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Here’s a story every Orlanth initiate knows

Posted on October 12, 2021

It is worth a careful read as there are some interesting details in this (and the story is more complete than in King of Sartar):

One day, at the Hill of Victory, Orlanth met with the Vingkotlings for a Property Celebration. There he planned to review his possessions and those of his tribe. But the feast went poorly. First Ernalda, Orlanth’s wife, was not present.

This disturbed the god for the seat beside him was empty, and half of his conversations were with the unanswering empty space. And others were gone, so that the wine was sour, the hearth was cold, and the food was no better than cold porridge.

Furthermore, the feast was disturbed. Whenever some person was called upon to admire a tool, they were called away be some combat or other duty elsewhere. Sometimes they never returned.

At last, Orlanth lost his temper. “What is this?” he shouted. “Where is the respect which is due the King of the Gods?”

And they said, “It is lost along with the Grand Order, Great King.”“And where is the Grand Order?” Orlanth demanded. And everybody agreed that it was gone, because the god of it had been taken away by the darkness.

Orlanth brooded over this during his feast. When he broods the clouds gather and do not drop their rain, growing black and grim. This is called “Bad Rain” and monsters can come with it. They did then, the first time, and Orlanth had to rise from his seat to drive Nasty Urain away.“

The world has fallen,” Orlanth said afterwards, “when a chief cannot have peace through a meal! I will go and regain this Grand Order.” He called for the Knowing God to come to him, and asked what the Grand Order was.“It is a mirror of fire,” said Lhankor Mhy. “It is not for everyone. Some are consumed by it. Others turn bone cold.”Orlanth asked where it was. “Past the edge of the world,” said the Knowing God. “I do not know the roads myself.”

“Then I will find them,” said Orlanth, “and I will return with the Grand Order so that we can have a proper feast.” So Orlanth armed himself. He bore:

  • his Ring
  • the Four Sacred Weapons
  • Four Winds and a net
  • the Black Spear and the Red Spear
  • the Three Other Winds and a bag
  • the Thunderstone
  • the Blue dye
  • the Spear of Truewood
  • the Rare Flower, and
  • his First Knife.

Orlanth called his companions to aid him:

  • Heler, the Blue God
  • Mastakos the Charioteer
  • Crisis and Rage, his two stamping horses.

After they left the Hill, they met his brother Humakt, the Death God. This was a friendly meeting, even in this time of kinstrife. Orlanth spoke in private with his not-a-brother, and received a blessing upon his sword, which is called Iron Tooth.

They rode to the west, with the horses’ hooves like thunder booming across the sky. Orlanth went first to the strong house of his mother. Its gates lay open, torn, and the white roof was black, and dripped down the sides of the mountains. No slim warriors walked the walls with bright spears. No sparkling servants met the party with towels and food. No sleek alynx raised their heads to greet their kinsman.

Instead, Orlanth found a ruined palace, inhabited by wild dogs, licking the marrow from fresh alynx bones. Orlanth was so angry at the death of his kinfolk that he slew all the dogs he could reach, and his companions slew some more, and they would have killed everyone if they could. But one escaped, and it was Kang Rowl the Slinker, the stinking dog-like-a-cat.

The vengeance of the Storm God was a victory for Mastakos. Among the slain he discovered Narangros, the Hell Hound, which had stolen the sinews from Mastakos’ heels after the Thornbush Contests. Mastakos recovered his sinews, and again the three-legged sign was whole upon his breast. After this he was truly called Step Father.

Orlanth stood atop the peak of his mother’s house. Kero Fin, the Mighty Mountain, is the place he was born. This is the center of the world. All around him the winds raged, covering the broad land with white snow where it wanted to, and baring the frozen earth where it wanted. On top of the mountain Orlanth could see his ancient father, the Prisoner God, tied to the Earth and Sky. And he asked his father for advice.

“I cannot move. The Triad makes the wind. There is One calling you, follow it. There is Another hunting you, avoid it. There is the Third, Unknowable, which you fear.

”After these words of wisdom, Orlanth gazed upon the whole of the changing horizon around him. Nine gods he saw then:

  1. Winter, Lord of the North, with his lover frozen for his entertainment
  2. Gore and Gash, one with broken legs and the other with broken teeth
  3. Fog Girl, the only thing moving upon the face of the seas
  4. Iron Man, implacable, crushing the ice underfoot as he chased seals
  5. Storm Bull, doing his whirling dance which hurts his people
  6. Drought, once again escaped from his brass jar
  7. Tyram, knocked from the sky and now plucking among the ruins of Agant Faraltilion
  8. Troll Mother, the Pregnant Darkess who reclines in a cave
  9. Jarani, Son of Rangorn, sometimes called the Mountain Glider.

Orlanth followed the One Who Called to Him. From atop Kero Fin he could see his kinsman far to the west. Although a mortal man would need ten days to climb down from Kero Fin, and five days to cross Doraziriland by foot, and another seven to climb to the top, by following precisely in Mastakos’ steps, Orlanth needed only two steps. He placed his left foot carefully upon the bootprint in the Smoking Ruins, and his right upon the edge of the home of Jarani Whitewall, the son of Ragorn, the son of Jorganos Archer, the son of Vingkot.

So one part of the Wind-makers is Eurmal? Why would you assume that? The one calling could be any voice or any summons. Perhaps it is a call from Glorantha. Perhaps it is a call from a lover or a friend? Perhaps it is your hunger or ambition calling, or your regret and guilt. We all have the Triad after all, we all move and change.

Also note that Orlanth creates the Bad Rain – that’s what happens when he broods. It brings monsters, but Orlanth protects his people from his own brooding thoughts.

Jeff Richard

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King of Sartar (novel), Mastakos, Orlanth, Urain

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