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rainbowfic2025-01-30 09:05 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2025-01-30 09:05 pm
Dark Scarlet #9; Vert #1 [Starfall]
Name: Hope is the Thing With Feathers
Story: Starfall
Colors: Dark Scarlet #9 (Threads of silk and gold); Vert #1 (Hope)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas + Graffiti (January Canvas & Frames Challenge) + Photography + Panorama + Giftwrap
Word Count: 421
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Notes: c.000s-020s, probably somewhere in the Eister Ranges in Emoyra or High Eisterland. Hylia, and her legend. Includes some Old Calendar name lists and the current general Emoyran month names. (Hylia was mentioned very obliquely in the piece where Viyony tells Leion that most cities still have Birdmasters with Hylian messenger birds.) Giftwrap, because while not strictly a gift as such, two of my friends who have been kind enough to read these pieces love birds, sopersiflage_1 and theseatheseatheopensea, I hope you'll like this bird-related snippet of legend!
Summary: The legend of Hylia and the calendar, taken from The History of Eisterland (written in the 5th C by Seso Bialdis; this version from the 13th C Emoyran translation, pub. 1286.)
One of the Major Powers omitted by the Emorans[1] was Hylia, who was affiniate with the birds and creatures of the air and every means of flight. She could set her mind to soar like a bird itself, flying far ahead to find the way for the people who followed her out of the Mistlands. She called to her all the feather-kind of Starfall, those newly arrived, or that came with the Second Landing. She communed too with the avians brought to this world with the Scattered People long ago, and even the Olderay[2] of the air—all the birds that flew into the places where the barren lands had been made abundant and verdant; where life now flourished and water flowed.
She trained her favourite birds[3] to take messages to the far-flung people of all the lands as fast as their wings could carry them, and taught the first Bird Masters to do the same after her. Their work continues to this day.
The tales say that, when a new bird first arrived at her tower, Hylia would send it onwards, to the peoples spreading further east, and to the Northlands, as a sign the year was turning.
When the iciest first days of the year passed, the white-feathered, long-necked algowe arrived in the Eister Heights bringing with it the white flowers and the first breath of spring.
When the light of spring returned, green shoots sprouting from the earth and blossom on the trees, tiny, bright yellow flitters returned from the southern lands and their distinctive trill was heard in the woods.
When the leaves began to turn dry and brown, that was the hour of the great grey-blue seabird to ride back with the storms and rob fisherfolk of their catches.
This tradition is, then, how the months in Eisterland and many other places became known after birds—the Snowbird, the Sunbird, the Rainbird, and so on, the conceit growing more elaborate as the truth was forgotten. In Eisterland, the old month names used by the Scattered People—such as Icehold, Greening, Golden, Gathering—were often lost as the imaginations of Starfall's people in these lands took flight and turned them into birds.[4]
The notion gathered strength until each month had its own bird, whether myth or truth; each bird its own unlikely tale; each also a symbol of this or that for every soul's birth month, omens good or ill; and now the children chant their names in rhymes and games, remembering the order of the year.
1. Emora, Emorans - Older names for Emoyra & Emoyrans, still often used in High Eisterland and other places.
2. Olderay = High Eisterlander term for Untransformed creatures (creatures that predate all Starfall landings and are assumed to have survived the Great Catastrophe that rendered so much of the world dead prior to Starfall and the Great Transformation.)
3. Generally assumed to be the Hylian messenger birds still used today - large birds of the pigeon family, with cream breasts and rose-tinged grey wings. Unlikely powers are sometimes attributed to them.
4. List of Old and New Calendar names, as recorded by Seso Bialdis in an appendix of this work, from the oldest records of the Great Temple [High Tempelten], dating back to the 1st Century (post Starfall):
1. First Month | Icehold | Icebird or Snowbird
2. Second Month | Sowing | Seedbird
3. Third Month | Lightening | Dawnbird or Stormbird
4. Fourth Month | Greening | Daybird/Greenwing
5. Fifth Month | Flowering/Shearing | Skybird
6. Sixth Month | Golden or Ripening | Sunbird
7. Seventh Month | Reaping | Golden Bird/Songbird/Goldwing
8. Eighth Month | Gathering | Bluebird/Cornbird
9. Ninth Month | Fallowing | Rainbird
10. Tenth Month | Burning | Firebird
11. Eleventh Month | Darkening | Nightbird
12. Twelfth Month | Last Month or Storing | Starbird
13. Thirteenth Month | Last Month or Hidden | Dreambird
4(a). Current Emoyran calendar for comparison = 14 months, officially all designated only as 1st Month to 14th Month etc, but the names are also often still used, especially in the North of Emoyra, and always in High & Low Eisterland (where the birds used in the above list are more common than the older year-cycle names that have been retained in Emoyra):
1. Icehold
2. Snowbird
3. Stormbird (sometimes Greening in south)
4. Daybird
5. Greening
6. Sunbird
7. Golden (or sometimes Bluebird/Skybird/Goldbird)
8. Reaping
9. Firebird
10. Gathering
11. Rainbird
12. Nightbird
13. Starbird
14. Dreambird (or Hidden or Empty Month)
Story: Starfall
Colors: Dark Scarlet #9 (Threads of silk and gold); Vert #1 (Hope)
Supplies and Styles: Canvas + Graffiti (January Canvas & Frames Challenge) + Photography + Panorama + Giftwrap
Word Count: 421
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Notes: c.000s-020s, probably somewhere in the Eister Ranges in Emoyra or High Eisterland. Hylia, and her legend. Includes some Old Calendar name lists and the current general Emoyran month names. (Hylia was mentioned very obliquely in the piece where Viyony tells Leion that most cities still have Birdmasters with Hylian messenger birds.) Giftwrap, because while not strictly a gift as such, two of my friends who have been kind enough to read these pieces love birds, so
persiflage_1 and theseatheseatheopensea, I hope you'll like this bird-related snippet of legend!Summary: The legend of Hylia and the calendar, taken from The History of Eisterland (written in the 5th C by Seso Bialdis; this version from the 13th C Emoyran translation, pub. 1286.)
