| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 21 Oct 2014 : 12:05:54
Okay, i'm looking at some Maztica stuff in collaboration with Seethyr, and i came across a creation myth in two sourcebooks with slightly different versions that intrigued me.
From the Maztica sourcebook.
quote:
So the gods made a man of gold, and he was very beautiful. The gods gathered around to look at him, and they were very pleased. They waited for the man to praise the gods who had made him.
But they waited long, and the man made no move, no sound. The man of gold failed, for he had no heart and no breath. He could not live.
This is from the City of Gold adventure.
quote:
Again they tried, this time with gold, precious and eternal. Surely the man of gold would last, and serve them as they desired. But no heart, no breath was in the gold and so it could not live.
Though beautiful, strong, alluring, the man of gold was a false hope. He could not please the gods.
To create man, the gods had to give of themselves. Only from their own flesh and blood could human beings come to life and flourish. And so it is that the truest value is purchased only at the greatest cost#151; one#146;s self.
This wisdom is reserved to the gods, for clearly men are foolish. When the men of the north found the gods#146; man of gold, they bowed low in worship before the thing, believing it to be a god. The gods became angered and destroyed the blasphemers.
Again men found the failed man of gold. The sight of so much wealth filled their hearts with greed and they toppled him and melted him down, making jewelry and precious objects.
#147;Now,#148; they said, #147;we are rich, and shall never need to work.#148; But when everyone had gold, its value was lost. No one would work, for they were rich, and rich people need not work. And no one tilled the fields. Hunger came, and strifes Evil men stole and killed, not only to survive, but to steal as much gold as they could.
Years passed, and a third tribe of men came. They found much gold among the bones of the evil men.
So the first story is backed up by the second. The gods did indeed try multiple attempts at creating intelligent servants and they failed.
Now we know the third tribe of men come from Kara Tur because they are the Azuposi as described in the adventure. I have a theory that the second group of men that found the Men of Gold were the Nahuat Tribe. The first group of men were probably early proto Mazticans.
The thing i struggle with is the notion of the Men of Gold itself. Gold in Maztica like most metals has little to no value. It is used as a thing of decoration for rituals because it looks pretty, but it is not used as currency (despite them having discovered advanced mathematics and astronomy) so in itself it has no value to society.
So do i treat the myth as literal and that the gods of Maztica created golems out of metal, but they could not worship the gods because they were not self aware. Or do i take the myth as somewhat metaphorical and treat the Men of Gold as a being made out of something valuable to the people of Maztica.
The question is what is valuable to a Maztican. The only thing i can think of is knowledge. Perhaps the gods creature beings of pure knowledge (like a brain in a jar perhaps) but these beings would not worship the gods (perhaps they viewed the gods as flawed) and so the gods destroyed them (or so they thought).
Excess knowledge can still cause idleness (look at modern society). Perhaps the gods created beings of pure knowledge who in turn created the golems (men of gold) to do physical labour for them.
Furthermore what could be the men of mud and the men of wood that the creation myths also refer to?
Anyways, thoughts and suggestions would be welcome. I realise it is all ripped off from real world history but i like to mess with it a bit and try and find alternate reasonings for it so i can expand upon the mythology. |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 23 Oct 2014 : 10:55:22
Not a bad idea, it certainly ties in well for an early vision of Maztica i had thought of (having been newly created by Ao in -31000 DR it would be little more than bare rock). |
| Bladewind |
Posted - 23 Oct 2014 : 00:18:27
I think workable land would be seen as the most valuable commodity. The conditions in mountainous rainforest are, despite the abundance of life, quite delicate. Soils are easily washed away by rapids of gathered rainfall coming from the mountain cliffs, and working the earth to produce food will take careful attention.
So a revereance for the elemental earth could fit for the more sober mountainous maztican folk. Those in the valleys might lean more towards warmth and life/nature itself.
So the men made out of gold story might be told in the valleys with wooden first creations, while those in mountains told the story with mud as the building blocks. |
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