Written By Behtuk
Sept. 25, 2019, 5:25 p.m.(11/24/1011 AR)
<Written in Northlands Shav>
This is the story of how I became real. My father met a woman and dreamed me into existence. The very next day he collected the spear that belonged to him, he collected the dogs that belonged to everyone, he collected the salt that belonged to no one, he collected the words that belonged to other people. He followed the words West to the killing grounds. There he sought the Child of Snow, a great beast, fierce and dangerous. It's fur as white as snow, it's eyes dark as night. Its fangs red as blood, its claws, long as daggers. He sprinkled the salt and lured the beast out. He and the dogs slew the Child of Snow. Three dogs died. Then my father collected the fur white as snow and washed it in the Great Ice. He returned to the tribe carrying the fur that belonged to no one, the dogs that belonged to everyone, the spear that belonged to only him. He brought all of these before the woman in whose dream I was hidden. Her two brothers stood by her side. The Children of the Sun and Moon watched from all around. He gave words to the Children. He gave dogs to one brother. He gave his spear to another brother. He gave the fur to the woman. All around, the Children waited to see if the woman would take the fur. I was born the second sun after that.
This is the story of how I became real. My father met a woman and dreamed me into existence. The very next day he collected the spear that belonged to him, he collected the dogs that belonged to everyone, he collected the salt that belonged to no one, he collected the words that belonged to other people. He followed the words West to the killing grounds. There he sought the Child of Snow, a great beast, fierce and dangerous. It's fur as white as snow, it's eyes dark as night. Its fangs red as blood, its claws, long as daggers. He sprinkled the salt and lured the beast out. He and the dogs slew the Child of Snow. Three dogs died. Then my father collected the fur white as snow and washed it in the Great Ice. He returned to the tribe carrying the fur that belonged to no one, the dogs that belonged to everyone, the spear that belonged to only him. He brought all of these before the woman in whose dream I was hidden. Her two brothers stood by her side. The Children of the Sun and Moon watched from all around. He gave words to the Children. He gave dogs to one brother. He gave his spear to another brother. He gave the fur to the woman. All around, the Children waited to see if the woman would take the fur. I was born the second sun after that.
Written By Behtuk
Aug. 22, 2019, 10:06 p.m.(9/13/1011 AR)
<Written in Northlands Shav>
How the Children of the Sun were Born.
When the world was new, only spirits inhabited the world. And the sun shone, always. The spirits had no writing or history. They only had now, which changed always. Whenever a spirit tired of a thing, they changed it into something else. Whenever a spirit tired of a shape, they changed into a new one. The only thing that never changed, and never moved, was the sun. But one spirit did not like the sun. It liked long fur and sharp teeth. It liked the taste of other dead things in its mouth. It liked the dark caves, where it could spring out and catch living things unaware. This spirit grew angry at the sun, always over everyone, and everything. It rose up and devoured the sun leaving only its bones in the sky. The world grew cold. All the spirits grew sleepy. The beautiful things that the spirits created were covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. But from the bowels of the earth came the Children of the Sun. They carried with them the sun's skin. They wore on the fur of the angry spirit on their shoulders. They danced and the spirits lifted up their bodies. They sang and the spirits changed their forms with the song. They took the things that the spirits had made and changed them, not into other things, but into other shapes of the same thing. They added things together, one to another in ways that spirits had never imagined. They built the largest tree that had ever existed and they climbed up the tree carrying the skin of the sun. Once there, the children covered the bones of the sun with it's skin and it rose up again, half alive and half dead. In some parts of the world, the snow and ice melted, but the Children of the Sun lived always at Faaraska, the end of the world, where the Angry spirit lives in caves beneath the earth and the sun sometimes forgets that it is still alive.
How they became Children of the Sun and Moon is another story.
How the Children of the Sun were Born.
When the world was new, only spirits inhabited the world. And the sun shone, always. The spirits had no writing or history. They only had now, which changed always. Whenever a spirit tired of a thing, they changed it into something else. Whenever a spirit tired of a shape, they changed into a new one. The only thing that never changed, and never moved, was the sun. But one spirit did not like the sun. It liked long fur and sharp teeth. It liked the taste of other dead things in its mouth. It liked the dark caves, where it could spring out and catch living things unaware. This spirit grew angry at the sun, always over everyone, and everything. It rose up and devoured the sun leaving only its bones in the sky. The world grew cold. All the spirits grew sleepy. The beautiful things that the spirits created were covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. But from the bowels of the earth came the Children of the Sun. They carried with them the sun's skin. They wore on the fur of the angry spirit on their shoulders. They danced and the spirits lifted up their bodies. They sang and the spirits changed their forms with the song. They took the things that the spirits had made and changed them, not into other things, but into other shapes of the same thing. They added things together, one to another in ways that spirits had never imagined. They built the largest tree that had ever existed and they climbed up the tree carrying the skin of the sun. Once there, the children covered the bones of the sun with it's skin and it rose up again, half alive and half dead. In some parts of the world, the snow and ice melted, but the Children of the Sun lived always at Faaraska, the end of the world, where the Angry spirit lives in caves beneath the earth and the sun sometimes forgets that it is still alive.
