Esrola, Heler, and Elmal

[Bohemond]

This is the revised version of the Heler side of the myth. It's mostly just some cosmetic changes. 

 

The Contest between Heler and Elmal (Helerite Version)

 

            Once when Heler was out roaming, he looked down and saw the loveliest of all goddesses, Esrola, walking the land. The radiant goddess was stunning to him, with her golden hair in the Courting Braids, with a jeweled comb to hold it in place, and wearing her dress of Life. He desired to court her, but her beauty daunted her, and he feared to approach her. But he saw that she was suffering from Elmal’s oppressive heat. She was fanning herself and lamenting for all her children around her who were withering from Elmal’s relentless glare. 

            So Heler sought to cool her, in hopes that she would appreciate it and thank him. So he gathered his flock of clouds around him and led them toward her, to shield her from Elmal’s heat and provide her with a refreshing rain. But when Elmal saw Heler and his flock rolling in, he was angry, for he was seeking to impress the lovely goddess with the blaze of his heat. So Elmal called his thanes and with his fiery warband, he came roaring at Heler and his flock, striking the flock so hard that it scattered in all directions and sending Heler retreating from that place. 

            When Heler collected himself, he realized that his flock had been scattered, and there was no way he could comfort Esrola without first gathering his flock. And so he went searching for them. He put on his cloak Blue Misty and took up the unbreakable Hailstone Shield and armed himself with his spears Downpour and Torrent.

The blue god was unsure where to look for his flock. So he sought out his highest children, the Cloudhawks, because they are known for their keen eyesight, watching the world from the top of the Middle Air. Most of them were too flighty to have paid attention, and they could not say where his flock had gone. But one of them, Tolartora the High-Sighted, had watched Elmal’s attack and saw where the sheep had scattered to. She promised to help her father search them out. 

            First Tolartora took him to find Fog Lamb, the youngest of his flock, who is as quiet as the mist at sunrise. She had been captured by one of Elmal’s thanes, Roaring Maw, who intended to roast her and consume her utterly. Roaring Maw was so powerful that Heler could not possibly get close enough him to do battle. But when Roaring Maw opened his maw to swallow Fog Lamb, Heler threw his spear Downpour into Roaring Maw’s mouth, so that he could no longer roar at all. Roaring Maw fled, and Heler was able to rescue Fog Lamb. 

            Then Heler wanted to find Soggy Fleece, the wettest of his flock, who is as gentle as the summer showers. Tolartora told the rain god that Soggy Fleece had fled into the midst of the Tanglewood Thicket and had gotten caught there. When Heler entered Tanglewood, the Queen of Tanglewood was angry with him, because she felt that everyone was her enemy and that no one should enter her lands. She demanded that the rain god leave, saying that everything that came there belonged to her. But Heler showed the Queen that he was no enemy but rather promised to always be a friend to her and her people if she would allow him to reclaim his sheep. The Queen of Tanglewood agreed and allowed him to rescue Soggy Fleece, and since then Heler has always been welcomed among her people. 

            Finally, Tolartora led him to Thunder Hooves, the most warlike of his flock, who is as loud as the booming lightning of Orlanth’s storm. Thunder Hooves was being stalked by one of the Hell Hounds, Bargrau, who had three tails and six ears and teeth like spears. Bargrau was too strong for Thunder Hooves, who fled him but was unable to escape him. Tolartora swooped in to help rescue the thunder ram, but Bargrau caught the swift cloudhawk’s wing in his teeth and broke it and threw her down. When Heler saw this, he struck Bargrau so hard with his spear Torrent that it broke most of his teeth, sheared off four of his ears, and sent him fleeing with all of his tails between his legs. 

            Having gathered his flock to him, Heler returned to offer comfort to Esrola. First Fog Ewe crept in, and made it impossible for Elmal to see anything about him. Then Thunder Hooves raced after, making so much noise that Elmal’s thanes could not hear him when he called for them. Then Soggy Fleece came in, bringing with him a gentle rain that cooled Elmal’s oppressive heat and revived Esrola’s withered children. Esrola rejoiced at this gift that Heler had given to her, and she allowed him to court her, which he gladly did. The Life-goddess called him her Year-Husband and took him to bed and her children flourished and grew well, thanks to his cooling rains. 

