The Legends Before Us Part 2

The Legend of Kufune

The most popular tale in Adel, that any boy would have heard of, is the legend of kufune. To this day, Kufune remains a common boy’s name because of the story. The titular character, Kufune, is a young man from a rural village nestled deep in a forest, usually either somewhere in Emderuer or in Andaliel. The story is given a local spin wherever it is told, but usually it is in the north, for reasons that become apparent soon enough. The story would be difficult to relocate to Vedaria, for example, because of the temperate-to-wintry forest setting and the symbiology of the Queen of Ice.

Kufune is a personification of everything good in an Adelian, courageous, lithe, and a little naive. Though he is male, children of any gender are taught to identify strongly with the concepts that he embodies and to want to be like him. His childhood friend Venicia, a local girl and minor divine magician, collects water every day from a nearby pond to bring to the village medicine hut, and he accompanies her. As they do so, they take the time to speak.

They lament not being able to play together anymore, as they are both not children anymore. Kufune is training with the sword, and Venicia is training to be a medicine girl for the village, and learn healing magic. Soon, Venicia will take a pilgrimage outside their lands, to strengthen her faith. Kufune struggles with whether to ask her to marry or not. He greatly desires her, but if he did, surely she would say yes, but it would make her want to stay in the village, which would prevent her pilgrimage.

However, winter begins to set in, unexpectedly. The Queen of Ice, a jealous spirit, hears Venicia sing during her trips to the river for water every day. She covets Venicia’s voice and beauty and plans to steal her away. She sends her servant Envy to the river one morning, under cover of a sudden blizzard, and steals away Venicia while she was taking water. Kufune was not with her that day, for he had resolved not to marry Venicia, for her own good. However, when he hears of her disappearance, he takes up his sword and braves the wintry forest. Within he faces three trials against the servants of the Queen.

The first trial pits him against Wrath, sometimes depicted as a white dragon, at others as merely a massive spirit. Wrath battles Kufune atop a frozen lake. Wrath is the cause of the blizzards, his angry bellows freezing the land around. He is defeated when Kufune tricks him into destroying the layer of ice upon which he stands, and he falls into the open water, and in his anger breathes his blizzard breath, freezing himself in the lake anew. The second trial pits him against Lust, who sings a terrible song that attempts to ensnare Kufune. If Kufune rejects the song, he will die as though by a banshee’s wail. However, his dedication to Venicia was so pure, and Venicia in captivity always singing for him, that he heard her song over Lust’s, and escaped her.

Finally Kufune fights Pride, in the form of his own desires, and slays him. Whether or not he was to have Venicia after he saved her was not his concern, so Pride had no power over him. Kufune had made up his mind that he would not ask for Venicia’s hand even after this, because she loved him so much it would force her will. Kufune’s pure intentions allow him to the Queen of Ice, flanked by Greed and Envy. Kufune does battle with them, and defeats them. But the Queen heals all of their wounds instantly with her magic, since all her minions are made of her ice. However, her once loyal minions turn on her, for Greed believes that Kufune will pay him for his service unlike the Queen, who merely bosses him around, and Envy merely because he covets the Queen’s lofty position. Envy becomes the King of Ice, Sloth, and surrenders to Kufune. Venicia is freed. Kufune gives to Greed his sword, a family heirloom, as payment. Greed would go on to gamble the sword in some other minor stories, leading to the legend of Kufune’s blade being an artifact that is still wandering across merchant hands in Adel today.

The ending of the story varies. Some versions have Kufune letting Venicia leave on her pilgrimage, and being rewarded for his patience when she returns and marries him. This allows for a strange minor tale of Venicia’s travels which highlight other morals. Meanwhile, another story has Envy, now Sloth, abdicating his position and powers to Venicia, essentially investing her with Clerical magic. This ends the duty conflict, as Venicia becomes full-fledged without needing to leave, and can marry Kufune and reward the hero for his good intentions.

Some versions do include a Gluttony as a minor female sidekick character that follows Kufune along, having been discarded by the Queen of Ice due to her constant pining for more drink and food, and wanting to revenge herself upon the Queen by leading Kufune to her. This gives the story a “heroic” or at least “redeemed” female character with a more active role, but it is uncommon in rural areas, where both genders are taught the good characteristics of both courageous Kufune and humble Venicia.

