THE
ELEMENT
OF EARTH |
Earth, together with Wind, Water and Fire, is one of the four known basic elements, which represent the substance of the world - at least this is the common belief among many races and tribes throughout Caelereth. Most living beings are dependent on Earth for a place to live and for a chance to grow food. Earth is the first thing you need for almost everything to ensure consistency as it provides a ground, stability and endurance. Earth is a reliable element, peaceful and tranquil. It is an element busy with the day to day life and problems, and an element often seen as the great player in the eternal game of the world, counterpart to the lucidity and creativity of Wind. Earth is the most passive and strong element, although it can be destructive if one experiences its wrath. Most people rely on this element and what it produces or stands for, for it is familiar and doesn't change much. It is seen as the force within us where we build ourselves upon, the invulnerable force within us we can turn to in great misery. The race associated to the Element of Earth are the dwarves, who are not only known for their strength and unwavering convictions in the positive sense, but also for their intransigence and stubbornness.
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Appearance.
While
Wind is spirit, Earth is substance, the
Wind's unwavering counterpart. And just as
Water is seen as the mother of everything liquid, so is
Earth the father of everything solid. Earth is more than the ground we stand on,
the brown dirt we know with this name, it is stone as well in all it varities,
including the most precious gems. It appears also in the form of wood and every
object we shape - though endowed with a spirit to serve us as tools - is Earth
in its realization. Much more than any other elements Earth therefore is defined
mostly by its appearance, which also tell us about the monumental history this
element concentrates in itself, be it in form of a mountain range, the strong
mithril mineral, an item made by our forefathers - or in the incredible force of
an earthquake.
Physical
Earth.
Earth is rock, Earth is stone, Earth is sand, Earth is the place we live on.
Earth is the flesh of Caelereth, and the
flesh and bones we bear in us are seen as the earthen part of ourselves. Earth
is stable, constant, solid, strong and unrelenting and is trusted without
thoughts as it is what is there and remains. Also the treasures of the soil are
often interpreted as equivalents of the Element of Earth, just in its different
appearances, be these stones soft, hard or unbreakable as the famous
uruyant, common or rare and precious - they form the
tools in which the cultures put their trust to survive. The
elven myth tells us that through these minerals
the Children of the High Goddess learn to
value might and wealth, principles the fleeting spirit of
Wind cannot offer the Children to master the hardships of existence.
But even the peaceful Earth can become angry, and take many, many lives. For the
worst thing that could happen is that the ground beneath your feet begins to
shake, move and finally crumble, be it in the physical, spiritual or mental
sense. For the Earth is the element we build our existence upon. It is the base
of all. Earth keeps Caelereth in one piece
as it is just that piece and it is that what defines ourselves in how we appear
- also as persons.
Spiritual Earth. Spirital Earth is in
some way very much like physical Earth. It is the base on wich people build
their personality, which keeps your mind together and lets you focus and helps
to determine. People with a bad mental health are believed to have not enough of
the Element of Earth, they are said to lack strength, will and endurance, all
virtues, which are needed to give other elements their ground. Also, where
Fire and Water stand for change,
creation and destruction, Earth stands for existence and being itself -
Fire and Water determine the
becoming. Both forms of it, life and death, are balanced in
Arvins, the Hunter-God, who stands between
Queprur, Lady of the Sickle, and
Urtengor, the Hammer-Lord and
Stonefather of the Thergerim. The Earth
stands for the coldness of the eternal frosty embrace of
Queprur, and the warmth of life of
Urtengor, the warmth that comes from
below. Earth represents safety and balance, but over all constancy, the
constancy of being within the confines of life and death. Earth is overall a
practical element, so while the virtues of other elemental gods can be very
abstract and vague, the teachings of the gods of the Earth are rather direct and
have clearly predefined purposes.
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Symbols of Earth. The most common representatives of Earth are sand and rock. In their daily use both these archetypes of the element show how much Earth constitutes time, the essential category of existence. While people construct their homes with rock and stone to give their lives the face of permanence, the trickling of the sands in an hourglass on the other hand doesn't only measure the time left for the mortals on Caelereth, but also indicates that everything that lives must eventually come to the earthen standstill. But the tree and the forest, created by the Hunter-God Arvins, are also symbolic for the Element of Earth. Also headstrongness and determination are seen as a sign of earthen nature of a character.
Black (coal and so-called
"stone oil"), brown (soil and wood) and red (bricks to build homes) are the main
colours of this element. Alchemists often use signs like the square, a single
horizontal line or a schematic tree - vertical line with two "arms" pointing
upward on each side - to represent the various states or properties of Earth.
While the square stands for the consistency and the strength of the element, the
horizontal line marks the element's use as the basis for other alchemical
reactions. The sign often signifies wood, the part of the Element of Earth,
which can be identified with "living" and "growing".
The most famous mythical beast related to the Element of Earth probably is
Denichanong (Thergerim-Thaal
for "Holy Earth-Heart", short: Denishan or Denichan), one of the many symbols of power
Trum'Baroll (Urtengor) is said to have
forged in his mountain halls. While the dwarves
claim that the mighty Denishan was created long before the races were forged,
the humans claim that
Urtengor created it only after he had
seen the sea and the miraculous creatures of
Baveras. From the myth of the serpent Denishan by the way also derives a
liking of the Thergerim race for the
dragon-kind as they see these serpents
related to their holy giant-worm. Today not many giant serpents can be found at
the Sarvonian mainland, except for the
bloodworms perhaps, who seem to be
distantly related to the earth eathers
(behemoth worms) of Aeruillin. Their enormous body with the thick,
protecting skin can 'swim' so easily through sand - some say they can swim
through rocks also, but this is considered a fable even by those who have seen
the beast - wonders many people. And it is even more astonishing to notice that
the descriptions of Denishan the Sarvonian
dwarves provide have truly remarkable
similarities to this monstrous behemoth
worm. - Pure coincidence?