[Grievous]

I hope you don't mind a little necromancy, but I've been looking at the Heler-Elmal conflict between the Red Cow and Dolutha, to mine some adventure ideas... but I have had a few questions raised in my mind. Twisted Morganeth is stated to be a Summer Queen, but I couldn't really find any information about that whole concept. Do we have any established canon about this among the Orlanthi that I am missing, or are we looking at a more general "one girl is chosen as the best one via some rite and a contest for her hand ensues" type thing?

I took a look at Ian's old Red Cow material (pre-Coming Storm) and there the Priestess of Voria gets a status much like this (and again I wonder if this is a general Orlanthi/canon thing, or something that's only extant here?).

Your knowledge and ideas would be appreciated!

[jajagappa]

15 minutes ago, Grievous said:

Twisted Morganeth is stated to be a Summer Queen, but I couldn't really find any information about that whole concept.

It's just a representation of the basic mythic story of who prevails in the summer: the storm/rains (Heler) or the sun (Elmal). Whoever wins, gains the hand of Esrola the grain goddess, and the summer is either correspondingly wet or dry.   Thunder Rebels p.122 had some writeup on this:

Elmal and the Heler Storm
Fire Season is the equivalent of summer. It celebrates the rivalry between Heler and Elmal. Even before Orlanth was chieftain these two were rivals for Esrola. Even before these two gods joined with the bountiful earth there was the struggle between warm and cold, above and below. Elmal is the bright and warm god, Heler the cold and wet one. Elmal is the bright day that comes from the Sun. Heler is the dense, warm fertile rain of summer. Most of the time, Elmal rules, and the weather is bright and hot. Heler is a vast cloud that gathers over the Choralinthor Bay, which sometimes grows so large that it just creeps over all of Kethaela and up into the hills. He is pitifully weak, and his winds grow even weaker throughout the season. Sometimes, however, even his tiny wind is enough to send the great cloud rumbling into Dragon Pass.

[Grievous]

So, it might make sense that a Summer Queen is chosen when there is an eligible Esrola Priestess (probably junior) up for marriage and males from different clans will vie for her in some form of contest. This would not really be a yearly event, but more like once a generation or so. Of course, Twisted Morganeth doesn't seem to be an Esrola Priestess, so there is that. I also wonder should the male candidates be restricted to initiates of Heler or Elmal, or would any Orlanthi apply (and if so, should they still choose to champion either of the aforementioned gods or could they stand in for their own).

Edited July 24, 2019 by Grievous

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Grievous said:

This would not really be a yearly event

It should be yearly. And I expect would result in a year-marriage.

[Leingod]

It's one of those rituals where "close enough" works just fine. An initiate of Ernalda can stand in for Esrola; an initiate of Orlanth or maybe even Barntar can stand in for Heler (since they're so closely associated anyway), etc. In the one we actually know of, Ivar (an Elmal initiate) and Gudny Gold-Lamb (an Orlanth initiate) competed for the hand of Morganeth (an Ernalda initiate). The latter two expressly acted as Heler and Esrola for the purpose of that ritual.

This is a recreation of what happens every year, and is a way of determining what the weather will be during summer, so it's not likely to see too much regional variation with stuff like different gods or whatnot. That said, we also know it can have alternate motives; the Red Cow apparently tried to use the Summer Marriage to attempt to "prove the triumph of Heler over Elmal," perhaps due to their frequent conflicts with the Dolutha (the Red Cow and Dolutha respectively have a lot of worshipers of Heler and Elmal, so they may have felt they'd be symbolizing their own triumph over their neighbors, even though both Gudny and Ivar were Dolutha clansmen), but perhaps they simply felt like they'd benefit more from a rainy summer that year (perhaps because a rainy summer would be better for the grasses their cattle feed on).

