"'Greeting...may peace dwell in your yurt. This person is named Dominic Flandry, and ranges Terra, the Empire."
-"A Message in Secret," II, p. 345. (For full reference, see here.)
Altaian is described as a "...hybrid language." (ibid.)
How much do we learn about Altaian society from the wording of this greeting?
We learn more from the description of the portmaster:
narrow black eyes;
his wide, flat face a mask;
mongoloid with caucasoid admixture;
hook nose;
thick cropped beard;
light skin;
short;
heavy-set;
wide-brimmed fur hat tied to chin;
intricately laquered leather jacket;
thick felt trousers;
fleece-lined boots;
holstered machine pistol and knife.
I would have skipped past these details if I had not paused to list them. They convey much.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think we are told somewhere in the story that most people on Altai descend from a mix of Russian and Mongol settlers. So I assume their "hybrid" language descends from Russian and Mongol. Which use of the Cyrillic alphabet would seem to confirm.
Sean
I got the impression that there were Russians, various Central Asians (which is where the Muslim element would come from) and Mongols proper (who are mostly Greater Vehicle Buddhists of a variety very close to Tibetan).
The physical type would be very likely given both the original mixture, and the extremely cold climate with weak sunlight.
Stocky builds are typical of cold-country populations -- Innuit and Tibetans, for instance -- because it conserves body heat.
Likewise, the pale skin would be likely because it makes the skin more effective at absorbing sunlight for the production of the Vitamin D complex, thus avoiding rickets -- rickets are not only crippling in themselves, but make death in childbirth much more likely, so the selective pressure for the paler genes would be strong.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Darn! I should have thought of how the sun and climate of Altai would encourage genetic favoring for the characteristics you listed.
Sean
I don't know how much detail Poul had in mind for the history of Altai, but my guess would be that the Prophet mentioned arose after a period of religious wars.
The analogy would be with the origin of the Sikhs -- who were a reform sect within Hinduism, but much influenced by Islam; they've been called the Protestants of the Hindu world.
(Incidentally, the history of the Sikhs is well worth study. Their early gurus had some startlingly enlightened opinions on the role of women, for instance, and tried very hard to break down caste distinctions.)
Mr Stirling,
As I understand it, the first Sikhs were ecumenical Hindus and Muslims who had no intention of founding a new religion but who were forced to defend themselves and to organize as a third force because they were persecuted by the Mughals. Modern Sikhs believe in male-female equality and are against castes. There is a historical continuity between a Torah in a synagogue, a Bible in a church, a Koran in a mosque and a Granth in a Gurdwara. The Bible contains the entire text of the Torah, the Koran repeats Biblical stories and the Granth is monotheist hymns, some written by Muslims!
A man of Sikh descent seemed impressed with my knowledge of his heritage when I said that I regarded Sikhism as a reformed Islam.
Paul.
Like most Muslim rulers, the Mughals were especially savage towards anything that could be construed as a "post-Muslim" religion (the way Christianity is post-Judaic and Islam post-Christian) because it defies Muhammed's claim to be the 'seal of the Prophets".
The Bahá’í ran into the same thing in 19th-century Iran. There are parallels between the Bahá’í faith and Sikhism, too.
Gentlemen,
Since the followers of the Altaian Prophet Subotai has no religious scruples about drinking alcoholic drinks, I would consider the Islamic element in the religion of Subotai's followers pretty weak.
And the Christian belief is that Christ is more than a mere prophet, that He is God Incarnate. Also, Christ warned his followers to beware of false prophets and false messiahs. Which obviously includes Mohammed.
Sean
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