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In the clerical sense Earth is most often represented in the form of an altar.
The altar is an elevated place or structure usually made from wood or stone
before which religious ceremonies may be enacted or upon which sacrifices are
offered to the Gods. In doing so, the two basic elemental counterparts Earth and
Wind (the altar and the spiritual meaning) are united.
This symbol is a very old one and is said to have its origin in the practices of
Arvins when he still roamed the Earth in
the shape of a mortal.
Religious Meanings of Earth.
Like all other elements,
Earth is represented by three gods in common
Santharian religion: Urtengor, God
of the Forge, Arvins, God of the Hunt and
finally Queprur, Goddess of Death. The
meaning of the Element of Earth in relation to these Gods can be described as
follows - each God focusses on a certain aspect of the element:
The
Earth of Urtengor:
Creating and Building
Urtengor, god of forging, mining, cooking and overall creation, is the one
responsible for almost everything in the creation of tools and of the the
Earth, the flesh of
Caelereth. Urtengor is the warm, creating part of the
Earth, favourite and only god of the dwarves,
who worship him as Trum-Baroll, the Stone-Father. Virtues of
Urtengor are creating, shaping,
improving and mastering the ways of Earth.
The
Earth of Arvins:
The Balance of Life
Arvins, or
Arvin, is the god of the hunt. A such he
is hunter and hunted, all in one. Arvins
has his place between the creator
Urtengor and Queprur the destroyer,
and represents the necessity of life and the death of the Earth
in one person. Arvins stands
for the part in one's self that will live on, and the one that won't. He stands
for life in it's most pure form. Thusly Arvins
is the balance that must be kept in life, in nature,
the balance between Urtengor and
Queprur in the
Element of Earth. Virtues of Arvins
are balancing, keeping, surviving and doing what is
necessary and leaving what isn't. He is therefore also the god of decision.
The
Earth of Queprur: Freezing Life
Queprur,
goddess of death and Earth, is the one that harvests
what Jeyriall plants and
Urtengor initially forged: life. As
Urtengor takes
metals from the Earth for the mortals,
Queprur takes life from the mortals for the Earth.
Queprur means
death, whether it is striking and raging, or controlled. The goal of
Queprur is to
let freeze the life, let eveything stand still so nothing can ruin the Dream of
Avá anymore as the
elves say in their myths.
Queprur teaches
her followers to have no fear for death.
Queprur is the silent, observing and omnipresent part of the Earth, as well
as its danger. As the Goddess of the Scythe she can
strike anywhere and takes everybody, no matter of its importancy or wealth.
Queprur is like an earthquake, in that
way.
Myth/Lore.
Just like the other elements, Earth also plays an important
mythical role in various human or
elven myths. In many cultures Earth is a symbol
of growth, but also of death, which shows for example in the practice of the
interring of deceased bodies. This might have its origin in
elven mythology, where Earth is often
interpreted in a negative way (at least seen from a
human's judging perspective).
Among the Sarvonian
elves we read for example in Chapter II called Aér'aí'chanía ("Elements") of the
books of the Cárpa'dosía, the legendary
"Books of the Beginnings",
that Earth is not only the opponent of the Element of Wind,
but that it is actually the Wind's manifestation and
therefore just another form of Wind, which denied its origins.
Cárpa’dosía, Of the Elements.
II, 8. Thereafter arose from the windy prowess, só
Avásh, the Earth, sá Mód. As in the Dream of Avá She saw Herself dreaming,
and while she recognized Herself in the Dream as the Thought of Herself as
she dreamt, there became out of the Dream from her mirror image the mirror
image of Avá a reality. So it happened that the Earth became an element,
which faced the Wind, in the same moment as the Wind arose. Sá Mód, the
Earth: She is the only element, capable of resisting the Wind or which
can show the Wind how far to go in the world of being - all that however
only for a short glimpse of becoming and fugacity, as the Wind is
untameable in his uncomparable almightiness. To outplay the Wind
nevertheless, for that the Earth has no means, as she is child of the Wind
herself being his Other and so she is only a necessity for the Wind's
reign, the steady image of his incessantly swaying thoughts. |
These
elements of Fire and Water
consequently are described in complicated, at times seemingly esoteric lines as
antagonistic, inseparable forces of nature, filling the gap between the
principle of the eternal (Wind) and its realisation (Earth)
with what appears as "life". The remaining chapter II of the
Cárpa'dosía speaks of
the beginning of the fierce fight between Wind and Earth,
which began at the time of creation and lives on till this very day in more
subtle forms.
From the Cárpa'dosían
myth we also learn that the dwarves sprang
from this element, just like the elves sprang
from Wind, an explanation
perhaps for this often cited animosity between these two races. The
dwarves for their part cherish their origin
from the Element of Earth, though they believe that their God Trum'Baroll forged
them out of stone. Staying within the mountainous confines therefore is only
natural to a dwarf, while
elves like the
Maeverhim for example even have fear
to touch the ground and get "EarthBurned" - two practical examples on how much
ancient myth still has an influence on the behaviour and suspicions of today's
tribes.
Information provided by
Maglor Grubb
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