Earwa > General Earwa

The Scylvendi and their role.

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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Francis Buck ---I don't believe that we have had a dedicated topic to my favorite Eärwan culture: those good ole' Scylvendi rascals.

I find their pseudo-nihilistic society to be one of -- if not the most -- interesting one in the series. They're one of the few groups that are neither Inrithi nor Fanim, and they seem to worship the No-God in the form of Lokung. My question is, why? Why did the Scylvendi join up with the No-God in the first place? Did they already worship a being called "Lokung", and then simply attributed those beliefs to the No-God once he came around?

I'm also interested in the swazond. Someone somewhere on these forums postulated that there's more to them than simple ritualistic scarring, and that they do in fact capture the souls of those slain (there was more to the theory than that, but I can remember what; if you're reading this, mystery poster, please re-inform me).

And of course, is Cnaiür truly dead and gone? I'm really split on this, desire-wise. Part of me wants him to come back, bigger and meaner than ever, to rally his kinsmen for whatever massive battle must take place at the end of this whole thing. At the same time, I'm not a big fan of the "fake-out death" trope, so if it did happen, I'd hope it was handled skillfully.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Auriga ---
--- Quote from: Francis Buck ---I don't believe that we have had a dedicated to topic to my favorite Eärwan culture: those good ole' Scylvendi rascals.
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Yep, the Scylvendi are my favorite culture from Bakker's books. A very realistic depiction of savage nomadic plainsmen as well - despite their bizarre nihilistic worship of the No-God, they're far more realistic and believable than, say, the Dothraki in ASOIAF.

(We get a lot of small bits and pieces about Scylvendi culture in the books - they're cattle-herders and basically Dark Ages cowboys, they're a people who stand still in history, they have a language that sounds vaguely Turkic, and so on).


--- Quote ---I find their pseudo-nihilistic society to be one of -- if not the most -- interesting one in the series. They're one of the few groups that are neither Inrithi nor Fanim, and they seem to worship the No-God in the form of Lokung. My question is, why? Why did the Scylvendi join up with the No-God in the first place? Did they already worship a being called "Lokung", and then simply attributed those beliefs to the No-God once he came around?
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Cnaiur states that the Scylvendi used to worship the Tusk like all other humans, before the No-God appeared. It's still an interesting question, why they enthusiastically joined up with the No-God - it just goes against human nature to support the extinction of your own species.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Curethan ---Consult introduced their chief to the inverse fire mebe?
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: lockesnow ---
--- Quote from: Auriga ---Cnaiur states that the Scylvendi used to worship the Tusk like all other humans, before the No-God appeared. It's still an interesting question, why they enthusiastically joined up with the No-God - it just goes against human nature to support the extinction of your own species.
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My theory is the consult gave them the theory of swazond, and this helped them trap souls inward and allowed them to continue birthing babies.  Since they aren't civilized none of the three seas would ever ask, care or investigate if the Scylvendie also experienced the womb plague.

It's also possible that when Scott says 'whole nations will be wrong' because they're the wrong religion he means everyone but the scylvendie, and they've had it right.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Francis Buck ---
--- Quote from: lockesnow ---My theory is the consult gave them the theory of swazond, and this helped them trap souls inward and allowed them to continue birthing babies.  Since they aren't civilized none of the three seas would ever ask, care or investigate if the Scylvendie also experienced the womb plague.

It's also possible that when Scott says 'whole nations will be wrong' because they're the wrong religion he means everyone but the scylvendie, and they've had it right.
--- End quote ---

Ah, that's what it was. Another method of keeping souls from entering the Outside, while also simultaneously retaining the ability to give birth (which would explain why the Scylvendi were cool with -- and indeed, supportive of -- a decidedly non-human-friendly apocalypse).

Kind of an unrelated question but it just popped into my head; do we have any concept of the population-levels of the Three Seas?
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