(Book One told how the warrior Aurelia led her embattled
people across the sea to settle what we know today as
the new island of Cangrejo..
Book Two told what happened to Aurelia's three lost
ships, which now lie on beaches or underwater around There.
)
Book Three: Tyr
For weeks, the Old Ones had been tantalizing me with hints
about the former god Tyr, but every time I asked about him,
they'd find an excuse to go looking for refills of their
mugs of hot mead, or would repeatedly refill my mug until
I lost track of what I was trying to ask. Finally, however,
on a dark night in Tabu when There was closed and overindulgence
in hot mead had the Old Ones more garrulous than usual,
they revealed perhaps a bit more than they intended about
Tyr, and how he came to live out his life in exile on the
island that today bears his name. This is that story.
In the long ago days when the immortals ruled from the
Isles of Saja, Tyr was one of those gods living in Saja.
Tyr was known as a prankster, a forever young god who was
a disappointment to other gods for his refusal to take anything
seriously. Tyr's life was a life of games and good hearted
pranks, always laughing, a broad smile always on his face.
Unlike the other gods, who delighted in interfering in
the lives of mortals living in the world below them, Tyr
only played pranks on his equals, the other gods. Perhaps
his most annoying prank, which unfortunately got loose in
world and multiplied like a virus, was "rubberbanding",
in which an unsuspecting god would get caught in a warp,
constantly being whipped back to where the god started,
unable to make progress until Tyr relented, and freed the
god. Unfortunately, this sometimes still happens in There
today. Perhaps Tyr's greatest regret that he was stripped
of his immortality before he could remove the curse of rubberbanding
from the There world; he only intended for rubberbanding
to torment hypocritical gods. He never wanted it to afflict
his beloved avatars.
Tyr's greatest prank cost him his immortality. Tyr didn't
think any more hghly of humans than did his fellow gods,
but he was disgusted at the sight of immortal gods constantly
tormenting mortals who were too weak to fight back, yet
at the same time mocking him for the pranks that he played
only on gods. Over the millennia, his resentment at this
hypocrisy grew, until the day when he could no longer contain
his resentment. In a burst of inspired genius, Tyr played
his best and final prank on the other gods: he created the
first avatar.
When the gods tried tormenting that first avatar, thinking
it was just another weak human, they quickly realized that
this was not someone who they could torment as they had
always tormented humans. They immediately saw the threat
that avatars presented, and that the rise of an avatar race
would lead to the end of the capricious reign of the gods.
Without hesitation. they stripped Tyr of his immortality,
banishing the always playful young god with the ever cheerful
smile to a dismal island where he would live alone for the
rest of his days in dark solitude.
The gods were able to strip Tyr of his godhood, and they
were able to banish him to a dark place where no one would
ever see him laugh or smile again, but they could not stop
his avatars from proliferating around the world. In the
end, sitting alone in his dark tower, Tyr had the last laugh,
for today, the Sajean Isles are deserted. The gods are nowhere
to be seen, and Tyr's avatars have taken over not only the
world, but Saja as well.
It would make Tyr smile to see it.
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