Great Celestial River Hippopotamus

[Martin]

Does anyone know the Dara Happan  name of the Great Celestial River Hippopotamus God?

[metcalph]

What's the source?

[David Scott]

46 minutes ago, metcalph said:

What's the source?

Likely Sartar Rising 3, Gathering Thunder, page 61 with pic.

Likely called Celestial River Hippo, the other mention of Hippo god is in GRoY, where it's called Hippo God. The only likely difference is in Pamaltela where it's likely called Olmakau or in the style of Basmol/basmoli, Sofal/sofali likely Olmaka (Olmakau is the Massai word for hippo)

[Sir_Godspeed]

Are there hippos in Genertela? Are they in the Oslir or something?

[Joerg]

The Oslir and some of its tributaries might have them, but I'd not be too certain about that, also because the Dara Happans have exterminated river folk every now and then. Teshnos might be a good place to find them, or the southern continent and maybe Jrustela.

I don't think that Safelster has any, or downriver Seshnela. Maniria might just have a few. Genert's wastes should have any any more.

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

Seems odd for the term to be so widespread in central genertela, then. Seems like there would be other riverine animals that fit the location better.

[metcalph]

53 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Are there hippos in Genertela? Are they in the Oslir or something?

There were Hippos in the Golden Age that were foes of the Darjiinians (along with the Tapirs and the Crocodiles).  They are not mentioned further and hence I assume the Genertelan species is extinct.

[Tindalos]

15 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Are there hippos in Genertela? Are they in the Oslir or something?

IMG, they're regarded as the mortal offspring of the River Horse spirits. They escaped Chaos by giving up their spiritual nature, but in the process they lost their great beauty and became fearsome and savage beasts to survive.

The Zola Fel has quite a few, especially in the marshy areas.

[Sir_Godspeed]

Well, it's either something like that or the DHs and Orlanthi have been holding on to a cultural memory for over a millennium and a half. Which isn't impossible, of course, but would probably entail that no one really knew that there was a mundane animal that the Sky Hippo was based on.

The closest equivalent I can come up with would perhaps be how no one today really knows what kind of animal Behemoth was meant to be likened to. I mean, the difference here is of course that it wasn't necessarily based directly on any mundane animal, which is why it's not a perfect analogy.

[David Scott]

I've just had a good search through my Glorantha collection. Hippos are pretty much missing from Glorantha except as the hippo hsunchen Pamaltela and the golden age foes. The two major Gloranthan Bestiaries are lacking them (although they do appear in the Gateway Bestiary). No encounter tables have them either. Greg's notes lack them as well. Celestial River Hippo is pretty much unique and will clearly be the subject of a great HeroQuest returning them back to Genertela for the Hero Wars. I can see Waha's brother who was turned into a dog leading the quest to create the Hippo tribe in Prax, a sanctuary for canine misfits who long for their own sturdy mount (other mad hippo rider art is available).

https://gillieandmarc.com/shop/paintings/he-opened-his-eyes-and-it-was-a-starry-starry-night/

in case you want a copy

(later he meets rabbit woman, the goddess of praxian rabbits who thinks he's really cool on his hippo and they marry. https://gillieandmarc.com/shop/public-sculpture/hippo-wild-ride/)

Edited September 28, 2018 by David Scott
add pic link

[jeffjerwin]

Speaking of dog-headed people, who are the dog-heads who were carried on the back of Worcha Rage?

(In the RW, perhaps they are like the dog-heads who fought King Arthur or Saint Christopher's species, but in Glorantha...?)

Also, I'm much in favor of Nick Brooke's Hippogriff's Avenging Daughter: http://etyries.albionsoft.com/etyries.com/folktale/hippo.html