M.D. Presley's Blog, page 7

August 1, 2016

Waer and the Splitting of Sol's Children

Previous Stories in this cycle:Sol and His Chosen.[From the Biba Sacara, Book 1, Chapter 2.]And it came to pass that the Children of Sol multiplied across the face of Ayr, daughters and sons born unto them each according to type. And the Children of Sol became numerous, living together in peace in one great tribe that covered the land.But then evil came to Ayr.The spirit Waer was made of Black Breath and had long despised Sol and the great things He had wrought. So she followed Sol on His travels through the void, nipping at His heels like a cur in eternal opposition to Him. But Waer was weaker than Sol and it took her many eons to find Ayr, finally falling down to the earth like a flaming star that shook the land.And so she arose to see the wonders of Ayr, the Plants, Animals and Man that Sol created with His sacrifice. Waer saw Sol’s creations were good, but she felt hatred in her heart when she beheld the Children of Sol because they were His chosen.Taking the form of a great beast, Waer fell upon the great tribe and caused much suffering. But the Children of Sol stood as one against her and Waer could not overcome Sol’s chosen. And they cast her out, banishing her to the wild lands where the ley flowed.There Waer wandered alone with hate in her heart and envy at Sol’s chosen for many a year until she came upon the Great Nodus, the first and largest of its kind. Wishing to become like Sol, Waer sought to create life as He had done. So she tore off one of her own Black Breaths and cast it into the Great Nodus. And upon touching her Black Breath the nodus spit it out.But Waer’s Black Breath clung to Sol’s sacred Breath, and when it emerged it sprung up as the first of Waer’s children, a being made of Breath but without true life. And Waer called the first of her children Vradra, meaning life without Sol.Though Vradra called Waer mother, she took him as a husband since she wished to be like the Children of Sol and multiply upon Ayr. And together they made more of their kind, their children including Bleim, the lord of lies, and Kor, the great destroyer. And Waer called these scores of her children daemons and was pleased by their blasphemy against Sol.Together with her daemons, Waer again beset the Children of Sol and did them much harm. Unable to overcome Waer and her daemons, Sol’s chosen suffered greatly and their grand tribe was reduced by half and then half again.Knowing that they could not withstand Waer’s army of daemons, the Children of Sol separated into five tribes, each according to type, and fled in the night unto the far corners of Ayr.Awaking on the morrow, Waer discovered the splitting of Sol’s tribe and realized she could not follow them all. Waer gnashed her teeth in her rage and sent her daemons to harry the Children of Sol unto the ends of Ayr.But the Children of Sol had splintered over the surface of Ayr like Sol’s Breath when He created life, and the daemons were not able to find them all. And so the Children of Sol multiplied and filled Ayr with their progeny, each tribe according to type in their corner of Ayr.
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Published on August 01, 2016 09:05

