fandomhigh | World Mythology, Monday, Period 3

Ghanima was sitting on her desk, eating lemon drops as she watched the students arrive, blue-on-blue eyes intently observing them all. Once the last of the students arrived, her face lit up with a smile.

"Good morning,” she said, her voice carrying effortlessly. “I am Lady Ghanima Atreides, and this is World Mythology. You may call me Lady Ghanima or Miss Ghanima, whichever you are more comfortable with. The first person to call me Lady Atreides gets detention.” Ghani grinned wickedly. "Lady Atriedes is my grandmother, and I am nowhere near that old."

"This is a survey class, intended to give you a gentle introduction to various pantheons and mythologies around the world. We will not be covering any country in-depth, instead, consider this a whirlwind tour.”

“During this class, I’m going to ask you to keep in mind that many stories we consider today to be folklore or myths were originally part of a religion. I’m going to ask that you keep an open mind, and try not to let any ethnocentric biases show too badly. Yes, you may consider tales of the Tuatha de Danan or the Morrigan to be nothing more than fairy stories, but to someone else it may be a fundamental truth.”

“Today we will start with the definition of a myth.” Ghanima hopped off the desk and grabbed a stack of handouts, beginning to distribute them around the room. “In the academic fields of mythology, mythography, or folkloristics, a myth (mythos) is a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form. The active beings in myths are generally gods and heroes. Myths often are said to take place before recorded history begins. In saying that a myth is a sacred narrative, what is meant is that a myth is believed to be true by people who attach religious or spiritual significance to it. Use of the term by scholars does not imply that the narrative is either true or false."

"For the purpose of this class, myths are stories that originate in the beliefs of nations and races and present episodes in which supernatural forces operate. Some myths try to make visible and concrete ways that humans see nature, like the division of the year into seasons. Many myths show the ways that humans see the forces that control them, and often explain creation, religion, and divinities; they guess at the meaning of life and death, or at the cause for good and evil."

"Now, it is important to separate myths from other types of stories. Mythology is frequently confused with fiction, legend, fairy tale, folklore, fable, and urban legend, each of which has a distinct meaning in academia. There is also epic poetry, which may retell a myth, but not every epic poem is a myth – many are legends or folklore."

"The effective telling of a myth usually has some sense of dignity or simplicity, even for the entertaining or amusing ones, for it tries to re-create the spirit and intention of the original. When myths are poorly told, they condescend to or even insult the efforts of earlier societies to find meaning in life. When myths are well told, they appeal to something deep within us."

"Instead of doing the typical introductions, I'd like to hear about the myths near and dear to your hearts."

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Name and favorite myth!

Prince Sidon; A Reservoir of Hope

Edited 2018-01-01 22:50 (UTC)

Gratuity Tucci, the origin of the Boov

Khadgar, the Titans vs. the Old Gods

Hyacinthe, how the Tsingano got the dromonde

Ahsoka Tano, the Ashla and the Bogan

Molly Squidpiddge, the story of Persephone

Take notes, pass notes, wonder how much candy the teacher has stashed away...

Having had Lady Ghanima's class before, Sidon knew that he would be getting plenty of practice with his writing! He even did his best to write most of it in English rather than Hylian, though he had to keep a few words in his native language to look up the translation later.

Oh, he was going to enjoy this class immensely! As he'd told Breq just last week, the Zora love a good, old story!

"Most cultures have a mythology of some type, and I'm interested to know what your favorite myth is and why. Give us your name, and a basic summary, just a sentence or two, and tell us why it's important to you."

If Ghanima honestly expected Sidon to explain something in just a sentence or two, then she clearly forgot who she was dealing with here.

