A beginners guide to the Ancient Past: the Oun

"There's always an extra connection, another link that joins two words that most of mankind quite blithely believe to be separate (...) I would start with a single word and then connect it to another word and then to another word and so on and so forth until I was exhausted and could do no more."

— Mark Forsyth, Etymologicon

Introduction

Aškari are a tribe of mystery and that it shares a common ancestry with the Sáveni somehow did not make the riddle easier to solve. Until there came a time that it did. In the moment of revelation a map was drawn and some notes jotted down, and before I knew it I was following the tales and stories unfolding one after another.

This is the first part of the series explaining the nature of things in the Ancient Past of the Sáveni, Aškari and more. It is entirely dedicated to the nomadic tribes of Oun, inhabiting the steppes east of the Lake Yüründ.

Aškari - a particular caste of Ašu

Many things have dissolved in the forgetful memory of the past and one of those things is the origin of the group nowadays called Aškari. One possibility is that the name was formed through a combination of words, e.g., Asu Kari, Asu Karim, Asu Qarim, etc. While it doesn't leave the curious mind clueless it moves the problem elsewhere and gives it another chance; and with more favourable odds at that. Do they come from a particular caste or an ethnic subgroup? Maybe the Asu that have fled the "Land between Two Rivers" after the Great Drought, were called (or have called themselves) Asu Kari/Asu Karim/Asu Qarim?

A similar, although deformed version of this word can be found in Asu, where QuRRu means "to horseride" and one could think the mystery solved if not for the fact that Asu were not used to that particular pastime. Unlike other words in Asu QuRRu involves a pictogram for a horse-rider, which points to the eastern neighbours of the Asu, i.e., the Oun tribes of the steppes. It may be of "Oun" origin as these tribes were known for their constant migrations. Now, while the word for "migrations" remains a mystery, a hint can be found blowing in the wind, which in some Ounian dialects is "qayyara".

Some Oun tribes believed that it was the seasonal wind that guided them through the journey, which we know for a fact to be partially true. The moist air usually has a lower pressure relative to the high pressure region, which is usually drier. It follows that the air would flow from a drier, continental regions to the moist regions near the seas, the rivers and the greater lakes. Of special importance were the winds blowing in the night, since the Moon had a special place in the Ounian mythology (Oun directly translates as "Moon", which was loaned to the Asu in its purest form). The phases of the moon had a distinct meaning of their own and the lunar cult played a central role in the lives of all Oun tribes, culminating in the peaceful gathering around the Winter Solstice. It is said that the gathering would last as long as the Moon permits. The peaceful days of little or no wind were seen as a gift from the gods to stop, gather and think about where to go next. Longer peaceful days were considered a blessing, while shorter ones were a bad omen.

The wind and the Moon where the central figures of Oun beliefs and the Wind was seen as the messanger of the Moon. Sometimes the wind was a single messenger and sometimes it was a handful of several messengers. Stars were called small Moons, saying to originate from the Primal Moon, which shattered into millions of pieces, some of which can be found every day, even on the leaves of grass.

Ground stars everywhere

The word for "dew" in Asu comes in two forms, of which the first is of local origin and now means "droplets" (especially those of a river or rain) and the other was left to mean the particular droplets of water found on the grass very early in the morning. The latter is of Oun origin and has nothing to do with water at all. The "dew" in all Oun dialects is a word for star and is probably one of the best examples of how the system of beliefs worked its people through the ages spent on riding the wind-ridden plains. The word for "dew" is closely connected to the word for "mist" which directly translates to "star sand". As to why, well mists come in all shapes and sizes but when they spread directly by your eyes some of them reveal the tiny, almost powdery droplets.

When Oun tribes first arrived at the East River border they encountered several things that were both amusing and life-changing. Firstly there was a grass as tall as the horses and oxen they rode, which was a sign of prosperity, and which they promptly interpreted as gods will. But that was not all. It turned out that the high grass was very carefully taken care of by the small people living in small huts on the other side of the river. Those small people, harvested the grass and saved the silvery grey grains. This was the first time Oun tribes formally met with the Asu from The Land Between Two Rivers.