How they became Children of the Sun and Moon is another story.
Written By Behtuk
Aug. 21, 2019, 3:18 p.m.(9/10/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Ann
The second Arvani I ever met, and the first to show me kindness.
Written By Behtuk
Aug. 21, 2019, 3:16 p.m.(9/10/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Ann
Noble Sponsor
Written By Behtuk
July 29, 2019, 1:57 a.m.(7/19/1011 AR)
This story is written in Northlands Shav:
My father used to tell me of the Lady of the Ice. The Lady of the Ice was once a woman with no children. She prayed to the winds that they would bring her children. The East wind answered and brought her a child, with hair as dark as a bear's nose, and eyes as bright as a summer star. The woman rejoiced for she had a child at last. Then the West wind came. It found the woman had a child and whispered to her. The West wind told the woman: "You have asked me for a child, and I scoured the earth looking for the best child ever born to give to you." The woman was sad, because she already had a child, and it was not allowed for her to have two. There would not be enough for both children. She told the West wind to give the child to someone else. And the West Wind answered: "I will give the child to someone else. Her hair is as golden as sunrise. Her eyes as green as still water." The woman sorrowed, for it sounded like a beautiful baby. She asked where the child would go. "Somewhere south." Answered the West Wind. "When she is grown, men will fight over her. A war. Many men, killing because such a perfect child comes among them." The woman sorrowed a third time and asked the West Wind to give her the baby. "But you cannot have two children." Said the West Wind. So the woman took her first child, with the black hair and the bright eyes, and she hid him under the ice. She told the West Wind that her baby had drowned. She asked the West Wind to give her the baby it had found. The West wind laughed and flew away leaving her with nothing. The woman cried out and dove into the water. She searched under the ice for her baby with the black hair and the bright eyes. She searched so long that the sun set behind her, and the ice sealed over her. She is still searching.
If you hear knocking under the ice while you walk, that is the Lady of the Ice searching for her baby. Stop and lay down, crawl, do not walk, or the Lady of the Ice will take you away.
My father used to tell me of the Lady of the Ice. The Lady of the Ice was once a woman with no children. She prayed to the winds that they would bring her children. The East wind answered and brought her a child, with hair as dark as a bear's nose, and eyes as bright as a summer star. The woman rejoiced for she had a child at last. Then the West wind came. It found the woman had a child and whispered to her. The West wind told the woman: "You have asked me for a child, and I scoured the earth looking for the best child ever born to give to you." The woman was sad, because she already had a child, and it was not allowed for her to have two. There would not be enough for both children. She told the West wind to give the child to someone else. And the West Wind answered: "I will give the child to someone else. Her hair is as golden as sunrise. Her eyes as green as still water." The woman sorrowed, for it sounded like a beautiful baby. She asked where the child would go. "Somewhere south." Answered the West Wind. "When she is grown, men will fight over her. A war. Many men, killing because such a perfect child comes among them." The woman sorrowed a third time and asked the West Wind to give her the baby. "But you cannot have two children." Said the West Wind. So the woman took her first child, with the black hair and the bright eyes, and she hid him under the ice. She told the West Wind that her baby had drowned. She asked the West Wind to give her the baby it had found. The West wind laughed and flew away leaving her with nothing. The woman cried out and dove into the water. She searched under the ice for her baby with the black hair and the bright eyes. She searched so long that the sun set behind her, and the ice sealed over her. She is still searching.
If you hear knocking under the ice while you walk, that is the Lady of the Ice searching for her baby. Stop and lay down, crawl, do not walk, or the Lady of the Ice will take you away.
Written By Behtuk
April 26, 2018, 1:30 a.m.(8/14/1008 AR)
This journal entry is written in Northlands Shav:
The longtooth tribe were the most dangerous tribe in the North. They raised their knives against every person, friend or foe. They would raise their knife if you looked them in the eye. They said to the Children of the Sun and Moon, it is disrespectful to look a Longtooth in the eye. The Longtooth and the Children are not equals.