Edited July 24, 2019 by Leingod

[Qizilbashwoman]

Here's some questions:

What are the practical results of the wins? Rain is better for everyone in Summer, whether you're an agriculturalist or a herder. Better be clear. For example:

• Heler means rainy summer - but also a chance of flooding, spoiled food, disease, and a stormy winter. Hunting and raiding will be hard through all that underbrush and with a wet bowstring, you'll be eating rabbits all winter! A lot of girls will be born.
• Elmal means a hot, dry summer - but also a mild winter with good hunting, good health, and everyone loves meat! It's great raiding weather and the food won't go rotten. There will be a glut of boys born!

That's just something I threw out there, because as it stands, who wants Elmal to win? There should be pros and cons to each win since it's a friendly rivalry inside the Storm Tribe. Elmal lets you smiteth yer enemies and winter's not so bad, but Heler really gets the fertility rolling and you can grow up your tribe.

The real question is what happens when Esrola wins.

[scott-martin]

Just now, Qizilbashwoman said:

The real question is what happens when Esrola wins.

Coincidentally she gets the weather she thinks she wants at the time!

[Qizilbashwoman]

3 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

Coincidentally she gets the weather she thinks she wants at the time!

lmao and her priestesses smirk all year, and presumably wear the crown or whatever that signifies whoever won that last year

[scott-martin]

6 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

lmao and her priestesses smirk all year, and presumably wear the crown or whatever that signifies whoever won that last year

The last day of the Garhound contest is always Ladies Choice for a good reason!

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

The real question is what happens when Esrola wins.

She chooses Argan Argar! There's a reason her throne is atop the Shadow Plateau.

Of course, there's also the other, dreaded question: What happens when Daga wins???

[Leingod]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

What happens when Daga wins???

He wins Heler.

[Qizilbashwoman]

7 minutes ago, Leingod said:

He wins Heler.

Heler is an option, since they switch gender at will in the Storm tribe presentation.

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

She chooses Argan Argar!

Do you want Kitori? Because that's how you get Kitori.

... I want more Kitori, let's make this happen. Also let's liberate the ergeshi from the Gbaji-tainted Yelmalion scum, since we're talking Elmal and Kitori.

[Leingod]

2 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Do you want Kitori? Because that's how you get Kitori.

Technically it isn't, it's how you get Ezkankekko, whom Eurmal made sure would be the last of his line when he killed Ezkankekko's son, thus ensuring that they were the Only Old One. The Kitori are basically the equivalent of Ezkankekko deciding to adopt to fill the void.

[Grievous]

Looking at the myths of Six Ages, we see that there Elmal is married to Nyalda, who to me looks more like their version of Esrola than Ernalda. We have the story of "Nyalda's Bride Price" there which details how Elmal won over Nyalda over her other suitors. It would make sense that there'd be some overlap between this story and how the Orlanthi see the two getting married (referring to the versions of the myths Bohemund presented earlier). 

[Qizilbashwoman]

9 hours ago, Leingod said:

The Kitori are basically the equivalent of Ezkankekko deciding to adopt to fill the void.

I'm aware, but they're like a weird new thing: "not troll, nor human, but Kitori". Tusk Riders without the Esrolan madness curse. I stan Kitori and wish they got more love.

[Akhôrahil]

On 3/17/2019 at 7:24 PM, Bohemond said:

The Contest between Heler and Elmal (Helerite Version)

This is up for a heroquest in my campaign next session. 

[Bohemond]

On 11/2/2021 at 4:16 AM, Akhôrahil said:

This is up for a heroquest in my campaign next session. 

How did it go? I'm very interested to hear how you played it out.

[Akhôrahil]

18 minutes ago, Bohemond said:

How did it go? I'm very interested to hear how you played it out.

Various delays, self-quarantining and other adventuring in between, so not done yet. I think it will be the session after next now (next session is the Great Hunt with Lunar shenanigans)!