elemtilas wrote:
I am here! Took a while to find this place --- could swear twas empty brick wall the other day... Anyway, although I live here in Auntimoany, I was born in what is now the Queendom of Westmarche. For that reason, my family here call me Canash, which is the ancient name for that land. In Westmarche, each parent and godparent gives a newborn a name, so most people have four names. People whose fathers have two or three wives will naturally have many more names. My name there is Brass-Spoon Rattles-Jar Three-Leg-Dog Running-Home. Folks here think my name is so very quaint. I suppose my parents and godparents felt very clever, naming me for a story about a dog that runs into the house at the sound of an old spoon rattling around in an empty jar!
This is a rather funny story. Can you tell me, though, what a „dog" is? Is it something like our
rak?
It gets cold enough in winter! Then we also wear a woolen cape and mittens if it's really bitter; but no one needs a cape except in the coldest months! We don't generally wear very much at all: britches and maybe stockings; of course a few neck rings, arm rings, ankle rings -- anywhere we can put a ring! I always like to wear a cap, too. And no matter what else we wear, we always have a small memory pouch on a cord -- we keep special little trinkets in there, things that remind of some place or event. Mind you, we don't always wear stockings, especially in the summer. They do become rather warm. Our monks wear a kind of robe, but tis of colored linen, yellow I believe it's called.
Here in Maadú, it gets cold in the mountains to the North, where the mines are. I have never been there, though.
Our women love rings, as well. The rich ones use brass rings. The poorer folk make them out of river hemp, same as we use for tunics.
Our monks are mostly concerned with the maintenance of tes, kind of the spiritual balance of all things. They meditate a lot, they sing and kind dance a bit, too. They're very wise and often teach their lore to anyone who wants to learn; but mostly they seem to be around whenever there is someone in need. And they're all very old.
Is „monk“ your word for a priest? They seem to have similar duties. We meditate on the ancient inscriptions, we lead religious ceremonies and feasts, but educating our people is our most important duty. We need to make sure that Maandi speak pure Lirsh, as it is a holy language, bestowed upon us by the gods. We try to teach even the poorest folk to at least read some of the script.
Other important things we do is passing judgements, resolving conflicts and electing
ternans and the king. In some regions, the
ternans pass their office onto their heirs but it is against the gods’ will.
We Daine live a good long time according to the years of Men, but our monks live perhaps twice or thrice as long as even that! Maybe three or four thousand years!
I don’t know how to feel about this. Either you are lying, or you are a demon, after all. No mortal creature can survive that long.
I am confused! I've never seen our Sun another Sun, so I think we must only have the one. Unless she ate the other Sun long ago... Anyway, when we look up in the sky, we can see Selanna -- this is Gea's twin. We call her this because we can easily see the clouds and storms that pass over her lands and seas. Geographical philosophers are fond of saying that they have better maps of Selanna than they have of Gea. Wesara is a tiny moon that you can barely see during the day, but at night he's bright and white! Men think we're crazy, but we Daine know there is also a very tiny third moon. I guess Men can't see it. Maybe because it's so dark, they can't tell it's there?
You are telling me very strange things indeed. Aren’t the skies the Eternal Realm where gods and souls of great heroes reside? I understand that you take „Gea“ to mean the Earth. Do you believe the Earth has a twin that has a soul and lives amongst the gods?
You also seem to be calling the Old God Wesara. I will try to remember that.
Are you not scared your one Sun will eat the other and never spit her out again?
Why would anyone want to eat their brother? You have some ridiculous notions.
Your gods live in your moon? The gods of Men seem here to prefer mountain tops. The Father of all gods and people lives in Over Heaven. I think that's even beyond the beautiful world of the stars!
There are two kinds of gods. The Heavenly Gods live in the skies, as I said. It is the Old God, his Bride, the Darkness, and their sons, the Twin Suns. With them, the great heroes are allowed to rest forever, and we see them as stars. They shine as bright as they were glorious on this Earth.
The second kind of gods is the Earthly Gods. They have been brought to life by the Old God to govern the Earth and protect it from demons and evil spirits. They live on the Holy Mountain Kepay so maybe it is them that the Men in your land worship? They are the Mother Goddess and the Heavenly Warrior. They also have a son - Tarmar, the God of the Sea, but he has been expelled for his hubris and lives in the depths of the ocean.
What did the demon skeleton look like?
The skeleton (which we keep secret in the depths of our Great Temple and only select few priests know of its existence) looks like a weird mixture of a man and a
dark hunter. It has a tail, a snout, four fingers with opposable thumbs and claws at the end of each finger. Their feet look very similar to their hands, just like those of a
dark hunter or a
rak.
Down in the Palas, they have a great museum will kinds of mathoms in it. They even have the skeletons of mighty dragons there! I couldn't believe anything so large could ever live and walk; and I always thought the wild oliphants of wastelands were big!
I have heard of dragons. One Ardaan barbarian we have caught claimed their folk still fights the demons in the far south, and he claimed the demons there ride atop their dragons. It must be silly talk, though. How could a godless barbarian ever defeat a demon?