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.
[Obviously Orlanth, which completes this as a telling of the conflict between Orlanth and Yelm. Despite being from a traditionally Solar mythology, this is structurally much closer to Heortling than Dara Happan tellings of the story. - MP]
Zerel Fan, Victorious Zenith, was surprised at this, and saw someone before him unusual, and set aside his bright spear. "Challenger, let us see who among us is greatest at all ten of the classical arts, not merely swordplay."
Second Oldest Brother laughed, "Very well! O, self-titled king of the sky! Any task you put before me I will master!"
First was the test of music. The Victorious Zenith played the two-string fiddle, perfect in every respect. Second Oldest Brother brought with him a set of pipes he had carved and made such a terrible racket that all except for Zerel Fan himself ran in fear. And so only Zerel Fan could hear the music, and how it built on his own.
Second was the test of dance. The Victorious Zenith performed the ten steps of elegance, in all five of the approved forms. Second Oldest Brother leapt into the middle of the dancing grounds, and flailed wildly, and energetically to the rhythm of the drums, and to a rhythm only he could hear. The people laughed and turned their eyes from such a ridiculous show. And so only Zerel Fan saw the dance, and how it built on the ten steps of elegance.
Thus it went for all the challenges, each time Zerel Fan demonstrated perfection and each time Second Oldest Brother created something new that was hard for anyone less than perfect to appreciate. In this way, Zerel Fan saw in each instance that which he did not possess, and Second Oldest Brother saw that which he could not attain.
When they met again for the second test of swordplay, as a follow on to their first, Zerel Fan instead spoke to Second Oldest Brother:
"In all the triple world I have never met an equal, until this day. Let us make peace where there was strife, let us make reparations to those who suffered iniquity. Come, let us be as brothers, of one blood."
What began as confusion among the crowds turned to joy as the chicha was poured. Zerel Fan and Second Oldest Brother swore oaths first of friendship, then of brotherhood, and then the secret oath that only Earth Queen could officiate. They took Earth Queen as co-husbands to her, and entered into the Marriage Cave. It was sealed to keep the secret.
[The contests themselves are prototypical, including that only three are described even after enumerating ten. The marriage, however, is not. Earth Queen is, according to my contacts in the Argan Argar society who have made trips to Chen Durel, now known as Dowager Earth, and is a figure that seems to be a synthesis between Asrelia and Ernalda, but she draws little devotion today. There are many variations on this story, and my contacts relate these are specifically addressed in the context of the polyandrous marriages that are common in the Kingdom of Ignorance. -MP]
For seven days, and then for ten days, the seal remained. On the seventeenth day, the rock was pushed aside, and from within came out our precious triple-born one, his Gem of Transcendent Wisdom blazing, set in his forehead, our Solar Storm.
[Chen Dureli routinely declare that a power of Solar Storm was the Gem of Transcendent Wisdom set into his forehead, and that Emperor Thief stole it by hiding in Solar Storm's shadow when Solar Storm went south to punish the indolence of the Kingdom of Splendor - the Kingdom of Thieves, as Chen Durel mythologies term it during this time. This may represent a modern form of gainsaying, to deny the authority of their conquering neighbor, but it is always difficult to suss out the details of such a foreign place from so far away - 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.
[Obviously Orlanth, which completes this as a telling of the conflict between Orlanth and Yelm. Despite being from a traditionally Solar mythology, this is structurally much closer to Heortling than Dara Happan tellings of the story. - MP]
Zerel Fan, Victorious Zenith, was surprised at this, and saw someone before him unusual, and set aside his bright spear. "Challenger, let us see who among us is greatest at all ten of the classical arts, not merely swordplay."
Second Oldest Brother laughed, "Very well! O, self-titled king of the sky! Any task you put before me I will master!"
First was the test of music. The Victorious Zenith played the two-string fiddle, perfect in every respect. Second Oldest Brother brought with him a set of pipes he had carved and made such a terrible racket that all except for Zerel Fan himself ran in fear. And so only Zerel Fan could hear the music, and how it built on his own.
Second was the test of dance. The Victorious Zenith performed the ten steps of elegance, in all five of the approved forms. Second Oldest Brother leapt into the middle of the dancing grounds, and flailed wildly, and energetically to the rhythm of the drums, and to a rhythm only he could hear. The people laughed and turned their eyes from such a ridiculous show. And so only Zerel Fan saw the dance, and how it built on the ten steps of elegance.
Thus it went for all the challenges, each time Zerel Fan demonstrated perfection and each time Second Oldest Brother created something new that was hard for anyone less than perfect to appreciate. In this way, Zerel Fan saw in each instance that which he did not possess, and Second Oldest Brother saw that which he could not attain.
When they met again for the second test of swordplay, as a follow on to their first, Zerel Fan instead spoke to Second Oldest Brother:
"In all the triple world I have never met an equal, until this day. Let us make peace where there was strife, let us make reparations to those who suffered iniquity. Come, let us be as brothers, of one blood."
What began as confusion among the crowds turned to joy as the chicha was poured. Zerel Fan and Second Oldest Brother swore oaths first of friendship, then of brotherhood, and then the secret oath that only Earth Queen could officiate. They took Earth Queen as co-husbands to her, and entered into the Marriage Cave. It was sealed to keep the secret.
[The contests themselves are prototypical, including that only three are described even after enumerating ten. The marriage, however, is not. Earth Queen is, according to my contacts in the Argan Argar society who have made trips to Chen Durel, now known as Dowager Earth, and is a figure that seems to be a synthesis between Asrelia and Ernalda, but she draws little devotion today. There are many variations on this story, and my contacts relate these are specifically addressed in the context of the polyandrous marriages that are common in the Kingdom of Ignorance. -MP]
For seven days, and then for ten days, the seal remained. On the seventeenth day, the rock was pushed aside, and from within came out our precious triple-born one, his Gem of Transcendent Wisdom blazing, set in his forehead, our Solar Storm.
[Chen Dureli routinely declare that a power of Solar Storm was the Gem of Transcendent Wisdom set into his forehead, and that Emperor Thief stole it by hiding in Solar Storm's shadow when Solar Storm went south to punish the indolence of the Kingdom of Splendor - the Kingdom of Thieves, as Chen Durel mythologies term it during this time. This may represent a modern form of gainsaying, to deny the authority of their conquering neighbor, but it is always difficult to suss out the details of such a foreign place from so far away - Minaryth Purple]
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