Note: This is a God Learner interpretation of a myth and so is like a blank "template". As such it represents a "mid-value" or "common ground" between the widely differing interpretations that many different cults have. Thus no actual cult has this precise story. Obviously, the identity of Esrola's lover depends on which cult the storyteller belongs too!
During the Green Age, the powers that Esrola, Grain Goddess in the land of Ernaldela, shone out with were like a second sun embedded in the soil. Sometimes when a farmer dug into the soil light would come beaming up. All he would need to do would be to say a prayer to the Grain Goddess and the land would erupt in crops and good food with fruit just waiting to be picked. In those times, the role of farmer was more like that of priest. It rained sometimes, but not so that the power of the earth was threatened. After the rains everything grew back twice as abundant and lush as before.
One time though, the rains did not stop. They leapt down from the sky and hurt the ground where they struck, making it bleed it's power. Lightning, Rain and Storm were all set on destroying the beauty of the earth in a childish fight between them. Yet Esrola did not do anything and let them play. She knew what was coming but wanted them to see what the consequences of their childishness was to be. She was quite self-confident in her own powers and thought she would always be able to withstand their power. Later even the Sun and his family sought to bake the soil dry to show the other gods they were strong too, but this only suceeded in weakening Esrola's powers so that sometimes the farmers went hungry for a day or two.
But Esrola did not know the full scope of what was happening until she called on her Mother the Earth (Great Ernalda), to ask what she should do when the gods would not stop. She found her Mother poisoned and in an everlasting slumber. She looked around and saw that the poison was a lake that had encircled the Great Earth without her knowing and this lake was called Chaos. All Esrola could do was weep for her loss. So pitiful and sorrowful were her cries that the gods stopped their petty competitions for a moment to look upon her. Then each one decided to comfort her. In their own way, each decided that the only way to do this was to use one of the most ancient powers in the cosmos, older even than Death, and this was Love.
Esrola, wrapped in grief, descended deep into the bowels of the Mother Earth. Here she lay hidden by her grandmother, Asrelia. Esrola's confusion had churned tunnels in the earth so that to get to her, a great maze with many dangers had to be crossed. Asrelia had aided in this, wrapping Esrola, her treasure, in a black cloth sprinkled with understars. Unlike the stars of the surface world, these shine with a red or impossibly black light and give out heat. They are gaps in the floor of the underworld where the darklight from Hell glares up. Asrelia ordered some of her troll guards to patrol the enormous jasper gates which stopped any entering the tunnels where she had bid Esrola stay.
The gods, who had heard Esrola's sorrowful crying, decided to partake of a special Quest to bring her comfort. All of them claimed to call on the ancient energies of the realm and sang praises to the Celestial Court. At their singing, a crack opened in the ground. It seemed that they had managed to call on Empress Earth, who opened the way to the underworld to them. A ramp lead down into the ground and the gods followed it. After a while they came to an underground river, dark as night, which had a boat on the bank nearest them. The pilot of the boat stood there and the gods went over to him, realizing soon that he was a she and that she was a troll. There were some who talked to her. These were the chief of the wind gods, a follower of his who was a god of desert winds, the god of death, the god of light and a troll god who decided to talk to the boatwoman the most. He asked if he could give her some lead coins so that she would carry them to the other side. At this she seemed angry and banished these gods with a wave of her hand, saying they knew to much of Ernalda to be allowed further as they would call on her to aid them by right of marriage. The rest of the gods had remained silent and they got the feeling she liked this. A minor god left a gold crown by her feet, saying it was only a gift. She picked it up and beckoned the rest of the gods to board her vessel, thanking them for their meaningful quietness and sincere generosity.
Silently the boat pulled up on the other bank. Here they saw a small tunnel going straight down into the ground. At first they sought to climb down, but it was too sheer and several times they lost their grip and fell headlong. Soon some spirits appeared and chased them down the tunnel. One god was caught by one of these ghost and immeadietly vanished. The others never knew what happened to him.
At the bottom of this shaft was a large, shadowy cave. Lunging out of the darkness came huge troll warriors each with six breasts and four tusks. They were too quick for the gods, who had no time to draw their weapons. Instead each found themselves wrestling with one of these monstrosities. They seemed doomed, as eventually by one means or another each of the gods was captured or knocked out.
Once the gods came round, they found they had been dragged to another cave, darker than the rest but with two great truncated pyramids. Atop each was a short column that seemed made of fire. They were in a line in front of them, and had to be crossed one at a time. By various means they got to the top of the first one and saw a crystal on top of the firey column. Not knowing why, one of the gods thought they had to bring the crystal to life and so they scaled the firey columns and did so using their divine powers. They did the same to the other, though how they got across is not known as there was an impossible divide between the two pyramids. Once the spells in both crystals were cast, a door appeared in the far wall and they went through this.
They found themselves in a long room with a balcony some metres above them. As they looked, great columns of truestone started to roll rapidly at them from right and from left. It seemed they would be crushed between these. One shouted a plan, which the others agreed to. At the last moment they all jumped up. Some were too slow and were crushed to death. The others landed on top of a column and then they tried jumping up to the balcony. Here some were still to slow and were again smashed to pieces. Some however managed to leap to safety.
