According to dictionary.com, the word of the day today is coruscate.
I'm thinking of the open sea, and the way it glitters and shines. And of sea-raiders who slice the sea open with their narrow skiffs. And how they'd see nothing but endless, shimmering waves for days.
I'm also thinking about how early people thought that the sky was made of water, since it was blue. No idea what they thought clouds were, but that's just fine. The point is: What if the glass holding back the sky got cracked? What if the sky was literally falling?
What if the entire world is just a floating disk in the middle of a peaceful ocean, with water above and below the world, and to every side, and nothing can get in or out of the world except through magic or steady patience and a willingness to potentially destroy all the world's life. Demons and gods alike would be fishmen, drawn to the world because the sun disk is the only source of light nearby, and they both need and covet the light. Are there other disks? Is travel possible or would the pressure kill any land-dwelling life on contact? Does the sun rotate around the world or does the world itself spin? What if the sun really was pulled by a god's chariot and when it was down it was merely underground, and it was possible to see where the sun went at night and what sort of beings would be nearby?
Perhaps it would be demons, and every night the demons are trying to trick or slay the sun-god's burden, trick him into laying it down so the demons can finally really feel the warmth and dryness instead of constantly being banished outside of the world. Perhaps it would be the trickster god (a mainstay of any pantheon) who merely wants the disk because it is hard to attain, and to attain it and hide it would be a fine trick indeed.
Maybe the moon finally caught up to the sun?
WOOOAA, THAT TRIPPED MEOUT!!!!!!!1 (DID EARLY PEOPEL REALLY THINK THAT?)
ReplyDelete@joesky: Actually, a lot of people really did believe the sky was made out of water- the ancient egyptians did, the ancient babylonians did, and the ancient hebrews did, just to name a couple.
ReplyDeleteWhen it would rain, it was evidence the sky really was made out of water and not some strange foreign blue floating substance because look, some of the sky's water is coming down!
It makes sense if you think about it and besides, it kind of really is made out of water. After all, the air near is is made out of a good bit of water, and the clouds really are watery.
As to the rest of it? The sun is a figure of worship, veneration, and fear in many religions, because it provides life constantly, but without any guarantee that it'll keep coming back, ancients tended to watch it fairly carefully. Many people really did believe that things were out to get the sun, which is why they needed to continue their rituals or maybe one day the sun wouldn't rise and then where would they be?