#eurmal

[lyreofsheliak]

King of Dragon Pass: history and mythology illustrations (aside from heroquests and the Lightbringers)

[silver-leaf-girl]

A commission I did for a Glorantha book, part of the Jonstown Compendium of fan work.

For those not familiar with Glorantha (you might know it as the setting for King of Dragon Pass), it's a bronze-age fantasy setting written by Greg Stafford, an anthropologist. There's some bits that are a bit 'hmmm', but overall - it's a fresh and enthralling take on the fantasy genre, driven by a genuine interest in how ritual works in Bronze Age societies (I've heard it described as 'as Tolkien was to linguistics, Stafford was to mythology).

The paintings here intend to showcase one of the rituals in question, with a hero being anointed and girded to assume a mythic role (specifically Humakt, deity of swords and truth and death!)- around her, her masked clan-members prepare her for her transit into the mythic realm, while above her, Humakt himself wields/blesses the blade that she takes up. The second painting was for the back cover - it shows a devotee of Eurmal, trickster and storyteller, entertaining a couple of children and inducting them into the clan's mythic cycle, while their hunting cat (an alynx - Gloranthan cultures tend to favour cats where Earth ones would dogs) looks on.

Both paintings were done in gouache, early in the pandemic. I wanted to capture a sense of genuine mystery and weird spiritual power, and also to present a female Humakti in a role that many character artists have usually shown a traditional male warriors. It's also one of my (too rare! I should get back to this!) experiments with light and darkness in a painting.

[lyreofsheliak]

King of Dragon Pass: the Lightbringers' Quest

[lyreofsheliak]

King of Dragon Pass heroquests: Humakt the Champion.

[unsurpassedtravesty]

Seriously I love Orlanthi society.  "We have traditions for everything." "What if I want to say 'fuck tradition?'" "It's cool, we've got traditions for that too."

[unsurpassedtravestyfiction]

Eurmal and Gorgorma

As a preamble, this is not an original story. It's a fictional myth - which, I suppose, makes it untrue twice over - that I'm trying to find my own telling of.  Hope you like it.

"So let me tell you about a time when Eurmal did something very foolish.  This is from a long time ago, before the trickster found a home in front of Orlanth's hearth.  Without family, without tribe, without home, Eurmal wandered the world and slept where he could, always wearing out his welcome because of his greed, his gluttony and his terrible behavior.

Now Eurmal had been lucky: he had come to a new land and been invited by the king himself for a meal and a place to sleep, the king being clever enough to know that a man like Eurmal could be valuable.  It was a great feast with a great deal of wine, and Eurmal and the king stayed up late into the night toasting one another. 

Eventually the two fell to bragging of their achievements - this being a fine thing to do, of course, taking pride in one's self - and everything was fine until Eurmal said something very stupid.  "You know, oh king, there is one thing of which I am more proud than all others."

"Oh? And what is this?" asked the king, curious at what a man could be more proud of than discovering death, stealing the Sun God's bow or tricking an army of trolls into eating one another,

"I will admit peers in many fields.  Betters, even.  There are better warriors, better scholars, better merchants or hunters than me. But among the seducers of women I am without equal."

The king's eyes narrowed, because he could see the way the god glanced at his wife when he said this.  But then he smiled, for he was a very clever man.  "Is this so?  I should like to see proof of this.  Let there be a wager, because none should brag without being willing to show their strength."

"A wager?"  Eurmal smiled an oily smile.  If he were a wiser man he would have been suspicious, but Eurmal has always had more greed than good sense.  "What are your terms?"

The King thought for a moment.  "I have it.  Every night for the next thirty nights I shall point out a woman to you.  You are to seduce each of them that night, without fail.  If you can do this, I will happily allow you a night in bed with my wife, with my blessings."

"And if I fail?"

"Why, then I shall have you stripped naked, beaten until you are blue and thrown from my palace."  It would not be the first time this had happened to the trickster and so he agreed.

The bet began.  For the next thirty days the king pointed Eurmal to women and for the next thirty days he seduced them to his bedchamber: twenty-seven lepers, a ninety-year-old temple virgin and an angry she-bear.  On the thirtieth day the King took Eurmal - exhausted and bloody - and bade him to seduce the goddess Gorgorma of the Two Mouths, who has teeth in a very bad place.

Eurmal won the wager, though I'm afraid that even I don't know how he did it.  But a curious thing happened: when the smiling King congratulated him on his victory and presented Eurmal with his wife, the trickster turned very pale.  "No," he said, his voice ragged, "I believe that I will turn down my prize.  It is enough for me to know that I have proved my merit."

Naturally the king was outraged by what was obviously an insult against his wife.  For his rude behavior the king had Eurmal stripped naked, beaten until he was blue and thrown from his palace.

And this was a story about a time Eurmal did something very foolish.  My throat is sore, though, so I think that I shall need a drink before I tell another."