Eight Arms and the Mask

1.“Rashorana, to live is to suffer, but to suffer is not to live.” It was by these words that the Red Goddess illuminated Herself. What do they mean? In their simplest form, it is a straightforward statement. Life, within the unhealed world, is full of suffering. No one can pass through it and go unscarred, unwounded, unhurt. But we fall victim to occlusion. We conclude that because suffering is inevitable that it is in fact an ineffable truth. And so we are told this- to live is to suffer, but to suffer is not to live. Life extends beyond suffering. Isn’t it about time you opened your eyes all the way and found out what it is? But in a more rarefied form, you must understand that this is how the Red Goddess first showed the Lunar Way to Irippi Ontor, the logician. Within the secret laws of logic, there is a notion called an equality. If two things are equal, then they are in some sense the same and can be transformed into one another with ease. The opposite of the equality is ...

The durulz people of Genertela, otherwise known as ducks, wereducks, nuisances, etc. are generally assumed to be entirely local to the Dragon Pass region, and any durulz encountered outside of said region are thus travelers or refugees. There is, however, a population native to western and central Maniria.  It is also a truism that durulz do not have religion of their own- they follow the religious ways of the people around them, mainly the Heortling people of Sartar (though persistent rumors continue of a brief and spectacularly unsuccessful effort by a clan of durulz to adopt the ways of the Grazeland Pony Breeders). This truism is mostly right but in some critical ways wrong, for the durulz of Maniria have knowledge of certain spirits that their neighbors do not. The following presents a selection of said spirits, with such information as could be gathered about their names, habits, contexts, imposed taboos, etc.  Great Uncle Great Uncle is an ancestral spirit to ...

Any god or spirit of any stature will have a grand entourage of associated demigods, heroes, minor spirits, and daimons that accompanies them. Uleria, goddess of love, is a goddess of truly cosmic scope. We find her bedeviling people from Ygg's Isles to the Slorifing Marshes (assuming there are people who live there beyond the Slorifings themselves). It is thus no surprise that her entourage is vast indeed.  Many of Uleria's daimons are classified as demons outside of her Cities of Free Love, as they drive people on to express various passions in ways embarrassing to look upon. (One daimon in particular is known in Dara Happa to encourage those it afflicts to express their love in terrible, spontaneously-composed, poetry. It is frequent for them to suggest that the barbarians of the hills are all afflicted by this demon.)  This daimon is frequently named "Praysem" in the texts, and they will respond to this name when so called. Praysem only afflicts those who a...

This story is one that is fairly traditional among those members of the Etyries cult engaged in missionary activity. This particular form, possibly the original, may have been written by a traditionalist, but I, for one, suspect a healthy dose of irony. I copied this out from the library beneath the Grand Auditorium in Torang. A much less entertaining place than its name would suggest. The Goddess's truest followers have always been the lowly of the world. Bandits, street girls, disgraced scholars, queens without regalia, followers of the Wasp God too waspish for Carmanians, madwomen who barter with spirits, slaves. Etyries was a merchant, and who expects much from someone who leads jackasses around by the nose for a living? And yet when she came before the Goddess, in those days when the Victory was fresher than morning dew, she started and nearly fainted, it is said, and the Goddess pulled her out from the line and said, "Here, she is a Natural!" She did faint, ...

I first heard this story in an Esrolian barracks. Hearing it is very different from reading it, for when you hear it performed there are always Red Women banging on the tables, yelling encouraging things to the speaker, whistling and cheering, and occasionally throwing glances your way. I found this written version in Holay, in the Knowing God's temple in Fylich Kwan. I cannot at this time speak to any regional differences between the Esrolian, Holayan, and any other versions that may exist. It was the days when the Grand Order had not been lost, but was slipping away. It was the days when Orlanth was King of the Gods and there were many gods to be king of still. It was in those days when Vinga went out from the tula to go fishing. This was not an extraordinary event. She was still a young woman, not quite ready in her own mind to plow the luscious fields of the Storm Tribe. But wherever she went, she carried her spear and her shield with her, and many were the eyes...