| Religion : | Mythology of Lynkha |
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| The daughters of Lhankor Mhy: Lhankor Mhy had many daughters who each developped a particular art or science. They inspire mortals and helped the development of the great Esrolian civilisation. The most well-known are: Lea the Measurer, Jesaena the Architect, Lynkha the Logician, Rime the Poetess, Naliana the Historian, Dina the Astronomer and Balis the Playwright. The birth myth of Lynkha: Lynkha was born an afternoon in the middle of Fire Season. Lhankor Mhy had worked quite a lot since the early morning and the weather was hot. He left his wax tablets and stretched out for a nap under the shadow of a huge oak, standing not far from Ernalda's palace. As he was deep asleep, an acorn of the size of a pumpkin fell from the tree on his head. Waken in a start, the wise man looked for the reason of his discomfort. Seeing first the acorn and then the oak, he wondered why the fruit happened to fell on his head. He first thought was that he had displeased Orlanth, but it was not the case. There had to be another explanation. He bend over his grimoires and his tablets, looking for the answer to his question, but after having read all of them, he had to realise that the answer was not written there. Then, a small voice whispered in his head: ``Since the answer does not exists, it has to be invented.'' Of course, he rebelled against this batty idea, but the voice would not leave him. Torn between the desire to know the answer and the fact that inventing was unconceivable, he concluded that the idea could not be part of him. He drew it out of his head and the strange idea took the shape of a young ten years old girl. She smiled at him and said: ``Since you are looking for an answer that does not yet exist, I will create it from the existing ones.'' Glorious achievements: How Lynkha proved her father he was wrong. There are lots of different versions of this myth, depending on the temples and the foundering discoveries of their priestesses. These discoveries are always edifying and entertaining. Of course, Lhankor Mhy's worshippers have their own version of the tale. Here is a first example of this foundering myth. Lynkha used the principle that we now call Huygensia's principle (From Lynkha's great priestess who founded the Temple of Wisdom in Nochet. She died a few centuries ago) and spectacularly showed how the shadow cast by a disk could have in its centre a luminous point. Lhankor Mhy knew this was impossible by the experience set by his daughter proved him wrong. Nowadays, pro and anti Lunars try to use this experience to show the Moon's great powers or her weakness, depending on the beliefs of the experimenter. Another example is when Lhankor Mhy thought that everything in the world was either true of false. He claimed that with the absolute knowledge one could always determine whether a fact was true or not. This was only a knowledge problem, therefore everyone should seek knowledge. But Lynkha did not agree with him. She claimed that some things were neither true nor false, things outside the Truth of Lhankor Mhy, things that became false when they were true and true when they were false. ``Fiddlesticks! '', said Lhankor Mhy. Then Lynkha told him: ``Since you know everything, tell me just whether what I say is true of false when I claim I'm lying.'' Lhankor Mhy thought about it for a few moments, but finally had to bow before Lynkha's wisdom: it is not always possible to tell whether something is true or false and claiming one could well prove the other. So it is that in Glorantha some things are both true and false. Gödelia, famous great priestess claimed this was the most important teaching of the goddess. How Lynkha invented the mathematical writings. Lynkha observed the signs that Lhankor Mhy drew on his tablets, but she was not satisfied. His writing copied the words, but the words are inaccurate. They have many meanings, they can say one thing and its contrary, and that is not a good thing. Lynkha needed signs which allowed her to reason and understand, to compute and to deduce. She took a blank wax tablet and began to draw her thoughts and reasonings. Thus, she created the logical writing, which contains its own truth, independent from that of the world. How Lynkha travelled around the world. After a time, the young Lynkha had observed all the world around her: her father Lhankor Mhy, Ernalda and her palace, the borders of the Garden. However, she was still unsatisfied for she just did not understand the world. She filled a bag with food, stylet and tablets and went in search of other peoples, to learn from their wisdom. Thus she met the sea people, the people of ice and mountains, the people of fire, the sky people and even the mysterious people of darkness. From each she learned a part of the world knowledge and wisdom. The Gods War. During the Gods War, logic was defeated. Lynkha first tried to understand chaos and reason with it, but such a thing was not possible. Logic cannot accept chaos for chaos destroy everything and is intrinsically unpredictable. It was the first time that Lynkha logic's could not help her. Gradually, world forgot logic and gave in to fear. When the Gods reassembled to recreate the world, Lynkha was at their side to bring them logic and reason. For if they had only had the knowledge of Lhankor Mhy, the world would have been fixed and dusty, full of the old ideas of the past. But thanks to the working of logic, they were able to create a living, evolving world, full of unending diversity. Lynkha's manifestations in everyday life. Lynkha appears in the mathematical writings and philosophical or logical reasonings, but also in thinking, in questioning accepted ideas, in accepting difference, in understanding novelty or stranger. Retour | ||||||||
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