As a sign of good will, both parties exchanged gifts and one of the gifts of Asu was a great basket of silvery grain, which had a slight shine in the moonlight. The ambassadors of Oun were so enamoured with it the sight, that they called it a "basket of stars" and made jokes about making a second "Star Road". This was a direct reference to the basket of stars held by the helper of the Creator, after they shattered the First Moon and were told to gather up the pieces and put it together. The story mentions that the same helper tripped when holding the basket and thus creating the single streak of stars, which is now called "The Star Road". The ambassadors would probably leave if it wasn't for another baskets: one filled with fine powder and another with flat disks, called by a strange name of "the bread". If the basket full of grains was amusing, the powder was beyond enchanting and "the bread" was a gift from the skies. The powder was so stikingly similar to the finely dispersed mist that it was called "star sand". The name stuck in Asu, as is often the case when people get a chance to be a little closer to the gods. The concept of stars was not reserved for the world above, though. In fact, some of the stars were trapped far back in the ancient times.

Underground stars

What followed the concept of stars was that of everything glittering. There was no mystery in how the Oun perceived the world as made of light, or water, once upon a time shattered in a great cataclysm or a series of it at best. Minerals, especially those found embedded deep in the rocks were a source of awe and fear. Rocks were the stuff that held firmness of the very ground everyone standed on. It was also dark and impenetrable so it was considered the ultimate darkness, death and everything similar. Finding a mineral inside a rock was considered a very lucky event.

It was more than a shiny object (gods bless if it was also transparent). It was the act of uncovering light from the dark but surprizingly enough, mining was on the verge of being considered a blasphemy. The world was created by more powerful entities, better known as "the gods" and those entities surely must have hidden the minerals, ores and precious metals for a purpous. Most people agreed that it was to hide away stuff not to be accessed but others, as is the case in many religions, have decided that gods were prone to banter and that underground lights are a foolproof evidence of that. This dysonance in the origins of things or the meaning behind the natural wonders often serves as the key to differentiate between the Oun tribes. What all of them share is the Moon being center of their beliefs. Another similarity is the way they approach the disasters.

The world is a disaster but a cozy one

If one follows the trail of all Ounian myths what comes afterwards is a sense of a lingering disaster. Virtually all of origin stories have an element of catastrophy to it. The stars? The first Moon was shattered. The Star Road? The moon fragments fell of the basket. The minerals? It is known. The moral of all these stories was simple and had nothing to do with "to create something you must sacrifice something in return". That was the other tribe, that people don't want to talk about. The moral was that "no matter what you do, the circumstances may turn it into something entirely different". And if it happened to the creators of this world, you should definitely not feel bad for not having a grip on your tiny part of the reality.

When things get bad, many people will forgive you and move on. Lingering on the possible scenarios makes less sense from the practical standpoint. It is not that it is a waste of time and that you will fail to account for all possible outcomes. That is not the point. It makes no sense, because it will not fill the stomach nor will it help help to fend of the lions. To make up for the past hickups one needs to do better next time. If a person cut other off because of distrust they should just... move on. Or not and do better. Llingering, though, is like falling behind the moving tribe. One will only be left alone with their thoughts. And sometimes it is actually a good thing. But only at very special sometimes.

Alone with ones thoughts

Nothing screams alone time better than being left by your tribe in the middle of the steppe, with nothing to guide you forward but wits and stars. The Oun have a very special time of the year in a very special age of their tribesfolk, when being alone is not only permissible but even mandatory. It was already mentioned how strong are the Ouns feelings towards the wind and its nature. This is no surprise as one has to get along well with what one has. And what one has, and is alive, or does not have, and drops dead, is ones wit.

Everyone needs to learn how to use their head at some point and what better way to do it than to wage the life of an adolescent child, who "knows it all"? If there was any in the past, it clearly did not take root. What remained, and was passed down to the Asu, who were on good terms with the Oun, was the following: "The Moons are your future, the wind is your present, the past is gone." That the future is inscribed in the Moon (or stars, as they are believed to be the shattered moon) is not debatable. In fact everyone can look up the night sky and compare how it looks like throughout "the big cycle", also known as "the year" for short.

