Are there any "trickster" figures in Ersgottan myth? If there are, have you ever written out some myths or folktales involving them? Or are there any myths/folktales of any prominent Ersgottan figure you can tell me about?
There are!
The most prominent would probably be the first dark god, who often tricked people into giving up their names so he could screw them over (including Thaldorei at some point later on). He liked to mess with the other gods and make them do silly (and generally harmless) nonsense, but when he went back up to Earth he’d essentially prank people and.. cause wars and periods of just not very enjoyable times.
The death god Watinok is sometimes regarded as a trickster figure since he tends to trick people into doing favours for him and then the people involved tend to be stuck in century long cycles of doing services for him (Artye being a notable example of this though I haven’t gone on about this before).
Those are the most centralized trickster figures but not the only ones (aka: they haven’t been established yet whoopsie).
I have a bunch of ideas of myths that I will write eventually, but for now have a popular creation myth that can be shared; (This is what you’ll generally hear when asking for a creation myth in the Gavet’s area)
Bapraana, The Beginning. (the ultra condensed version for this ask)
Jutpraanatl, ( We begin, )
In the beginning, there was no darkness or light, no earth or sky. There was a surging mass of jyq, the energy that flows through everything. The First One, Tahl, sat alone with his thoughts.
Tahl thought he would create something, so he divided the jyq that made his being (which was all of it at the time) and made the first mu and gave them a name; Asta. At the same same, some of the jyq divided itself from Tahl and became Nunav. As this all happened, time passed, and a third mv appeared; this was Kasn.
These were the first mu, the gods and original guardians of the natural world. Asta ruled over the the aspect of creation when Tahl created them. To balance Asta out, destruction separated themselves away from Thaldorei and took on the name Nunav. Time passed, and Kasn came to rule over it.
To appease Tahl, the first mu began to work. Asta created a blank, dark world to be their canvas. Tahl settled himself in the middle, and took on the form of a large, bright eye that would be known as the sun. He watched his creations work.
Asta tried to make many worlds. Some were large, some small, and some burned up when too close to Tahl’s eye. He eventually made a world that was perfectly balanced, and it was known as Ko.
Nunav was jealous and tried to destroy Asta’s creations. With their many hands, Nunav pulled and crushed at Asta’s worlds, but only made very large holes on the surface of Ko, and many tiny holes on the blank world around them. Light collected in the holes and became stars.
Tahl had many thoughts for Ko. He created Rahn, and Anur separated himself from Tahl’s jyq. Rahn and Anur became the mu of life and death. Anur took bits of Tahl’s jyq, but had no idea what to do with them. Rahn took the jyq from Rahn and created the first inhabitants of Ko.
But these first people had no shape, and they couldn’t do anything because they didn’t think. From Thaldorei’s jyq came the mu of shape and thought, Dama and Olog. They gifted the people with these things, but they soon tired of the barren land. They could think but they did not desire anything. From there came Hod, the mu of blood, who gave the people needs and desires. Now the first people of Ko wanted to eat and sleep, to make children and build houses. But the land was still barren.
At last came the elemental mu. Sle filled all the holes of Ko with water. Zahar gave the people fire. Baal gave the people earth to build their houses upon. Dio gave the people air to breathe.
Tahl was pleased with the work of his mu. He ruled over them all and everything they created. In return for his watchful eye over the careful order of things, the mu deemed Tahl the ruler of balance.
Byototslnonatka. ( It has come full circle. )
THANKS FER ASKIN’, PHANNUM. ( i hope that was coherent enough oh gods)
Are there common themes (I don't think themes is the right word but I'm braindead) between parahuman families, like how many children they have or how long the children stay with the parents? Is it common or not for the children to go into the same profession as the parents?
(As always, Aly helped in answering this Ersgottan related question! THANKS HOTTIE.)
Phumans, for the most part, love living in big family groups, as family is very important to them! A lot of them have several generations living under one roof, or at least very very close to each other (many of them form some sorts of clans). Family groups tend to be very very close knit. Even your uncle and cousins are considered to be immediate family members, your uncles being seen as fathers and cousins sort of like brothers and sisters. Many children, even after reaching mating age and adult age, continue to live with their parents with their own children. If they do move out of the house, chances are they’ll take up residence as close as possible. That’d said, it’s very very unusual and peculiar to find a phuman living completely alone.
Most phuman kidlings may choose to take on the professions of their parents, but most are encouraged to take on roles that the community as a whole needs. Thalavism encourages the ideals of balance within a community and as a bigger populace, so many kids will go off to learn an art that their homeplace doesn’t have, and come back to give back their learned skills to the community.