July 12, 2016

Ingios Origins of the Mudbird

[Excerpt from the memoirs of Wilhelmina Saunders]Avril 10, 492Departed the outpost of Hayfield, spirits high as we leave the last Newfield fort on our journey east on the Midfer River, called the Chanuk by our guide Kashat. Many of our accompanying soldiers, particularly Private Rush, bristle at following an Ingio, but Marcus has quelled such talk. At least in in the presence of Kashat.The Ingio seems to know the land well. He claims no one knows it better, though there are few that can call into question his claim, these lands devoid of civilized life.Avril 11, 492The day passed quickly, the Midfer still swelled from the spring rains, and the exertion of paddling against the river’s flow keeping conversation among the men to a minimum. So far the land has been empty of Ingios, Kashat asserting we will encounter others as soon as the river diverges from the Akok line of ley. He explained the Ingios believe lines of ley belong to the “shining ones,” which appears to be Ingio term for emets. The Ingios therefore avoid ley and nodi, ceding these areas to the emets.As if to give credence to his claim, Kashat has passed several colorful strings through his earlobes, saying they will ensure us safe passage through Ingios territory. In the privacy of our tent, Marcus has confided to me how unmanly he finds these braids, but I find myself drawn to their intricate patterns.Avril 13, 492We met our first Ingios today, the two men appearing from the woods surrounding the river as we made camp. Kashat tells us they are from the Haysla tribe. And though he is from the Lnut tribe, the three men were able to communicate, albeit crudely. The two Ingios shared a meal with Marcus, myself and Kashat, partaking of our rations and adding a type of boiled root. Though the mush appeared unappetizing, they then added several local plants that enhanced the flavor.After the meal, Marcus made gift to them of a steel knife, which they accepted gladly. In return they presented me with what can only be described as a broach, clearly made from feathers of a mudbird. Marcus initially scoffed at the inequality of the trade, but Kashat explained this was an honor from the Haysla tribe. After much discussion with the two Haysla, Kashat explained the origin of the mudbird, which I will try to recount.According to the Haysla, their tribe came to this area long ago but found the new land harsh. So they called out to the birds to aid them. The eagle heard them first, flying off to bring them wood so as to build homes. And though they built lodgings, the shining ones came and destroyed them.So the Haysla called out again and this time the crow came. It brought them black stones, which they hurled at the shining ones with their slings to defend their wooden homes. And though this drove the shining ones off and was a good gift, it was not enough since they were still cold.So then the beautiful “bright bird” heard their cries and said it would bring them the greatest gift of all. No larger than a sparrow, no one believed that the bright bird could accomplish this, but that night the bright bird flew up into the darkness to pluck a star from the sky.The bright bird brought it back to the people, but the star smoldered, burning the bird and singeing its feathers until they were covered in soot. But the bright bird would not drop the star until it delivered it to the Haysla. And when the star was set upon the ground it gave birth to flames that warmed the people. And the Haysla could take this fire with them wherever they went, which made it more precious than either the wood or black stones.But the bright bird was no longer beautiful because of the scorch marks, the brown splotches covering it now resembling mud. But the people blessed the mudbird for its sacrifice, gifting it with a beautiful voice in thanks. And that is why it is a sin among the Haysla to kill a mudbird, the feathers they find valued highly because they can only be found, not taken.After the Haysla departed, I spoke to Kashat in private, recounting to him the story of the mudbird I learned as a child where the mudbird’s ugliness is a curse because of its sweet voice. I found the differences in the tales interesting, but Kashat dismissed both my story and that of the Haysla. He said each of these was incorrect, then telling me the origin of the mudbird taught among the Lnut tribe.In it, long before humans came to Ayr, all the birds gathered together to see who would be chief among them. They decided that whoever could fly the highest would claim the title of chief. So the crow flew up to the clouds, but then the hawk flew above the clouds. And finally the eagle, the greatest among the birds, flew up until it reached the stars.But what the eagle did not know was that the tiny mudbird had hidden upon its back. Aware that it could not overcome the larger birds, the mudbird instead waited until the eagle could fly no higher. And as the eagle began its descent, the mudbird flapped its wings twice, rising higher than the eagle had and claiming the title of chief among the birds.Yet the eagle knew it would be unseemly for all the birds to follow such a small and ugly bird. So, in exchange for the title of chief, the eagle gave the mudbird a beautiful voice. And so the mudbird was happy because it never wanted to be chief among the birds, but instead gained its beautiful voice for only two flaps of its wings.Though, while in the presence of the Haysla tribesmen, Kashat had claimed my broach was an appropriate gift in exchange, privately he confided to me that it was ultimately worthless outside these lands. Only the Haysla treat the mudbird with any reverence, Kashat telling me that he has eaten mudbird many times before and expects to do so again once he returns home.
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Published on July 12, 2016 10:45