The Canon

Usually referred to as the Canon of Arcline, due to the healing goddess’ great role in it, it depicts the goddess taking mortal form by possessing (or more accurately, giving some of her aura to) a young farmer’s girl who had died of poisoning. The girl rises from her death-bed, invested with the magic of the goddess. She loses her memories, and does not even know if she lived in the village, or who her father was. The farmer tells her that if she’s really so unsure of him as her father, she should travel around Adel and find her real father. The tales of her travels span the Canon, a sort of biblical text for the Adelians which depicts the various Greater Spirits, spans the 7 lands of the Aptoan Empire (nowadays the 7 autonomous Nations). All Clerics of Arcline and Inunkuru read the Canon. The two goddesses have the greatest roles in it. Inunkuru is seen as a necessary but not desirable figure who holds a more pragmatic, power-driven view of the world and balances Arcline’s ideology of equality and mercy.

The common stories of the Canon all follow a very recursive pattern. Arcline in her earthly form goes to a new land and seeks a man of renown who she feels might be her father. The man has some kind of problem and Arcline, while housed with him, tries to help solve it. Inunkuru, who is met with shortly before the first of these stories, serves as a kind of narrator and scene-setter, who seems to know everything about everyone that Arcline meets. This leads to her having a gossipy, flirty sort of characterization, a woman who has “acquired” all this knowledge by ill means and who intrudes too much, and uses her knowledge for self-aggrandizement. Regardless, Inunkuru fills in Arcline on the backstory, they meet more minor characters, and things tend to resolve themselves or be resolved by either Arcline or Inunkuru (they, oddly, have about a 50/50 split on the solutions to these problems, despite Inunkuru being the negative figure). They then find out that the man they were helping is not Arcline’s father, and they move on. The original versions of the text probably had different men, but current versions are anachronistic translations from around the warring period. In translating from Aptoan to Common, the religious scribes spitefully erased the original male figures Arcline becomes involved with, and instead anachronistically placed war-time figures such as Aundarius Volg and Timaeus Andal as the men that Arcline meets. Regardless, they’ve stuck and so has the Canon.

Some of the more common stories involved:

•Arcline being desired in a pseudo-incestuous (since she was never really any of their daughters) way by some of the men, Inunkuru trying to clue her in, and ultimately some kind of matchmaking process with a local woman that ends the conflict.

•Arcline partaking in court intrigue and thwarting usurpations with diplomacy rather than violence. It is here that Inunkuru is seen most negatively, as she often desires (and is shown as quite capable of) assassinating the assassins.

•Arcline being wronged in some economic fashion she does not understand, and Inunkuru clueing her in. Arcline turns the other cheek or karmic forces take care of the wrongdoers, or Inunkuru tricks them back.

Many scholarly interpretations of the text show Arcline and Inunkuru’s relationship as pseudo-incestuous and mildly homosexual in and of itself, since the two goddesses are thought of as sister entities, and the goddesses meet no males who accompany them on their travels for very long, and often comfort or partake in each other’s company preferentially over any other character. This is seen in a positive light, as Arcline’s teachings are about very free and unbound love.

The Canon is the premiere historical text of Adel, so even those who don’t value its religious significance will study it in colleges or read it for themselves to hear Inunkuru’s information about each nation and region visited.

The Fable of Queshape

Queshape was a spirit who served as a minion to a more powerful Spirit, called The Great Mountain King, often depicted as a Fang of Despair Ashura snake. The story begins with the Mountain King receiving a prophecy from a blind Muikara who “listens to the winds.” The prophecy says that one of his own retinue would bring about his destruction, since the Mountain King was gluttonous in his desire for more servants and concubines to serve him. Distraught, the Mountain King schemed, and he held a contest where his servants would duel one another to become his heir.