Same rules apply to the Moon, though this time it is called "the small cycle", or "the month". If you combine the two, it becomes obvious that from the night sky alone, one can get the current part of the month and the year. There are two exceptions to that. Firstly, there can be a cloud cover, in which case nothing can be done in the moment other than figuring out where the clouds come from and trying to account for it. Secondly, one may not yet have a full grasp over the changes of the Moons. If that is the case, then the only guide can be ones luck. Luckily, in most ounian stories such lives usually end abruptly and most young ones does pay attention. Or so the story goes...

Most of the time the "alone time" is not really perceived as a test but a way to let the young ones get a feeling of how difficult it is to survive on their own. The food and shelter are the most obvious that are taken for granted. But during the "alone time" one has to deal with ones thoughts and in such cases remembering and understanding the stories can make a difference between life and death. Or so say the people who lived to tell the story. Now, sometimes the stories can be larger than life. Like, for example, of the Snake that stole the Night Eye.

The snake that stole the Night Eye

Snakes had a bad reputation in Asu, Askari and Oun tribes for as long as people remember. How it began is a potent myth material but one can speculate that hiding in narrow underground places and being venomous (most of the snakes in that region are) may have played a crucial role. Suffice to say - people and snakes have not shared much sympathy over the generations. So whenever, once in a while pops up a story from a less biased culture, the positive figures of snakes slowly crawl their way to a more appealing shape or form, like, a slimy eel, a fuzzy caterpillar or an unusually large reptile. While by itself it does not explain the swap, the moral of this story is that context is key and such was with the myth of the snake that stole the Night Eye.

The Oun were a crazy bunch with anything considering Moon. They would connect virtually anything to the Moon, stars included, which was explained previously. Take for example a story of the World with two eyes. The World had two eyes: a cold Night Eye and a warm Day Eye. For some part of the year it would favour summer and watch more throughout the day and in the winter it would watch more into the Night. One day, however, when the World was resting its Night Eye after a long watch, a Night snake appeared in the skies and stole the eye, before the World could claim it. The World was then plunged into a strange time, when the summer days would last very long, but the nights would never come and the dark, freezingly cold winter, when the day would never seem to break. It is said that before the Long Nights appeared, the land was attacked by the children of the Night snake. With flaming rage they came from the skies and with force crushed the rocks, the land, the lake beds. The land was scarred from their attack. The end.

If there is a moral to this story, it is to not leave your eye unattended, since it can lead to a global catastrophe.

The revolving land and the stagnant sky

Being a child usually comes in a package with being uninformed about many things and for reasons unknown these things are usually dangerous. Beyond climbing the crumbling mountain walls and playing with harmful objects childrens most favourite pastime almost always revolves around inventing games. Bonus laughs if they involve harmful objects, like flame, rocks, etc. But when such game is recognized by the grown ups as a sign of ingenuity the kids know they struck gold and given the direction they will find as many creative ways to make it, well... more.

One such game is called "the whirl" and has at least tens of variants. The easiest one requires two people and no, it cannot be an animal, but yes, some versions give it a pass. Before beginning the two parties need to choose who will do the hard work (and be called "the Land") and who will potentially pay the consequences (and be called "the Eye"). With that out of the way, everyone clears a flat circular space of around three fathoms of "the Eye" and prepares a set of beacons. These need not be fire but usually they are. The beacons are placed around the circumference one and a half fathom from the center. The number of the beacons depends on the time of the year but it generally boils down to filling part of the circumference corresponding to how long the day is relative to the night.

Then comes the fun part: "the Land" grabs "the Eye" by their legs and swings as fast as they can. "The Eye" must then yell out the choice of "Night" or "Day" to which "the Land" must oblige and let them go and "the Eye" has to land on their hands or feet. Interestingly, this is where the "to throw an eye on something" and "to give it a swing" come from. "The Land" scores a point if "the Eye" falls beyond the beacons of the chosen part of the circle. "The Eye" scores a point if they succeed to land on their hands or feet. Variations of the game include a third person called "the Moon", who circles around "the Land" on the inner part of the circle. This version is best played at night, when "the Moon" is not visible on the "Night side". In a version that even adults play the beacons are replaced with people sitting with small mirrors or candles.