One of the Major Powers omitted by the Emorans[1] was Hylia, who was affiniate with the birds and creatures of the air and every means of flight. She could set her mind to soar like a bird itself, flying far ahead to find the way for the people who followed her out of the Mistlands. She called to her all the feather-kind of Starfall, those newly arrived, or that came with the Second Landing. She communed too with the avians brought to this world with the Scattered People long ago, and even the Olderay[2] of the air—all the birds that flew into the places where the barren lands had been made abundant and verdant; where life now flourished and water flowed.
She trained her favourite birds[3] to take messages to the far-flung people of all the lands as fast as their wings could carry them, and taught the first Bird Masters to do the same after her. Their work continues to this day.
The tales say that, when a new bird first arrived at her tower, Hylia would send it onwards, to the peoples spreading further east, and to the Northlands, as a sign the year was turning.
When the iciest first days of the year passed, the white-feathered, long-necked algowe arrived in the Eister Heights bringing with it the white flowers and the first breath of spring.
When the light of spring returned, green shoots sprouting from the earth and blossom on the trees, tiny, bright yellow flitters returned from the southern lands and their distinctive trill was heard in the woods.
When the leaves began to turn dry and brown, that was the hour of the great grey-blue seabird to ride back with the storms and rob fisherfolk of their catches.
This tradition is, then, how the months in Eisterland and many other places became known after birds—the Snowbird, the Sunbird, the Rainbird, and so on, the conceit growing more elaborate as the truth was forgotten. In Eisterland, the old month names used by the Scattered People—such as Icehold, Greening, Golden, Gathering—were often lost as the imaginations of Starfall's people in these lands took flight and turned them into birds.[4]
The notion gathered strength until each month had its own bird, whether myth or truth; each bird its own unlikely tale; each also a symbol of this or that for every soul's birth month, omens good or ill; and now the children chant their names in rhymes and games, remembering the order of the year.
1. Emora, Emorans - Older names for Emoyra & Emoyrans, still often used in High Eisterland and other places.
2. Olderay = High Eisterlander term for Untransformed creatures (creatures that predate all Starfall landings and are assumed to have survived the Great Catastrophe that rendered so much of the world dead prior to Starfall and the Great Transformation.)
3. Generally assumed to be the Hylian messenger birds still used today - large birds of the pigeon family, with cream breasts and rose-tinged grey wings. Unlikely powers are sometimes attributed to them.
4. List of Old and New Calendar names, as recorded by Seso Bialdis in an appendix of this work, from the oldest records of the Great Temple [High Tempelten], dating back to the 1st Century (post Starfall):
1. First Month | Icehold | Icebird or Snowbird
2. Second Month | Sowing | Seedbird
3. Third Month | Lightening | Dawnbird or Stormbird
4. Fourth Month | Greening | Daybird/Greenwing
5. Fifth Month | Flowering/Shearing | Skybird
6. Sixth Month | Golden or Ripening | Sunbird
7. Seventh Month | Reaping | Golden Bird/Songbird/Goldwing
8. Eighth Month | Gathering | Bluebird/Cornbird
9. Ninth Month | Fallowing | Rainbird
10. Tenth Month | Burning | Firebird
11. Eleventh Month | Darkening | Nightbird
12. Twelfth Month | Last Month or Storing | Starbird
13. Thirteenth Month | Last Month or Hidden | Dreambird
4(a). Current Emoyran calendar for comparison = 14 months, officially all designated only as 1st Month to 14th Month etc, but the names are also often still used, especially in the North of Emoyra, and always in High & Low Eisterland (where the birds used in the above list are more common than the older year-cycle names that have been retained in Emoyra):
1. Icehold
2. Snowbird
3. Stormbird (sometimes Greening in south)
4. Daybird
5. Greening
6. Sunbird
7. Golden (or sometimes Bluebird/Skybird/Goldbird)
8. Reaping
9. Firebird
10. Gathering
11. Rainbird
12. Nightbird
13. Starbird
14. Dreambird (or Hidden or Empty Month)
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I know there may never be a print edition of this thing, but (a) I would put a stupid amount of money in the mail for one (b) it would make it much easier for me to recommend it to fans of Patricia A. McKillip and Meredith Ann Pierce.
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Ooh, this is neat! Hylia really reminds me of Hylea from Pillars of Eternity, haha. How does it work with two months named Rainbird, or is one of them supposed to be Nightbird? In the Hebrew calendar, there are two months of Adar during leap years, but they are usually called Adar 1 and Adar 2.
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How does it work with two months named Rainbird, or is one of them supposed to be Nightbird?
Argh, yes, it was supposed to be Nightbird! idk how I can go over a short thing like this so many times and still have giant errors like that sitting about in it. Thanks! (Fixed.)
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<3
I think my favourite part is the way the different birds signal the different seasons--the grey-blue seabird is perfect! And it makes perfect sense that every month has its own bird!
This is perfect, pigeons are indeed magical and powerful!
I love everything about this, and I'm totally taking it as a gift, so thank you! <3
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<3
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1) https://66.media.tumblr.com/2d303f2444303ad898ee99ad3bf168d2/tumblr_ocudoxJH4t1t3gxyzo1_250.gif