Intermission: Week 3
Hi folks! This will actually be the last week of history posts – next week we should have at the very least a teaser for the new main page banner image squared away, along with a possible chapter introductory page similar to the one of Quinlan at the onset of Chapter 1. Exciting times!
This week, I’ll delve a little bit into Tamian history and culture to tell you about Tesque. Not the Tamian martial art that we saw Quinlan and Crim demonstrating in Chapter 1, but Tesque the individual. Tesque was actually the name of the supposed “first Tamian” – a God King who serves as the crux of the Tamian creation myth, as well as the inspiration and namesake of the official Tamian martial art.
As Tamian legend goes, Tesque was one of many in a pantheon of immortal creatures living in the treetops high above the world. Tesque was a brash and boastful god, and his fellow deities felt it necessary to punish him for his arrogant ways.
They conspired against him, and threw him out of the heavens. Tesque fell from the highest treetops and landed on the ground at the heart of the Western Deep, where the tallest trees continue to grow into the present. These special trees, oaks taller than any in the world, are said to be gateways leading directly to the heavens should one climb to the top.
Alas, throwing Tesque out from the heavens wasn’t deemed enough of a punishment, so the jealous gods also sent down a dire enemy: The Walkers. These massive creatures were created to rule the forest floor and teach Tesque some humility. Instead, Tesque took to the trees of the Western Deep, learning to climb and travel the world without ever so much as touching the forest floor.
Still, Tesque was boastful and arrogant, and he mocked the Walkers from his safe haven in the treetops. When his fellow gods saw this behavior, they gave the Walkers the ability to climb trees and pursue Tesque anywhere in the world – turning them into the Treewalkers that currently inhabit the darkest forests of the world. Tesque, pursued to the point of exhaustion, was finally forced to fight back.
According to the myth, Tesque, backed into a proverbial corner and with no other recourse, challenged a Treewalker bare-handed. Using his natural agility and mastery of his environment, Tesque came away victorious and none the worse for wear. The Treewalkers were forced to retreat into the wilds, and Tesque established the Tamian civilization.
The martial artform named after Tesque does not condone any attempts to fight Treewalkers bare-handed – after all, no Tamian is god-like in their power or ability. Still, there are occasional attempts by those who are perhaps just as boastful and arrogant as Tesque himself – though these unfortunately have not ended well for any of the participants.
Tesque is still revered by the Tamian people as a god and the patron founder of their entire civilization. Sermons extolling his many acts of bravery are still told from small stone daises that Tamian citizens gather around, the tall oak trees at the center of the Western Deep are still considered holy ground, and the oak leaf has remained a symbol of the Tamian kingdom for countless generations.
Wherever you look in Terria, the influence of Tesque’s fable isn’t hard to spot.
It looks like a toucan to me, which raises the question where are the bird-folk gone from this world?
By Tesque (totally using that all the time now, by the way)! Yet another great layer to the world of the Western Deep. Gee whiz. Now I’m curious about the other nations’ creation stories.
Also, I love his huge grin when he falls down through the trees. Of course he wouldn’t stop smiling.
1) There are some old stories in Tamian myth of a people with ears like trees, but no creature like this has ever been documented on the Four Kindgdoms’ landmass. Gairian scholars write that a part-tree creature is uniquely Tamian in its concept.
2) Heheheheh. There are gods represented in the High Canopy that may remind us-behind-the-fourth-wall of a particular real-life critter that is or isn’t present in the Four Kingdoms, but several are completely fantastical. My krogan homage was perhaps not as subtle as I was hoping. ;)
3) When it comes to creation myths, the races of the Four Kingdoms are different enough that several of them can coexist without trouble. The Lutren, for instance, believe they were born of the sea. As far as they’re concerned, Tesque may have fallen from the heavens and established the Tamian – it doesn’t affect or challenge their own beliefs. Or at least, doesn’t have to. In practice, many races assume each others’ origins are “inferior” somehow – a Tamian may dismiss simple land-bound creatures, or a Lutren may view his sea-born brethren as having a more noble birth than any other. (A few Lutren may even discount the story of Tesque, claiming that the Tamian were washed ashore like any other tidewrack and fled into the Deep because they could not handle the Sea’s glory.) This has a lot to do with the two races’ animosity before they became allies.
Oh, we all know how much you like Krogans. ;D
Hah, my first thought was Krogan, too, but then I thought “nahhh, it couldn’t be.” Then I thought maybe a fish god. Maybe a merman, with the body of a man and the head of a fish. So sexy.
HA! So I’m not the only one who saw a Krogan! (For the record, Grunt would make an awful deity, unless you put him in the position of god of war– or rather, random violence.) I also considered the fishperson too. Gotta love the reverse fish-people. They give you the ability to draw someone with a mackerel head rocking a suit, and yes, that is what I giggle about in my spare time.
Indeed they would. Whether the fishpeople would recuperate those sentiments would be something else entirely. But I am sure that they would be frying– I mean, dying to get in. *cough* Alas, I think the introductions would be a bit salty; introducing two different races on that scale would easily carve them apart.