The Children of the Sun and Moon did not want to fight the Longtooth, so they were always moving, east to west, but that was not enough. From East to West, the Longtooth followed the Children. So the Children went North. They went North to the End of the World. Where a great chasm split the real world from the world of spirits. An ocean lay in the chasm sideways. It's currents flowing down, instead of West or East. The Children could not go any further North. They had reached the end of the world.
And the Longtooth followed them, even to the edge of the World. And there they told the Children of the Sun and Moon to cast their eyes down. They said: 'Sun or Moon, it matters not, none can cast their eyes on the Longtooth tribe without looking down.' But they were so far North, that the Children of the Sun and Moon knew something that the Longtooth did not. So they said to the Longtooth: 'You are not masters of the Sun. You are not masters of the Moon. Look and see. Here the sun will not look down. It will stare at you forever.'
And the Longtooth Elder looked and saw it was true. The Sun did not set. It stared at the Longtooth Tribe without shame. This angered the Elder of the Longtooth and he told his men... 'The sun defies us. We will raise our knives against the sun!' So they did, they raised their knives and crossed the great chasm between this world and the next.
As one people, the Longtooth tribe leapt across the chasm to chase the sun with their knives. But the ocean was hungry, and it grabbed them, each and every one, and dragged them into the depths. But the Longtooths did not die. They did not. Instead, they were transformed into the longtooths of the ocean. And always they travel, West to East, then East to West, raising their long spiral teeth against the sun. Even at midnight, when in all the rest of the world the sun has set, the longtooth raises it's long spiral tooth against the sun.
But the Children of the Sun and Moon had the last laugh. Now that the longtooth tribe were only whales in the ocean, it was not forbidden to eat them. And they are unique among all whales in their flavor, for even today, the longtooth tribe believes only the finest fish are suitable for them. And this gives their skin a flavor that is much like the Oathlands favorite food. The pig. They are the pigs of the sea.
The longtooth tribe were the most dangerous tribe in the North. They raised their knives against every person, friend or foe. They would raise their knife if you looked them in the eye. They said to the Children of the Sun and Moon, it is disrespectful to look a Longtooth in the eye. The Longtooth and the Children are not equals.
The Children of the Sun and Moon did not want to fight the Longtooth, so they were always moving, east to west, but that was not enough. From East to West, the Longtooth followed the Children. So the Children went North. They went North to the End of the World. Where a great chasm split the real world from the world of spirits. An ocean lay in the chasm sideways. It's currents flowing down, instead of West or East. The Children could not go any further North. They had reached the end of the world.
And the Longtooth followed them, even to the edge of the World. And there they told the Children of the Sun and Moon to cast their eyes down. They said: 'Sun or Moon, it matters not, none can cast their eyes on the Longtooth tribe without looking down.' But they were so far North, that the Children of the Sun and Moon knew something that the Longtooth did not. So they said to the Longtooth: 'You are not masters of the Sun. You are not masters of the Moon. Look and see. Here the sun will not look down. It will stare at you forever.'
And the Longtooth Elder looked and saw it was true. The Sun did not set. It stared at the Longtooth Tribe without shame. This angered the Elder of the Longtooth and he told his men... 'The sun defies us. We will raise our knives against the sun!' So they did, they raised their knives and crossed the great chasm between this world and the next.
As one people, the Longtooth tribe leapt across the chasm to chase the sun with their knives. But the ocean was hungry, and it grabbed them, each and every one, and dragged them into the depths. But the Longtooths did not die. They did not. Instead, they were transformed into the longtooths of the ocean. And always they travel, West to East, then East to West, raising their long spiral teeth against the sun. Even at midnight, when in all the rest of the world the sun has set, the longtooth raises it's long spiral tooth against the sun.
But the Children of the Sun and Moon had the last laugh. Now that the longtooth tribe were only whales in the ocean, it was not forbidden to eat them. And they are unique among all whales in their flavor, for even today, the longtooth tribe believes only the finest fish are suitable for them. And this gives their skin a flavor that is much like the Oathlands favorite food. The pig. They are the pigs of the sea.
Written By Behtuk
March 18, 2018, 11:21 p.m.(5/20/1008 AR)
I can write. The words are difficult to speak, but I can write.
I am grateful to Princess Ann for teaching me to write.
I am grateful to the priests who guide us.
I am grateful to the Gods that protect us.
I am grateful for those that fight.
I am grateful that I live.
I am grateful.
But I am not worthy.
I am grateful to Princess Ann for teaching me to write.
I am grateful to the priests who guide us.
I am grateful to the Gods that protect us.
I am grateful for those that fight.
I am grateful that I live.
I am grateful.
But I am not worthy.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.