July 1, 2016

The Two Dobra Thieves

[excerpt from Dobra Tales and Lore, collected by David Hooper]Long ago when glass was still new there were two thieves, one a Wanderer, and the other a Cousin. So the Wanderer thief came upon the Cousin thief, and they met and learned how the other lived.Then the Wanderer thief said to the Cousin, “Well, if you’re such a clever thief then steal the eggs out from under the raven’s nest, and I shall know what kind of thief you are.”And the Cousin said, “Watch me, and see me work.”And he climbed into the tree and put his hands under the raven so gently she never felt him take her eggs. As he was at his theft, the Wanderer thief stole his breeches, and the Cousin never felt him. And when he came down and saw that he was naked, he said, “Truly we are each equal thieves. Let’s become brothers, and share all things equally.”So they became brothers.And they shared all things equally, going into the city and taking one wife between them. As it was the Cousin who spied her first, he slept in the bed on the wedding night, the Wanderer on the floor. And the next night the Wander shared her bed while the Cousin slept on the floor. *But the Wanderer said, “What are we to do that we may get money?” And the Cousin said, “Come, brother, since you know.”Soon they came upon the king’s own herdsman leading four oxen under the yolk. And the herdsman was woefully tired, so the Cousin said unto him, “Come, sleep the night under my roof.”But the herdsman said, “See there, I know you are a Dobra and not to be trusted. You will steal my oxen in the night.”Then the Cousin said, “Sleep then on the floor between the bed and the door, and you shall know if I rise from my bed.” *So the herdsman slept on the floor, and in the night the Wanderer took one of the oxen, cutting off the tail and placing it in the other oxen’s mouth. And when the herdsman awoke and saw the missing oxen, he began to weep, saying, “Alas, whilst I was asleep one of the oxen has gone and eaten up the other.”But when the herdsman told this tale to the king, the king said, “Cut open the belly of the ox and see if this tale is true.” And they slit the belly of the ox and found nothing inside, and the king knew he had a thief in his kingdom.The king was clever, and said, “Why, I shall lay a trap for this thief.” And so he hung a bag of fifty ducats from a tree, and set soldiers around it.So the brothers went to the soldiers, the Wanderer making himself very old while the Cousin hid from sight. And the Wanderer brought a white mare and cart with him, and took a jar of twenty measures of wine. But when he passed the soldiers he pretended his cart had broken down, and the jar fallen out. And he began to weep and tear his hair, crying aloud and saying he was a poor man whose master would kill him. The soldiers guarding the sack of ducats took pity on the Wanderer, and said, “Let us put the jar back into the cart for the old man.”So they went to help him, and the Wanderer said to them, “Take a pull from the jar in thanks.”So the soldiers drank from the jar until they could drink no more. And they grew tired, and the Wanderer said, “Sleep a while.”But the soldiers recognized he was a Dobra, and said, “How foolish, you shall surely steal the sack whilst we sleep.” So the Wanderer said, “Then lash me to you, and you shall know if I move in the night.” So they did, and when they were sleeping and took no thought, the hidden Cousin stole the sack.When they awoke to find the Wanderer still lashed and the sack stolen, they wept and gnashed their teeth. And when they told their tale to the king, he said, “Truly this is a clever thief. But I am a clever king.”So the king bought up all the joints of meat in the city. And he told the butchers to charge two ducats a pound, so only one who had come into a lot of money could eat. So nobody ate that first day. The next day the wife complained to her husbands, saying, “O, how is it that I have two husbands but no meat between them?” *So the next day they went out to the meat-market, the Cousin with his cart and mare, and the Wanderer hidden from sight. And outside the butcher the Cousin pretended his cart had been damaged, and lamented that he had not an axe to fix it. Then the butcher said to him, “Here, take my axe, and mend your cart.” And as the butcher brought his axe to the Cousin, the Wanderer picked up a big piece of meat, and stuck it under his coat.And that night the king asked the butchers, “Have you sold any meat to any one?” They said, “We have not.”But the king weighed the meat, and found it twenty pounds short. And he said, “Truly this is a clever thief, and I must be careful, and hide all my money away.” So the king hid his fortune in his palace.Hearing that there was great treasure in the palace, the brothers broke through the roof, the Wanderer lowering the Cousin inside, and the Cousin passing purses of money back to the Wanderer. And they went home much richer.Then the king arose in the morning, and looked upon his treasure, and saw two hundred purses of money were missing. Straightaway the clever king lit a fire in his palace. And outside the palace the king waited until he saw where the smoke escaped, and where the thief had entered. So the king placed a cask of molasses below the hole, knowing that the greedy thief would return the next night.And the next night the brothers returned, the Cousin lowering the Wanderer down. And as he did so, the Wanderer became stuck in the cask of molasses. And he said to his brother, “Brother, it is over for me. I hear soldiers approaching, so do not give them the pleasure. Come, cut off my head, for I am good as dead.”But the Cousin loved his brother too much to kill him. So he fled.And when the king came upon the trapped Wanderer he said, “There! I heard you call out to another. Tell me who he is!” But the Wanderer would not give up his brother, even as the king hurt him sorely.So for a year the Wanderer endured the abuses of the king. But he would not give up his brother, who he loved. And after a year the king came onto him, and said, “Why do you remain so loyal to the one who has left you here?”The Wanderer thief answered him thus, “For we are brothers and share all things equally, even our wife, one taking to her bed each night, while the other sleeps on the floor.”And the king answered him, “How is this equal when you sleep on the floor of a cell, and your brother in your wife’s bed? Do you think he sleeps on the floor with you gone?” But still the Wanderer would not give his brother up.So the king said, “O, but your loyalty touches me, two brothers sharing their fates as one. Does your brother love you enough to take your place?”The Wanderer replied, “Surely he would.”So the king answered him, “Then I decree that you two shall share you sentence as you share your wife. Since you have slept on the floor one year, your brother will take your place, while you take his in your wife’s bed. And at the end of the year you will exchange places, and again and again until your wife’s death.”But the Wanderer was not swayed, saying, “How do I know you will keep your word?”Then the king replied, “I swear by my name, and if I lie may Sol punish me with death.” Hearing the king’s sacred oath, the Wanderer told where the Cousin lived, since he was sore from the floor, and missed his wife’s bed.So the king sent soldiers to the house, bringing the Cousin before the court and the Wanderer. And the king said, “As you are brothers, and share all things equally, you shall share the same punishment for thieving.” Then the soldiers cut off the Cousin thief’s head.At seeing his brother’s head cut off, the Wanderer said, “But you gave your sacred oath, king, that we would trade places, one to the cell, and the other to our wife’s bed.”And the king answered him, “I will abide my oath, your brother taking your place for a year while you take his place in your wife’s bed. But only after you equally share his fate.” *Then the soldier cut off the Wanderer thief’s head. And they took his headless body, and laid it beside his wife, while the body of the Cousin was placed in the cell. And so she spent the rest of her days sleeping beside her dead husbands, their bodies exchanged each year, for the king was true to his word.Footnotes from Editor David Hooper:1. In the version of this story from the Kaad tribes the Cousin and Wanderer thieves forego alternating sleeping on the floor, the three sinners sharing the same bed on the wedding night. While the Biba Sacara has numerous instances of a man sharing numerous wives, the heathen Dobra of course pervert and invert this understanding, with two men marrying one woman.2. In many versions of the tale the herdsman joins the Cousin and wife in the bed.3. In oral tellings of this tale, this line is always delivered quite lasciviously and without any sense of decency.4. Versions of this tale exist outside of the Dobra tribes, the clever king the hero as he both keeps his oath and turns two purported “brothers” against each other. But to the Dobra the moral is understood to be to always trust those within the “Natsa,” the collective Dobra tribes, over outsiders, which they refer to as “Gaj.” As with all things related to the Dobra, their understanding of morality is inverted.
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Published on July 01, 2016 15:29

