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Oliver D. Bernuetz's Stories Back to my home page - back to stories Wind Pirates of Orlanth - The Black Racer A grizzled old seaman speaks to a attentive crowd of midshipmen. "You know lads that our world has many moons? The greatest of these is of course the great sickle Moon, Rufelza." His voice drops to a whisper and he looks around to see if any of the officers are listening. The midshipmen lean in closer to hear his words. "Some say that the red moon is the coffin ship of the goddess who died at the end of the Third Age when the world was shattered. She died but was too stubborn to stay dead." Shudders of delight run through the crowd of midshipmen at this delicious blasphemy. "Others, perhaps wiser or perhaps more knowing say the sickle moon is what was left when the Great Dragon tried to swallow the Goddess whole. The Goddess lives on crippled, but still alive, on her ruined world." "No one knows what the White Moon is but she's been there since the end of the Third Age. Like the Blue Moon she dances attendance on Rufelza. Forever circling her. They say that even the Moonboats cannot travel to the White Moon and even the mightiest Lunar Hero cannot venture there." "What about the Blue Moon?" asked the youngest midshipman. "Ah," winked the seaman, "That be the home of monsters from nightmare. The trolls, also known as Uz. Creatures that according to legend shunned the light and embraced the Darkness. Some say that the trolls who lived on the Blue Moon were different than the rest of their breed but no one has found any trolls to ask." He looks around again for any nearby officers and then leans forward conspiratorially. "And then there's the other moon that people only speak of in whispers. The black racer. The only moon that does not dance attendance on Rufelza. That moon circles around the whole of this shattered world. He, and the Black Moon is always referred to as he unlike the others, he wanders around the world taking four weeks to do so. And once every four weeks he lunges towards Rufelza and tries to knock her out of the aether. But every time he misses and his fury is felt on all the shattered lands. His fury draws the beast within to the surface in those known as shifters and they're drawn to kill even as he fails to kill himself." The midshipmen shudder in fear this time, not delight and the youngest asks another question. "Does the Black Moon not have another name?" The old seaman blanches at this naive question and looks around yet again. "Aye, but to speak that name among the Happans or the Lunars is to court death. The Black Racer does have another name. Some call him Argrath." Last updated November 13 2009 Last updated February 20, 2017 Glorantha is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc. Gloranthan material on this page is copyright ©1997-2016 by Oliver D. Bernuetz or by the author specifically mentioned on an individual page. Glorantha is the creation of Greg Stafford, and is used with his permission. Email me at bernuetz@mymts.net
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