Campaign guide plight of the tuatha (1) 42

Chapter Three: Lore of Aeliode And so the children of Tulhesa sought out Ochesa, also called Volsung, in the hopes that he would be able to aid them with their mother They found him sitting and sharpening his spear preparing to go out on a hunt ‘Ochesa, please help us’ one said ‘Paladrus has bewitched our mother,’ said another ‘She is not herself and plans destruction’, a third spoke Volsung felt pity for the poor children of Tulhesa He listened to their stories about how poorly she treated them The children’s woe soon overtook Volsung’s senses and he vowed to aid them in their plight Together they formed a plan to force Tulhesa to listen to her children Volsung would invite Paladrus on the hunt that Volsung was preparing for, a hunt for the Great Hind Volsung would then slip away and return to Tulhesa’s children and together they would convince Tulhesa of her errors Volsung would then return and finish the hunt with Paladrus In this way, the Children’s torments would cease And so it was that Volsung spoke to Paladrus and Paladrus agreed to hunt with him for the Great Hind As Paladrus prepared to leave Tulhesa spoke thus ‘Do not leave me my Brother, for I am tired and need to rest Who would watch over me as I so.’ Tulhesa’s children then spoke up ‘We shall watch over you,’ one said ‘You will be safe,’ said another ‘Your life is in our hands,’ a third spoke Thus comforted, Tulhesa bade Paladrus farewell and wished him luck on his hunt Soon Volsung had separated from Paladrus on their hunt with the excuse that they could cover more area if they went different ways Volsung returned to where Tulhesa lay sleeping and he saw her children prowling around her, nervously pacing When they saw that Volsung had returned, they began nipping at their mother’s tail Their nips pierced their mother’s hide and cause her to bleed She awoke with a start and cried, ‘My children, why you wake your mother so?’ ‘We woke you so you will listen to us,’ one said ‘We woke you so you would share your power of creation with us,’ said another ‘Give us your power or Volsung will kill you,’ a third spoke It was then she saw Volsung approaching her, his spear in his hand ‘Traitorous children,’ Tulhesa roared, ‘You shall not be allowed to threaten your mother!’ She swatted her children far from her and her children cried piteously in mock pain Volsung saw Tulhesa hurting her children and stepped in front of them ‘I am here to help your children’ bellowed Volsung ‘You will no longer be able to hurt them!’4 Round and round they circled; spear, teeth and claw striking swiftly and drawing blood Each time Volsung struck Tulhesa, some of her blood landed on his flesh, burning and enraging him He grew stronger and succumbed to bloodlust as they fought till at last, with a spear strike straight to Tulhesa’s heart, Volsung laid low the great serpent Tulhesa’s children looked with fear upon Volsung as his form had been transformed by the melee ‘Your appearance frightens us,’ one said ‘You are no longer the Volsung we know,’ said another ‘We shall call you Balar now,’ a third spoke Balar roared in victory over the slain body of Tulhesa, reveling in the power of his might He raised his spear high above his head and spoke,’ Tulhesa’s blood flows as a sea and from this day I shall wade through it as a ship sails the oceans.’ Tulhesa looked up and spoke to her children thus5 ‘My children, you have risen against your mother and for this I curse you Forevermore shall you plot against each other as you have plotted against me Forevermore shall you fear It is interesting to note how much of the speech in this section between Tulhesa and Volsung had ambiguous meaning It seems that the unfortunate gods are only aware of the darkest meaning that can be attributed to the others words For instance, when Tulhesa calls her children “traitorous” and states that they will “not be allowed to threaten their mother”, Volsung only hears what Tulhesa says and was unable to her the third child’s statement that she should ‘give [them] [her] power or Volsung will destroy [her].’ If Volsung would have heard this statement, it is likely that he would have correctly interpreted Tulhesa’s threat as a means of self-defense Instead he only sees her actions as unprovoked violence towards her offspring Here is where one of the contradictions of Southern Imperial religious thought is shown plain Their god Tulhesa is clearly slain at this point in the story, and yet she still speaks and has motives of her own According to this text it seems that death is not really of concern as it does not seem to removes the gods’ ability to interact with their surrounding world This makes it odd that the gods grieve so much for the death of one of their number Here, as elsewhere, Tulhesa speaks without any apparent difficulty Indeed, the priests of Tulhesa from the Southern Empire seem to be connected to a divine source as the miracles they are able to produce, while disturbing, are none-the-less powerful 41