Once on the balcony they could see it lead to see a series of further tunnels. Soon they discovered it was all part of a huge maze. The gods split up, some going this way, some going that. Many became lost in the mist and were never seen again. However, our God was not one of these and eventually by following the shape of the good goddess's rune came to an enourmous gate, made from enchanted copper and bound with jasper, white-quartz and emarald. A great keyhole was in the centre of the gate, but no key could be found. Despite the gods best attempts at picking the lock, it remained firmly shut.
Now our God truly understood the nature of Love and was initiated in it's most hidden secrets. As he recounted some of the spells he had learnt in these teachings, his outward visage changed. He became younger and all were startled at this, some running away. Then he came to the longest and hardest spell in that Book, the one ofForgiveness. This he cast on the gods who had wronged the ferrywoman in presuming her boat was for hire and they were brought to him, their heads bowed in shame. One, the god of light, had a great key made from jasper which was so large it took all of them to lift it and turn it in the lock. After this, these husband gods dissappeared again in the blinding illumination that poured from the open gate.
Only our God dared enter the world of pure light inside. The doors closed behind him as the other gods cringed and cowered. The bliss of victory and the ecstasy of triumph were swept aside by the feeling of exaltation that washed our God as if he were a bather in a delightfully cooling sea on a too-hot day. He could not help any of this. Our God was changed further. Before Esrola took him in her arms, his skin bronzed to the hue of hu-metal and his spirit resolved with a sparkling clarity. He walked on this sea of light and with every step that he took, he became renewed. Then he split into two. The first half was the greater, and resumed it's place in Heaven after marrying Esrola and bringing her comfort. The second was the lesser, and left the sea of light and came out in the Land of Dawn. He slept contentedly for a year with a comforting spirit by his side. Then he dived into the sea, with the nymph promising him immortality. He swam for another year and finally came ashore, calling that land the Holy Country. And this is the land that Esrola blessed.
The main purpose in writing this legend was to provide some detail to the Esrolan religion. These grain cults are some of the largest religions in Glorantha and so it was felt a bit more flesh to the bones was needed. Obviously, this myth is perfect material for HeroQuesting and indeed has been put to that use on several historical occassions. Most recently (1619 S.T.) it was hoped it could be used to restore much-needed fertility energies to the soil in the southern Esrolian region (especially west of Nochet) after the depradations of the warlord Greymane. Unfortunately this went very wrong with disastrous consequences for Esrolia, particularly in light of the pressure in the north and east from the Lunar Empire.
Essentially, those involved in the HeroQuest are taken to the lowest levels of the Esrolan temple and partake of a short ritual overseen by a member of the Queen's exotic tribe of earth spirits. The combination of spells, prayer and narcotics involved leads the participants to leave this plane for that of myth. Once there, the guiding spirit forms a bridge which they must cross to enter this particular legend. To fully succeed, the myth must be followed, if in outline only. Their precise activites will have a direct influence on how the myth is resolved. If they should return to the Hero-Plane, it is this resolution of the myth that will change the circumstances of Esrola's worshippers.
In practice, the HeroQuest is always attempted on Esrola's high holy day. To ensure the link to the mythical plane is secure, the HeroQuest ritual is always accompanied by two lesser rituals. Here male representatives are always required to accompany the priestesses. By ancient tradition these are always of the Ernaldan Husband cults. The rituals relate to the dominant theme in Earth- centred myths: fertility. Here the sexual element of the concept of fertility is emphasised. The first ritual is a symbolic re-enactment of the myth, using meaningful actions and props. The second ritual is a sexual rite, a series of physical activites between a male representative of a husband cult and a priestess that re-enact the actual love-play between the dieties. The actual embraces and couplings involved are deduced by viewing the various parts of the myths as metaphors for stages of the sexual act. The first ritual ("Esrola's Spiritual Lovers") requires a test based on mental and spiritual faculties and typically involves Yelmalions. The second ("Esrola's Earthly Lovers") requires a test based on physical prowess, endurance and attractiveness and the male representatives tend to be Orlanthi. More prestige is assigned to participation in the Spiritual Lover's ritual.
Several odd things may be noted about the myth. Firstly it appears that all the husband gods are married to Ernalda at the same time. This can be gauged by the words of the ferrywoman (who must be a descendant of the troll ancestor Jeset). Nowhere else does it appear that Ernalda was married to more than one god a time and the difficulty can only be explained by noting it took place before History began and so apparently the laws of Time do not apply.
Also to be noted is a section where the gods must fail: the bare-hand fight with the trolls. It was at this point that the Hero-Questers in 1619 S.T. erred and so their HeroQuest was eventually doomed. It would appear that these trolls must be of god-like strength themselves to wrestle with divine beings. Why it is that the god of light (presumably Yelmalio) was the one to appear with the key at the end is not known. Finally, the obvious conclusion that the being at the end was no less than the Pharoah leads one to ponder the significance of the myth in any future ressurection of the Holy Country's dead ex-ruler.
lawrence@aslak.demon.co.uk