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Cultural changes in Genertela 350-500 ST

Posted on July 24, 2023

The years 350-500 witnessed radical cultural changes in Genertela. First the Theyalans (and trolls, dragonewts, elves, and dwarves) entered into a short-lived union with the Dara Happans. Although this union broke apart, culture and information continued to be interchanged. There was mythic synthesis between the Orlanthi and Pelorians – Yelm was acknowledged as the Sun God (and imperial god) and Orlanth as the Storm God (and as the rebel god).

This resulted in the creation of a new god inside of Time and the impossible Sun Stop. Nysalor spoke and taught – he told people not to fear their mortality, not to fear the Void, and even not to fear Chaos. Many protested – especially the trolls and the Heortlings – but they were defeated or at least rendered ineffective.

And Nysalor’s followers spread his teachings quickly. Within 25 years, Slontos was conquered, and the Lords of Terror were used as tools by the power-hungry – Mallia, Vivamort, and Thanatar were all used to help spread Nysalor’s teachings to the West.

Now I imagine those teachings were without the context of the Council cultures and history – I personally imagine that it was analogous to the New Age movements in the 60s and 70s. Bits of Nysaloreanism, bits of Will to Power, personal growth through Chaos, etc. But with the collapse of the Silver Empire, the West was spiritual exhausted.

So let’s call 400 a high point for Nysalorean synthesis. After that Arkat leads a new exchange of ideas and cultures. Remember he starts from materialist and humanist Brithos and comes to Seshnela. He brings Brithini and Seshnegi into Ralios, where they end up mixing with Orlanthi, and then march into Maniria, Kethaela, Dragon Pass, and then into Peloria. You can see the whole period of 400-450 as a massive exchange of Malkioni and Orlanthi ideas, with even a little spice added by the trolls in the end.

The Orlanthi were exposed to sorcery and Malkioni logicism; the Malkioni were exposed to the Lightbringers, their myths and heroquests (and the Orlanthi were already familiar with Dara Happan ideas). And Arkat proved all myths were useful and worthy of respect.

Sure after 450 this interchange began to recede. Arkat returned to Ralios. The Orlanthi of Peloria and Dragon Pass resented the Troll Tax he allowed his troll friends to collect. The Malkioni of Seshnela were horrified that their former leader had become a krjalk and settled with an army of trolls. Traditional orthodoxies tried to reimpose themselves, but they too had changed by what they experienced in the last century and a half.

This is the start of many things – Mythic Synthesis and the monomyth, Lhankor Mhy’s adoption of sorcery, experimental heroquesting, etc.

Now that’s all more than a thousand years in the past, but the ideas have been implanted. A modern Dara Happan scribe is FAR more familiar with Orlanthi myth than Plentonius could have imagined. A modern Rokari sorcerer is more familiar with the Lightbringers than Hrestol could ever have imagined.

And then a century or so later, the Jrusteli take these ideas and run with them. They take the prototype Mythic Synthesis and turn it into a movement. They gather stories, myths, and artefacts from across the world and use it to map out the Hero Plane, to divine the architecture of the cosmos. And so we have another exchange between Jrustela and the rest of the world through the Middle Sea Empire. Kralorela, Teshnos, Fonrit, Skontos, etc. all are joined in on this.

Obviously with the Closing this once again recedes, but even more ideas have been securely implanted.

Were the most apparent consequences the dissemination of the Lhankor Mhy and Issaries cults? At least in part. But it is also where the monomyth really starts to work its magic.

What are the main texts in 1625 about those years? Or is it mainly oral tradition? What I would compare it to is the Alexander Romances, of which every culture from England to Ethiopia had several. Some are oral, some get written down.

It’s been more than a thousand years, so by now the Arkat Romances start looking like the Shahnahmeh, the Neṣḥānā, the Li romans d’Alixandre, and the Alexandreid. I bet there are dozens of written versions, all contradicting each other. I look forward to reading about Arkat’s undersea conquests!

Jeff Richard

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Lhankor Mhy, Monomyth, Mythical Synthesis

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