Trohdwyr, the zmay chief gamekeeper to three generations of Vymezals, reminds Kossara:
"'You learned to walk by clinging to my tail for safety.'" (II, p. 364)
This human-Merseian interaction could not be more different from those described in previous instalments of the Technic History. Kossara remembers Trohdwyr rocking her and rumbling a lullaby. She grew up trilingual, learning archaic and altered Eriau from Trohdwyr's family, Serbic from her parents and Anglic from a governess. (I would like to be at least bilingual but it is now too late to try to become fluent in Irish or French.)
When cooking on a campfire, Trohdwyr addresses:
"'Aferdhi of the Deeps, Blyn of the Winds, Haawan who lairs on the reefs...'" (p. 365)
- but asks only that they be held afar and not cause trouble! Personification and placation of natural forces has to be the oldest kind of paganism. Trohdwyr is descended from fishers on the Black Ocean. Thus, his prayer mentions deeps, winds and reefs, not earth or sky. Kossara expects the Pantocrator to accept him into Heaven. Indeed, a bigoted creator would be unworthy of worship.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
All this makes me think Trodhwyr descended from Merseians who did not like the culture of the lands around the Wilwidh Ocean on Merseia, the culture that came to dominate and unify that planet. His ancestors left Merseia when it became plain who was going to win the struggles for power preceding the rise of the Roidhunate.
Ad astra! Sean
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