Certain clans and families in a single community may master a certain skill or art or profession and pass it down to their children. That isn’t uncommon, but colonial boundaries have broken up and separated families so it’s more common that phumans now start businesses that are not found in their community in order to bring in mo cash. Not only that, but western idealism has trickled into phuman beliefs, and many on them focus on keeping nuclear families, particularly on the southern Ersgottan island.
Thanks for askin’, Phantom!
More Ersgottan Mannerisms and Such
HONOURS n’ SUCH:
MASKING: Phuman have serveral ways to honour those disconnected from Ersgottan culture (or human, and beyond) who have helped Ersgottans in any way, or have just proven to be loyal friends. Making masks is only reserved for Ersgottan artisans, and it’s considered a very big honour to recieve a mask made specifically for you.
-It’s considered a personal offence to reject the mask. For normal festival masks, most Ersgottans will be willing to fix and tweak anything for the reciever. However, more sacred masks (particularly life, death, and new years masks) cannot be changed.
-Wearing the masks out of their intended purpose (for special rituals, meetings, or festivals) is considered offensive.
-If the giver is a dancer or any sort during a festival, it is considered good manners to wear their mask specifically during their performance.
-Masks can be passed down through generations. However, if you received an Ersgottan mask while not particularly being Ersgottan yourself, it’s considered good manners to destroy the mask once the giver of the mask has died. (for particularly sacred masks, life death and so on.)
-There’s a small ceremony with accepting masks in which they are presented up to the rising sun (Aman’s first eye) for approval and acceptance. It is also believe that this forms a link between the mask and its owner.
SCARRING: Less popular is the accepting of scarring. Scarification is an important tradition practiced all over Eresgov. Scars are used to show power, status, age, family, affiliation, and mostly anything at all depending on the area.
-Life scars are rings cut around the arm. Each ring symbolizes one year of life. The rings may have different patterns, to show certain events that went on in that year. For example, there are markings that show when a great deed is done within that year, whether the person was pregnant, mated, encountered an Ilnari, and so on.
-Mating scars refer to quick cuts made on generally exposed areas to show ownership. These scars may be made on the face (though extensive facial scars are taboo in most cases, and reserved for people of high status), arms, legs, and hands.
-Medicine scars are generally cut only by a tseqjam. During a rite of passage or times of illness, a tseqjam may cut scars with special knives in order to attempt to release whatever ails the victim. Scars to commemorate naming rituals are also popular. (more on that later)
-Bonding scars (or datraturu to southern Ersgottans) cover large amounts of the body (mostly the torso, the hands, and it some cases rings around the thighs). These are to celebrate the bonding of two souls in the eyes of the Gods, so that they may meet each other again in future lives. They are often intricate and complicated, and take days to properly apply. Datraturu is rarely applied with the assistance anything that dulls pain, so the mates are often sat next to each other for support.
NAMING: Ersgottans receive names for many occasions, including honourary names. Honourary names generally represent great deeds performed by the receiver or just a welcome into their culture. [Note: the names in the examples are examples from different parts of Eresgov and for that reason look completely different though they might share certain english equivalents.]
-Soul names: These are the deeply rooted names of a single entity, generally unknown to all other than the owner of the name. No matter how many names this person takes on throughout their lives, this name is guaranteed to stay constant. Knowing this name can mean complete control of the individual.
-Birth names: These names are pretty straight forward and can describe the hopes and wishes of the parent’s for their child (Tl’anat: good hunter), what was going on around the birth (Qodhas: sandstorm), or things like whether the child was firstborn and stuff like that (Mi’akaabat: second born of twins).
-Medicine names: Like medicine scars, these names are private and special to the wearer because it has a healing and very deeply meaningful quality to the owner. They are usually delivered by tseqjam.
-Ilnari names: These names are used by Gods to identify ilnari, and generally only describe particular qualities (Qallaq: does not speak. Hytotsl: blind man.)
Honour names: Given as a reward for a rite of passage or special events. They are generally plain at face value, but may contain more interesting meanings. Some are given to foreigners who decide to help the Ersgottan community, or live with them enough to deserve a rename. (Miiriiqti: green man)
The Humanzee
en.wikipedia.orgCan I get a “WTF” for this?
I wasn’t even looking for it, and now I need a fork, to gouge out my eyes….
Parahuman and mating + datraturu scars
hello cuties, here’s kinda a part two on this post. this will include what scars are to parahuman in general, what mating scars and datraturu scars are, and the differences between each. i talked to a few of you dudes a few days ago about this and already its changed so HERE’S CURRENTLY AN UP TO DATE RAMBLE ON SCARS.
