Title: Ghraewaj
Author: Tidasus
IsNaughty: False
Price: 691
IsUnique: False
WhenVarSet: 
Content:


[/font=2]

[/center]Ghraewaj and the Harpies



[/font=4]

 On the twelfth of Hearth Fire every year, the people of the
Hammerfell township and barony of Lainlyn celebrate
Riglametha. Riglametha in the Banthan dialect of the ancient
Redguard tongue means "grateful-offering" and is a
festival of the graces the gods have granted the people of
Lainlyn over the centuries. Tradition dictates the
performance of a number of plays about the great moments
from Lainlyn's past, and one of the most popular is
Ghraewaj, which may be translated as "The Crows Who Were
Punished" or "The Crows Who Punish." Old Redguard is
somewhat vague with its objective case.

 The story of Ghraewaj, as any Lainlyn child will tell you,
is of the wicked sisterhood of daedra worshippers who craft
lies, curses, murders, and suicides to hurt the people of
Lainlyn. Most of all, they use their beauty as a weapon to
drive men to mayhem. Their leader, the temptress Noctyr-a,
seduces the unnamed baron of Lainlyn and is about to force
him to commit suicide to prove his love, when the baroness
arrives. The baroness tricks Noctyr-a into wearing a
beautiful white robe from the baroness' closet: "See how the
robe glows with the lumniscience of pearl, but the inside is
soft, feathered with down." Noctyr-a puts on the robe and
the trap is sprung: the robe is magical and transforms
Noctyr-a into an giant black bird. The baron, no longer
enchanted, slays the great bird and calls in his cook.

 The sisterhood has, by this time, taken over Lainlyn castle
and turned it into a orgy-filled den of decadence. At the
height of their frenzied debauch, the cook arrives with an
enormous roast to keep their energy high. They dig into the
deliciously prepared meal, and at the crescendo of their
gorging, the baron and baroness appear to tell them all
that they have just devoured their leader, Noctyr-a. The
women scream and caw and suddenly they too are transformed
by the magic of the robe, into harpies, vicious half-bird
creatures.

 The interesting thing about Ghraewaj from a scholarly
perspective is how much the story has changed and continues to
change over the years. In some versions of the story,
Noctyr-a is an innocent peasant seamstress and it is the
baroness who is the cruel and wicked leader of the harpies.
Noctyr-a prays to Dibella and is given the charm to make the
magical robe, and she and the baron live happily ever after
once the harpies have feasted on the tranformed baroness.
During the long reign of the virgin baroness of Lainlyn,
Viana the Pure (2E 120 - 2E 148), the baron was portrayed as a
willing conspirator of Noctyr-a. The harpies thus have two
birds to dine on.

 It is unlikely that trying to find the truth in the story is
profitable research. Harpies are indeed a common nuisance in
the Iliac Bay, particularly around Lainlyn. They do have
their own tongue, and the few who have mastered it and not
been devoured by their interviewees suggest that the harpies
have no more idea about their origins than we do. In a
different vein, one of the best known of the Daedra Princes is
named Nocturnal, who is often portrayed as a beautiful dark
woman holding two black crows. It is not a difficult
etymologic trick to derive the name Noctyr-a from
Nocturnal, or vice-versa.



 