June 16, 2016

Sol and His Chosen

[From the Biba Sacara, Book 1, Chapter 1]In the beginning there was Sol.And Sol wandered the void, the black spaces between the stars until His wanderings led Him to the empty Ayr. And upon finding Ayr Sol was pleased and marveled at its beauty.For eons Sol wandered the empty Ayr, enraptured at the land and waters so unlike the void He had known before. And so Sol knew He had found His home.But nothing breathed upon the land or waters, nothing with life to share Ayr with Him. And so Sol despaired.So Sol grasped His legs, tearing them away and releasing His lifeblood to pour over Ayr. And where each drop fell living things sprung up to cover the land and seas, each with one drop of His blood making the Body. And Sol called these beings Plants, each a part of Sol though they were now separate from Him.Sol knew His new beings were good and was pleased. And so He wandered Ayr another eon, now slower due to the sacrifice of His legs.But soon Sol despaired again that there was nothing with a Mind to share this new beauty with Him. So Sol tore off His left arm, and where His sacred blood dropped new creatures sprang up. Each of these new creatures contained two drops of His blood making up the Body and the Mind. And Sol called these creatures Animals, each a part of Sol though they were now separate from Him.Sol knew His new creatures were good and was pleased. And so Sol wandered among the Animals, now slower due to the sacrifice of His arm.But soon Sol despaired again that there was nothing like Himself with a Soul to take pleasure in Ayr. So Sol performed the greatest sacrifice and tore off His own head where His Soul resided. At this all His life rushed out, fragmenting into Breath to sweep over Ayr. And from His Breath Man sprang up, each with a Body, Mind and Soul like Sol.And these were the Children of Sol.The Children of Sol awoke to behold the beauty of Ayr and thanked Sol for His sacrifice. And they knew they were Sol’s chosen because they reflected their creator and took dominion over the Plants and Animals, over all that swam in the sea, flew through the sky, or walked upon the land. And so the Children of Sol multiplied and filled Ayr with their descendants, making it their own.And the Children of Sol knew this was good and were pleased.With new eyes they beheld Ayr and Sol’s Breath flowing between the Plants, Animals and Man as Ley. And they knew each Breath belonged to Sol, inhabiting the form of Plant, Animal or Man for but a time before returning to the flow to live again in a new form.And the Children of Sol knew life rolls on so long as Sol’s Breath flows freely on Ayr. And so it will continue until each fragment of Sol has fastened with every other and Sol is again whole to return for the Harvest.
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Published on June 16, 2016 13:55