Sphinxes in Glorantha

[Brian Duguid]

On 3/28/2022 at 4:51 PM, Joerg said:

According to the Monomyth, all beasts come from the twin dragons Hykim and Mikyh, and thus are manifestations of draconic devolution or development.

In the original write-up (Heroes #6), Hykim/Mikyh are explicitly dragons, and also "the ancestors of all beasts". I interpret this as their being the personification of the Beast Rune i.e. the principle of animal form, descended from the Dragon form. They "mated" with various elements to produce the elemental beasts or their various ancestors (Sokazub, Jaskal etc), or with specific deities to originate birds, horses, cattle / hoofed animals etc. Some of these were through deities that gave birth to animal races (e.g. Eiritha), and indeed some were deities whose as the progenitor of further animals was secondary (Storm Bull).

Their being the "owner" of the Beast rune is different from them being the ancestor of all beasts as clearly not all species in Glorantha are directly descended through a direct branching lineage from common ancestors; some were created in other ways, albeit still making use of Hykim/Mikyh's Beast Rune.

As everyone knows, the Man Rune form then came about when gods looked at the finest of the beasts that had been created so far, the baboons, and used their form as the template for the Man Rune and all its various offshoots.

This gives scope for hybrid man/beast creatures to have a range of origins: beasts who learned to take the new human form at will (the origins of the Hsunchen, and perhaps the Elurae), those who descended from a union of beast and human parents (beastmen, whether by EWF experimentation or mythic unions), unions of form from means other than mating (e.g. scorpionmen) etc.

Hybrid beast/beast creatures similarly should be able to arise from all sorts of unions of species which have first been individuated.

[dumuzid]

12 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

Where is this stated, please?

I seem to recall I first encountered the idea in one of the older threads here involving the Hsunchen of western Genertela, either @scott-martin's or @M Helsdon's posts.  I'm not exactly sure what the original source for the idea was, but I think it's connected to the reference to the Serpent Heads defeated by Hardros Hardslaughter per p. 79 of my copy of History of the Heortling Peoples.  If anyone else knows better I'd be pleased to learn too, as flipping through HotHP, Heortling Mythology and the Guide to Glorantha didn't return the evidence I was hoping for.

[M Helsdon]

10 hours ago, dumuzid said:

I seem to recall I first encountered the idea in one of the older threads here involving the Hsunchen of western Genertela, either @scott-martin's or @M Helsdon's posts. 

Am not sure if this was one of my posts.

I do know that there were different Beast People, one group being the Face Guards who fought the Thunder Brothers when they recovered their herds in the Plundering of Aron during the Storm Age. The Face Guards had the bodies of domesticated animals and the heads of humans. I believe this is referred to in the Book of Heortling Mythology.

Then there are the rare Sedrali Dog People of Ralios who are native to the northern Aldryami forests of Ralios. They display the intelligence of humans and the instincts of dogs; the males have human bodies but the heads of dogs, the females have canine bodies and human heads.

Edited April 9, 2022 by M Helsdon

[Joerg]

On 4/8/2022 at 11:58 AM, Brian Duguid said:

Their being the "owner" of the Beast rune is different from them being the ancestor of all beasts as clearly not all species in Glorantha are directly descended through a direct branching lineage from common ancestors; some were created in other ways, albeit still making use of Hykim/Mikyh's Beast Rune.

Ho hum. Mythically, Grandfather Mortal is the ancestor of all Man Rune creatures, including the Agimori, Thunobutan and Dara Happan oriiginal people made of clay by various coteries of deities.

One thing being true doesn't necessarily prevent a seemingly incompatible version from being true as well.

 

 

On 4/8/2022 at 11:58 AM, Brian Duguid said:

As everyone knows, the Man Rune form then came about when gods looked at the finest of the beasts that had been created so far, the baboons, and used their form as the template for the Man Rune and all its various offshoots.

Or Pamalt and some of his Necklace buddies tried again after dropping the Hoolar, the Jelmre and Pelmre before arriving at the Agimori.

 

On 4/8/2022 at 11:58 AM, Brian Duguid said:

This gives scope for hybrid man/beast creatures to have a range of origins: beasts who learned to take the new human form at will (the origins of the Hsunchen, and perhaps the Elurae), those who descended from a union of beast and human parents (beastmen, whether by EWF experimentation or mythic unions), unions of form from means other than mating (e.g. scorpionmen) etc.

A case could be made that the original "Man Rune" creatures were bird -shaped, like the Parrot People of Forng, the Keets and Durulz, or even the upright Griffins as the one on the Gods Wall. (Not Galgarenge, IIRC)

 

On 4/8/2022 at 11:58 AM, Brian Duguid said:

Hybrid beast/beast creatures similarly should be able to arise from all sorts of unions of species which have first been individuated.

Such creatures might be the inadvertent by-produts of way too much magic/Creation going on. LIke the Luathan transformation of Seshnela.

[Jeff]

On 11/15/2018 at 4:51 PM, jeffjerwin said:

Curiously, I can find no evidence that there are Greek or Egyptian style sphinxes in Glorantha. Are they mentioned anywhere? I suspect they make sense as inhabitants of Beast Valley, given the presence of manticores, fauns, and minotaurs there... Or maybe they make sense as spirits (compare the picture on p.364 of the new RQ rules, where there is a similarly structured man-deer). Thoughts?

 

Edit: I have discovered that the deuterocanonical Dara Happa Stirs mentions depictions of Shargash as a male Egyptian-style Sphinx, which makes a great deal of sense. Perhaps the Greek sphinx could be used as a model for an Alkothi demoness.

By sphinx do we mean a great human-headed beast with the body of a lion or bear or other such child of Fralar? Then the answer is of course such entities exist in the Hero Plane. There are countless fantastic creatures in the God Time and the Spirit World.