Myth-speaking

The hero-god Psomeira ascended to the status of hero-god by fulfilling a myth-speaking prophecy.

For other meanings of "Myth-speaker", please see Myth-speaker (disambiguation).

In the ancient cyclopean method of prophecy known as myth-speaking, a group of seers performs a ritual of soothsaying that detects a source of mythical power, such as an object, event, being, or task that lies in the destiny of a petitioning subject.

These prophecies are often vague and confusingly structured. Fulfilling such a prophecy imbues the subject with a form of divinity, though not immortality, to become a hero-god. A practitioner of myth-speaking is called a myth-speaker.

The myth-speaking ritual is expensive both in materials and effort, which limits their typical issuance to those who have proven worthy and are approved by their community. The ritual is less frequently performed for those already ascended, and the growing powers of such a subject further disrupts the prophecy.

History

Myth-speaking dates back to the Age of Destiny, when the Iblydan sisters Aelyake and Diaphorea became the first to fulfill their prophecies and become hero-gods. They respectively founded the cities of Aelyosos and Liachora, and Aelyosos fulfilled her myth-speaking destiny by slaying the immortal hydra Syggasis.

The number of petitioners of myth-speakers rapidly grew, and many of the issued prophecies involved the slaying of creatures that most humanoids considered to be monstrous, such as hydras, minotaurs, and wyverns. As attacks on monstrous beings increased, the harpy Ekriathae pursued her own myth-speaking by luring three cyclopes with her song and compelling them to grant her a prophecy to fulfill. After fulfilling this forgotten prophecy and becoming a hero-god, Ekriathae sought vengeance on behalf of Iblydos' monsters and hunted down their hunters.

However, over the millennia hundreds of combatants, artists, explorers, and leaders fulfilled their mythical destinies to become hero-gods.

Death of Aroden

As with the rest of prophecy, myth-speaking became increasingly unreliable after the death of Aroden in 4606 AR and dawn of the Age of Lost Omens. The unified cries of cyclopes in Pol-Liachora after Aroden's death proclaimed that a primordial beast would punish their people for long-forgotten crimes until the guilty parties were brought to justice.

Months later, the thalassic behemoth Ousmariku ate Liachora's navy. Iblydos rallied its ten greatest hero-gods to oppose the behemoth and protect Liachora, but the behemoth killed them all and destroyed the city. Only the spear of Psomeira, one of Liachora's guards and the subject of her own unfulfilled myth-speaking prophecy, harmed Ousmariku enough to repel it, but not before it decimated Psomeira's forces and apparently killed her.

Liachora's people fled to Aelyosos as refugees, and Ousmariku returned to Aelyosos annually to demand tribute. Psomeira, however, reappeared in Aelyosos a decade later as a hero-god. Few have gained such power since as the myth-speaking rituals have faltered in effectiveness, and the number of hero-gods has likewise dwindled to a mere few. As of 4715 AR, these surviving hero-gods feared that they might be the last of their tradition.

Known myth-speakers

See also: Category:Myth-speakers

Phimater is the chief myth-speaker of Aelyosos.

The myth-speaker Ongalte blamed the decline of cyclopean society on humans, whom she accuses of abusing the gifts of cyclopes. In retaliation, she invoked her own myth-speaking and fulfilled her prophecy by destroying the cyclopean temple, killing everyone within. She emerged the following day as a hero-god and set about killing all other hero-gods.

The japalisura asura Holkomion claims to have rediscovered the art of myth-speaking in Iblydos, and at least one person claims to have gained mythical powers from fulfilling the asura's prophecies. However, many of these prophecies call for petitioners to kill hero-gods.