Red Fox clan whose king tricked King Ortossi of the Colymar (from the Karandoli clan) into an Other Side hunt from which he did not return. Sounds like a possible involvement of a fox trickster, doesn't it?

One of the roles of a Trickster used to be to make a change in Gloranthan reality and myth permanent. Not saying that Monrogh was a trickster, but he did change the cult of the Elmali...

Interestingly, I've discovered that the unpublished sections of Anaxial's Roster associated the were foxes with Raccoon Dogs ('Vuskarasas'), which are rather different in East Asian folklore...

Raccoon dogs, who I used to live near in Japan, are not really the thieves and seducers that kitsune are.

I much prefer the red fox association. Elurae are believed in canon texts to be the descendants of the Lady of the Wild, and the folkloric fox shapeshifter can also speak as a fox, not just in human form.

I, of course, came up before with the awful suggestion that Eurmal is Elmal's shadow/Other. And that the firestealer therefore is the spark of the Sun...

E L M A L

E R M A L

One is the opposite of the other: traditional versus innovative; loyal versus betrayer; brother versus outlaw...

Eurmal ~ Kazkurtum

We all know Eurmal is the fire bringer, the arsonist, and the Friend of Man (hearth starter)...

We all know Elmal is the fire carrier, the protector of the hearth, Lightfore, Lightface... (whose wife slept with Eurmal)

Hence Red Fox has a bit of 'Fire' in her/him, along with Earth, and Darkness.

Edited September 2, 2018 by jeffjerwin