"Greetings!" he said brightly when it was his turn. "I am Sidon!" And, of course, the requisite fist-pump and toothy, sparkly smile had to follow, just as enthusiastic as the very first time he did it. "The Zora Prince! And we Zora absolutely love a good story! We have a very rich history and very long memories, as we are the longest living race in all of Hyrule. As far as myths, though, I am not sure what would classify under the given definition. I suppose the story of how we came to Zora's Domain ten thousand years ago would work, but there isn't much to that story. We gathered there in Lanaryu because the water was so clean and pure and abundant, just the thing for us! And the land was rich with a beautiful and unique ore that allowed us to develop a special kind of masonry that sculpted our splendid domain. We still live there now, and it is just as splendid and radiant as when it was first carved out!

"But my favorite," he continued, because why wouldn't he? He didn't know what a sentence or two meant, "is probably what we call the Reservoir of Hope. Every ten years, the rain in Lanaryu is so mighty and strong and powerful that it is even too much for the Zora who depend on water itself for dear life! The floods would destroy the region and our domain and often wash our loved ones out into the dangerous seas. So our king rode the floods out to speak with the Hylian king, and together they developed the great reservoirs and dams that protect the land. Each Zora king since has promised to maintain them to protect the world, a tradition I very much look forward to upholding in my years as ruler as well."

And one, he added morosely to himself, that too many of his people seem to have forgotten as of late.

"I am not sure if they count for myths, Lady Ghanima, as they are our history, but they do tell of a beginning, as well as our deeply held beliefs. They are all quite practical, though, not terribly supernatural at all."

"I'm Gratuity Tucci," Tip said. "And I haven't really thought about mythology before. But my friend J.Lo told me about the history of his people, once. They worshipped their planet's ocean as their god and creator. I'm not sure about all the details, but they're amphibious, and they have stories about how the first Boov came out of the ocean and started walking on land. Apparently it was this game they played, daring each other to go out of the water and run further and further inland before coming back. A lot of Boov died of asphyxiation trying it, but they got better and better at it until they could live in the water and on land." Tip grimaced. "Um, then they got really advanced as a culture, and, ah. Well, to quote the story, 'the ocean god died of asphyxiation'. That's why they left their planet and eventually tried to take over mine."

Wasn't that just a fun story.

"Anyway, telling that story was part of how J.Lo and I first got to know each other and became friends, so. It's pretty important to me, that way."

"I'm Khadgar, and my favorite myth is shortly after the creation of my world. It's said that the world was created by entities known as the Titans, but the world became corrupted by dark, evil gods. The elements themselves sided with the gods and rose up against the Titans to try to claim Azeroth for themselves, but the Titans were too powerful, and they destroyed the Old Gods and buried them deep within the earth as punishment." Khadgar smiled softly and shrugged. "It makes for interesting late night storytelling, at least."

Hyacinthe had arrived back from Terre D'Ange late the night before and looked refreshed and cheerful as only someone who'd spent several weeks among much-loved friends and family could.

"I am Hyacinthe," he said, giving a smile to his classmates. "My favorite myth is the one that explains how my people, the Tsingani, got the ability to see backwards and forwards down the Lungo Drom. 'Tis a true story, but it deals with the matters of gods, for 'tis when the Blessed Elua and his Companions were searching for a place to call their home. He asked the Tsingani if perhaps he could seek sanctuary with them for a bit, but we turned him away with shouts and jeers, predicting in our pride that they would ever wander, lost. But 'tis not wise to mock the son of the Earth's womb and so the fate we decreed sealed out own. But the Mother-of-all is not without mercy, even if 'tis betimes cruel, and she granted us the dromonde, that we may see truer in the future."

"I'm Ahsoka, and I guess my favourite myth is the story of thge moons Ahsla and Bogan and how they taught the first Jedi about the two sides of the Force."

"My name is Molly," she said, by way of introduction. She kept her dark glasses close up against her eyes, still, hoping the teacher wouldn't mind them. "One of my favorite myths comes from Greece, the story of Persephone. She ends up taken to the underworld but finds a sort of peace there, and splits her time between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It's something that I find... beautiful, I suppose."

She's around!

Dozing on-and-off, HAPPY NEW YEAR.

World Mythology, Monday, Period 3

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Talk to Ghanima

OOC