But then again, they could have a maritime together. You never know!
Okay, seariously, for cod’s hake, we need to scale back on the fish puns! :)
Indeed we should. The amount of them here is enough to make someone gill. We water fin-ish this tail up; we’ve had our fillet.
…alright, I’m done, and I love you guys. Seriously.
I love mythology. My favorite part of worldbuilding, right there. I just have a tendency to sometimes get more attached to the myths and religions more than an actual story universe, which is, er, a bit of a problem. But I like the thought of Tesque being an arrogant god that the others believed needed a taste of humility, so they punished him. Did Tesque climb back up the heavenly trees to take his place among his fellow deities after he had established the Tamian civilization? Who knows. He might have thought that his fellow Tamian were too awesome to leave behind, and just sauntered on off to be with them.
(I can now picture Crim being snarked at by an elder or mentor after Quinlan defeated him, with the elder saying something along the lines of “You would think the name of the martial art you devote yourself to would give you a warning about falls and hubris.” Crim would have to shut up.)
So the Tamian are born from trees, and the Lutren, from the seas. Does that make the Vulpin born from the sands, or from a mighty Saguaro cactus that was chopped down or something? aaahhh, okay, I have to switch out of mythos mode now, before I start randomly making stuff up.
At rate, I like the mythology. A lot. So this was a short and sweet update. c:
And all the world will be thy enemy… I see you El Ahrairah.
There are so many references to things I love out and about on this post.
Once upon a time there was this rude and mean kid, his friends didn’t like him anymore so they threw him out. He fell to ground and there were these even meaner kids that bullied on him so climbed the trees and they couldn’t get him. And than he turned around and beat up the bigger mean kids, thus having a happy ending.
Actually made me laugh my head off when I just scrolled through these little pictures. XD
I imagine BWD poetry would be like Dr. Seuss or Mary Had a Little Lamb, except with a lot more violence and general disembowelment and intolerance.
The Ermehn had a little land
Little land, little land
The Ermehn had a little land
And it had no snow
Everything the Ermehn built
Ermehn built, Ermehn built
Everything the Ermehn built
They made sure to grow
The Canid saw their homes one day
Homes one day, homes one day
The Canid saw their homes one day
Which started up a war
The Ermehn tribes beat them down
Beat them down, beat them down
The Ermehn tribes beat them down
To settle out their score
And so the Canid got allies
Got allies, got allies
And so the Canid got allies
To drive them all away
The Ermehn race was gutted then
Gutted then, gutted then
The Ermehn race was gutted then
Much to their dismay
The Canid cheered and kicked them out
Kicked them out, kicked them out
The Canid cheered and kicked them out
Done with the bloody row
The weeping Ermehn’s home was gone,
Home was gone, home was gone
The weeping Ermehn’s home was gone
And now all filled with snow
(I should be sorry, but I’m not.)
Our good behavior is something that only comes in rare, stealthy waves; blink and you miss it. Like a certain Inquisition.
P.S. Skyrim, you say? Fus ro dah! Unfortunately, I’m only familiar with The Dragonborn Comes and Song of the Dragonborn when it comes to Skyrim.
I used to be well-behaved, but then I took an arrow to the knee.
Dear Tesque, what have I said.
By the chitin of the treewalker! Go stand in the corner of shame.
…wait a moment. That just means you’re going to stay right here with us. Well, in that case, carry on.
Man, I love the way my fellow commenters can come up with such great tunes on so short a notice… ;)
Anyway, I love this page! I always wanted to find out more about the mythology and religious beliefs of the Four Kingdoms, and this page does so in spades. I love the imagery – it looks just like something that incorporates the tree-like script of the Tamian in a visual form and something you could imagine carved into a tree or a rock. And yes, we all noticed the Krogan, Rachel – I haven’t even played Mass Effect and I still recognized it ;)
It’s really cool seeing all these mysterious races by Tesque’s side. Some of them are clearly natives to the Four Kingdoms – we see an otter, ermine, cat and a wolf – but the others are quite recognizable as well. I think we see a deer and an antelope and a… toucan? Some lizard-type creature? It is indeed strange to think of all the species that might hide beyond the shores of lands where the comic takes place…
The story of Tesque himself is an interesting one, and something you’d imagine would fit within Tamian culture. I get the feeling that their religious beliefs are of the informal type that is mostly based on oral tradition rather than the more organized, structured type that is written down and has its own laws and dogmas. If so, is that the general type of religion within the kingdoms, or are some of the other faiths different?
One question that continually nags me with Tesque though; the story about him seems to be that of a boastful, arrogant lout who gets punished by his fellow gods for it but who totally flaunts their judgements and gets away with it in the end. Does that mean that the Tamian regard boastfulness and arrogance as positive traits to be nurtured? If so, I imagine Crim is deeply religious…
It was really nice getting to hear Rachel describe how various species would regard each others’ mythologies as well. Makes me wonder if anyone ever “converts” into the faith of another people.
Great page, all in all, as is usually the case with this comic. And now it seems Chapter 2 is already coming up next time. Look forward to it!