One of the more enigmatic entities in Time is Androgeus, who is a very ancient being that has no cult. Here’s the earliest appearance of Androgeus (called Androgyne) in a story circa 1969. Damiliol, the Hero of the Five Words and son of a Thunder Brother (one of the first uses of the term for the sons of the Storm God) and the Princess of the Mist Castle, has come to the great Yellow Bear for the Heart of Pent.
The Yellow Bear doesn’t have the Heart of Pent, it has been stolen and planted in the face of the Blue Moon of Hell, guarded by Chaos Squids of the Sky Terror. To get past the squid, warns the Yellow Bear, one must be purified by the Pupil of the Eye of the Sea, but alas he is the prisoner of the Blue Moon. WIthout the aid of the Yellow Bear, Damiliol’s quest is doomed, but the Yellow Bear cannot aid him as he is commanded to build mountains forever.
Damiliol gets understandably frustrated and asks who commanded him to do this. And so the Yellow Bear answered:
“It was my mother, who hates me, who cursed me. It was my father, who loves me, that saved me from hell by giving me the task of building the mountains.”
“And who are they?” asked Damiliol.
“They are the Androgyne, child of Fire, who lives at the hot fifth of the earth. But don’t think of enlisting their help. He is bound by her actions in god’s time to doing what she did.”
Several years later, Androgyne – now called Androgeus – appears in White Bear Red Moon, along with Argat (renamed Argrath). I think they are the only two characters from Greg’s early stories to appear in WBRM and early RuneQuest.