One by one his servants slew one another, until the only one left was Queshape. Queshape realized what would happen, so he left. Queshape is often depicted as some kind of owl-man, usually as a Iomadi with winged ears and a feathered tail. Queshape escapes, where in a forest he meets with a human sage. The man, who has been living in isolation, asks Queshape whereupon he came from and Queshape relates his tale. The human picks up a sword, and leads Queshape back to the king to confront him. He tells Queshape that for as long as he is alive, his King will continue to harry him. The only way he can live in peace is to defeat the King so that he may not have to a pay the bloody tax on continuing to exist.

The King is mad with paranoia when Queshape returns, and tries in vain to strike him down, remembering the prophecy that was now coming true. The blind Muikara beside his throne is an utterly passive figure, not good nor evil, just a reminder of the impartial, ever-watching Fate. Queshape defeats the king, but spares his life. The Sage is made King in his place, and Queshape and the King, who has destroyed all that he had, both leave to other lands.

The ending of this story is heavily disputed by Scholars, as something that might have originally been different. One rare version of the story has Queshape lead the Sage to the King so the Sage can kill him and free Queshape. This seems more in line with what is expected of humans in Adelian tales – strange creatures unbound by honor or karma, who serve as convenient ways of keeping the hero of the story out of trouble, or as mouthpieces for whatever wisdom is to be told. The theme of the story is that breaking of the prophecy, in one way or another – either by Queshape saving the King, or by the Sage killing him and not Queshape. Either way, it is a case for freedom, be it from royal oppression or from the wiles of fate.

The tale is very likely Andalian or Sargassan in origin, due to the use of the Muikara, and the theme of freedom as opposed to knightly duty or honor.

The Tale of Corali

Corali was the most adept archer of her village, who could strike a pekor bug with an arrow at a hundred paces away. She was well loved in her village for her skill and grace, and loved even beyond this. An Ashura king by the name of Apnianu could hear in his kingdom each arrow Corali let fly, and he admired her. Desiring that she come to Septinum with him, Apnianu sent a female Iyonnu Ashura to trick Corali into accepting a contest. She would attain spirit-dom if she could traverse five landmarks of Apnianu’s kingdom and he would crown her an Arch-Spirit.

The first landmark was a maze-like bridge of staircases and corridors bridging a gap between the Stygian river that traverses Septinum, and the kingdom. Corali traverses it by marking the walls with arrows, so she knows where she’s been and in what sequence. The second landmark is a bustling town full of mischievous, drunkard Ashura who try to get Corali to join their revelry, but she outdrinks them without losing consciousness, and proceeds. The third landmark was a wasteland where the Kashipu roamed, massive creatures with skulls of huge animals worn as masks, but Corali found them rather gentle, and the most pleasant creatures she met in Septinum. The fourth landmark was the sea of lava, a mantle of hellfire that separate Apnianu’s castle from the rest. Apnianu’s Surapad, the phoenix Munene, jealous of Corali taking the king’s eyes off her, challenges Corali to battle here. But despite the hellfire greatly increasing Munene’s strength, Corali clips her wings with a volley of a thousand arrows, and sinks her into the fire, from whence she would not awaken for days.

Lastly, Corali reaches Apnianu’s castle, the final landmark, where he offers her crown he had promised. But it is not a crown as an Arch-Spirit, but as his bride and queen of Apnianu’s kingdom. Corali, having weathered all the trials, refuses the crown. Where she to become an Arch-Spirit, there would be nothing to challenge her bow anymore, and she would not grow, but remain the same as she was forever. She is thankful to Apnianu for the challenges, and wishes to return home. Apnianu, angered, but tempered by his love for her, lets her go, but vows to have her someday.

This story is the first canonical appearance of the Septinum Hell of Alighieri, an Ashura kingdom, which is an actual place in Septinum that can be visited to this day. The relationship between Septinum’s devilish civilization and Adel’s people are nonexistent, however, so any who go there will be strangers in a very strange land. The story’s moral is of cautious ambition. Corali survives all the challenges with great skill but in the end she refuses the prize. Tempering her skill with humility and kindness (she does not slay any creatures), she is the archetypal female heroine counterpart to Kufune.

Arch-Spirit is a term that does exist within Adelian spirit lore, but it tends to refer to the Five Devas, which are considered to be “reject”-Greater Spirits and relatively dangerous, whereas here it’s a title of some honor.

In the next installment, I’ll touch upon a few darker and more tragic tales.