The Melting

----- Original Message -----
From: "JS Bangs" <jaspax@...>

> Sally Caves sikyal:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "JS Bangs" <jaspax@...>
> > > This is surprising to me: I was under
> > > the impression that the Teonim were on a completely separate
con-world.
> >
> >  They are and they aren't!  It's a little complicated, and I'm bound for
> > bed, but it goes like this.  The Teonim have mastered an art they call
the
> > "melting" (li mermmindo) which means that they exist interdimensionally.
> > [snip]
>
> Ah, this explains a lot. I'm still a little surprised that they managed to
> become wholly Orthodox through their intermittent contacts with humanity,
> but fair enough. Is their version of Christianity pretty, er, orthodox, or
> do they have their own variations?
They are not wholly Orthodox... there are Catholics and Protestants, also a
fair number of Muslims, Gnostics, and Zoroastrians.  A few Jews.  Orthodoxy
is only natural for a converted people who emerge into the Black Sea area.
Then there is the old polytheistic belief of the Teonim which has been
largely subsumed by monotheism, and reduced to legend.  I gave everybody a
list of gods about two months ago which is still unfinished; the English has
to find its Teonaht original in many of the items. :) :

    http://www.frontiernet.net/~awen/gods.html

Some of these gods look "borrowed" from Terran gods; Bast and Kronosai are
examples.  But Sybua, Fyvyk, and Gygycavod are pure old Teonaht.  Their
contacts with our world are a little more than "intermittent"--which
explains the adoption of many of our customs, language and religions.  They
even have a patron saint (Saint Hpilhip and his sister Miriamne); they have
been bent on escaping their world which is threatened by the Rrordaly, but
also by natural disasters.  Back "there," both peoples have secrets to keep
from each other.  The melting is one such art that the Teonim don't want the
Rrodaly to acquire.  What the Rrordaly are keeping secret remains to be
seen.  I think the Teonim had thought that escaping into our world would be
the Paradise they had envisioned so long ago, and made a cruel discovery.

> I like your description of the way that they interact with humanity. Is
> Sendl's dislike for Teonaht anatomy based on anything more than desire not
> to stand out?
Her mother begged her not to disfigure herself.  Sendl's act was as much a
rebellion against her mother as it was against her people.  Where she is
now, I'm not sure, but probably making trouble.

> I'm not even this clear as to how the Yivrindi interact with our world. I
> know that they have a completely separate conworld, Aratasa, with its own
> history and origins, but I know that some of them have at various times
> crossed over into our world and inhabit our timeline. My informant,
> Narnagol, is one of these. He's very vague about how he got here from
> Aratasa, though.
We share some problems in common, then! :)  My original Teonim inhabited a
world and a time completely separate from this one, but over the years I
have been more and more invested in bringing them into this world and hit
upon the "melting" as a kind of fantasy/sf explanation.  I have a number of
stories that I'm writing.  When it's finished, I'll put "The Wyrlorf" up
on-line.  I'm aiming at learning how to write as fast as I can in Teonaht,
but I think most of you would enjoy it best in English, or mostly English.
Also there are still so many words to match to English.  This really is an
art that no lifetime is long enough for... especially if you have other
things you need to do.

Thanks for your response, Jesse!  It's always nice to see that people show
some interest in your conworld.  Tell me more about the Yivrindi.  Did the
people or the language come first?

Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html
    (I need to refurbish my links there.)

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