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The Esrolian Monomyth

Posted on March 9, 2021

Some of you might find this interesting – it is a common version of the myth cycle told in the Holy Country. You might consider this the Esrolian version of the monomyth.

Mythos

In the earliest remembered stories this land was simply part of the Earth at the base of the Spike, where dwelt the Celestial Court and the Elder Gods. When the Gata warmed with life, it was Esrola who occupied this rich and fertile soil. Gata gave birth here to twin daughters, Asrelia and Ty Kora Tek, who dwelt deep within the Earth. Gata gave the sacred and beloved Earth to Asrelia, and Ty Kora Tek went even deeper down until she came to the Underworld.

Asrelia had many lovers, and with Lodril had twin daughters, Maran Gor and Ernalda. When Ernalda came of age, Asrelia gave the sacred Earth to her. Ernalda lived here and the land north of the Spike became known as Ernaldela. Ernalda’s beauty and bounty brought life to the land, she was the Earth Mother and Source of Life. Many suitors vied for Ernalda’s favors and she gave them freely. With Flamal she conceived Aldrya the Forest Goddess. With Hykim the Father of Beasts, she conceived Eiritha the Herd Mother. With other husbands and magical activities, Ernalda was responsible for most of the life on Earth. Among her favorites were the serpents that wound around her and whispered secrets to her.

The Celestial Court handed rulership of the cosmos to Yelm the Sun. Ernalda was taken away by Yelm, but she was freed by the storm god Orlanth, who killed Yelm and began the Gods War. Orlanth later became Ernalda’s husband and King of the Gods. Orlanth was violent and unruly, but always a good partner and lover to Ernalda. Whenever Orlanth could not protect or provide for her, Ernalda took husbands that could.

The Blue Dragon traversed Ernaldela, and a grand forest of Yellow Elves sprang across her land. Later, the Ocean of Terror sent his destroying son, the Raging Sea, the cover Ernaldela with his waters. Esrola was flooded by the slaying waters, but not before she had met one of the sea gods, named Faralinthor, in love. Together, they conceived a child whom they called Choralinthor.

Orlanth defeated the Blue Dragon and the Raging Sea, and then the Storm King slew Faralinthor. The place where he struck them dried up and was covered with a great plain of salt. It is still visible under the water. The arms of the goddess and her husband are still visible as the marshy archipelagos which reach out to the sea.

Orlanth appointed his son Vingkot to rule the peoples of Ernaldela. The barbaric splendor of the Vingkotlings defined the era known as the Lesser Darkness. The Vingkotlings fought many wars and founded many kingdoms. The royal line of the Vingkotlings, called the Kodigvari, settled at what is now Nochet. They invited many deities to live there, and built fine homes for Chalana Arroy, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy, and many other deities. When the Great Darkness came and the world became untenable, Ernalda went to sleep within the Earth. Even in sleep, Ernalda mothered Babeester Gor, the terrible guardian of the Earth. Orlanth sought to fix the harm he had caused by starting the Gods War and departed on his Lightbringers Quest. The Vingkotlings tore themselves apart in a series of feuds that culminated in the Last Royal Betrayal, where the royal house of the Vingkotlings were all slain by Chaos. After the Last Royal Betrayal, the widows seized power for their own protection and founded the Queendom of Esrolia. When Darkness overpowered the world, the legions of Night came to surround the Spike. Argan Argar himself set up camp atop Esrola and the goddess went to him to plead mercy. Argan Argar told her to stand proud, for he would rather have her friendship than her fear. He became her lover, and their child was the Only Old One, who was made king of the land.

Lodril was a spiteful and powerful god, and he attacked this place of darkness, but he was captured and subdued by Argan Argar and bound into servitude by that god of night. Lodril was forced to build the great Palace of Black Glass, wherein lived the Only Old One and his minions. It was a huge metropolis with tall slender spirals rising over spiked turrets of sharp obsidian. Its basement reached the Underworld and its tallest tower reached to the sky’s zenith until it was broken by the Sun at the Dawn.Another event which shaped the land occurred when the Storm Bull wrestled with a mountain god, twisted him into a corkscrew shape, and stuck him into the ground. This was the origin of ice-covered Stormwalk Mountain, where the sky bull herds are kept by Baskelos and Heort once took refuge.When Chaos came into the world, Larnste the Mover saw a squirming thing twisting its way through the land. He tried to stamp it out, making a great dent in the earth. The impact of his stamp raised the Storm Mountains, yet he did not kill the Chaos thing. Instead it bit and wounded Larnste. Poisoned ichor dripped to the earth and left oozing sores hurting all life within it. Larnste howled and limped off.

A god looked down and saw the writhing horror, and he took Lodril’s Spear and struck it. The spear drove the monster deep into the earth where Lodril was freed from the spear and fought it. In exultant victory, Lodril burst forth again from the Vent, spreading molten earth and rocks all about and raising a huge pall of ash which poisoned the air. From within Larnste’s Footprint grew a foul mass of Chaos, slowly seeping and filling the deep print with vile horrors. Orlanth bent his attention toward the Footprint and blew the ash and rock down upon the evil mass. It had no effect on those places already polluted, but it covered all the living woods and creatures with ash. The god then used powerful magic to turn them all to stone. Thus, the Footprint now has a terrible Chaos nest at one end, but its spread is halted by the fossilized forest formed by Lodril and Orlanth. When the hordes of Chaos swept over the world during the Darkness, many gods fought back. The Only Old One was one, and he sheltered many who would obey him within his Palace of Black Glass. He founded the Council of Friends which fought the Unity Battle and defeated Chaos.

When did they stop calling it Ernaldela? It would appear that Esrolia became the preferred name under the Shadowlands. Esrola was the Only Old One’s mother after all. So I suspect at the Dawn, it was called Ernaldela or Esrola, but in the Second Age Esrolia is what it would be called “in Time” and Ernaldela in “God Time”.

Jeff Richard

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Ernaldela, Esrolia (homeland), Monomyth, Mythology

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