Suns to Come

From the Argan Argar Compilations in the Jonstown Library, with Commentary by Minaryth Purple This is a story of the Victorious Zenith. [A god of the distant Chen Durel. Roughly equivalent to Yelm. - MP] After he had defeated the other enemies of his reign, one was left: the Holy Mountain Bandit Gang, strange troublemakers who lived in the house of their mother, Mt. Emergence, in the Jankley Bore. [Umath's children, the translation to Chen Durel's mythic geography is a common theme in the other myths I have encountered of this place - MP] He did not have to go seeking for them, for instead they came to him. He scattered them to the four corners, and sent them roaring as they went. Their second oldest brother heard this, and sought vengeance for his kin from Zerel Fan, King of the Sky. He was one unique in all the triple world, for he did not quail before the terror-face of Zerel Fan, and matched him at the first exchange of arms called the Crushing of the Weak. ...

A broo crawled from its Chaos-pit and called out to the distant Black Sun: When I was born, I tore my way from my mother's belly. When I was a child, I murdered my father. I have never known the comfort of home. When I fought for Akorgat, I fell from a very high place. When I fought for Tien, I lost my head. I have never known the comfort of victory. O, Black Sun! They call you the joy and comfort of all the beings between sky and hell! Gbaji has not yet come to free us, and I cannot endure to wait! What comfort is there for a creature like me? The Black Sun heard this, and struck open the ground. The waters beneath the earth poured in like blood, and black flowers bloomed like scabs. "Eat the black lotus, and you shall receive your desire. Eat the black lotus, but only eat two." I don't know why the broo ate three. Perhaps it was to prove he could? Regardless, he fell into a deep sleep, and slept so long Gbaji came and left while he was asleep! Somewhere...

AgartuSay was deluded by the Dragon, and lured into the Maw of the Dragon. He was plied with sweet words, the promise of an end to torture. His food was dragon poison, the dragon poison clouded his sight, and he thought this was clarity. He had denied the hundred gods, and cursed his ancestors. He balanced the elements of his body in the Dragon way - that is to say, he cut off everything he feared and denied it was him. There in the Maw of the Dragon, AgartuSay only had his mind left, and he would soon be free of that and become wholly a dragon himself. But then it happened he met a fish seller. The fish seller was old, and humbled. He had baskets of fish before him, and watercress-lined baskets of prawns too. His left leg was bent wrong, and his iron harpoon was rusted next to him. His tunic was made from fish skin, and his sandals were made from shark skin. The gorakiki-men and gorakiki-women crawled on him, they bit into his skin, they ate of him, and he did not once strike at t...

The South King said this: He comes against me, Sekever comes against me He is the one I cannot defeat, for he is not like me His secret is the one I cannot hold, for I would lose my kingdom He has the new flute song, he has the new dancing step I must make him like me, so I can see him Catch him in my burning eye, burn him in my catching eye I must make him drop his secret, I must make a Sekever of him - A fragment from the collected translations of the Seventh Chote Dakpa

Right now I’m only going to dig into the Guide. There’s more stuff, both back from antiquity and from other fanworks, but the Guide is now the place to start. First and foremost: the name has flopped between Chern Durel and Chen Durel for a while, but the Guide uses Chen, so that’s official. Chen Durel is treated as a province of Kralorela, and given 6 pages of its own. A third of the Notable People of Kralorela are Chen Dureli, and all of them are members of Can Shu’s clique. The gods of Chen Durel occasionally get mentioned elsewhere - the Gang of Four are part of Kralorela’s history, the Black Sun is described when talking about troll gods, and they all get play in the Hero Wars section. As a consequence of its placement, we should expect the writing to have a quietly pro-Kralori bias. The history of Kralorela is well rehearsed. Prior to any human life, there are ancient pyramids covered in hieroglyphs. There is in the Godtime the worship of a Sun God, who appe...