Just Keeping Swimming | March Planet Mingle

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Anywhere on Mafik
When: The month of March



[Welcome to Mafik, the water world! Hope you brought your best swimming gear and don't have a paralyzing fear of water, because that's all that's here! So get out those wet suits and enjoy life under the sea!

In other words, it's a mingle! ]

> System Information

Comments

[bythewaves]

That would make sense. [ Maglor agrees ] It would be strange for a blade to have a childhood! You might be a young blade, I suppose, but not a child, eh?

[ He nods ] Some of the Men in my world consider adulthood at that age also, but the Dunedain age slower, and they tend to name adulthood at eighteen, and full maturity in their twenties.

[ He frowns ] I wish I was able to heal. I know some basic battlefield first aid and I have some knowledge of the common healing herbs, but little more than that. But that it is spreading... that is ill. I hope the healers and doctors here can help.

[helmsplitter]

I'm not that young. [grumble grumble] And we have younger times, but we don't really have a childhood like humans do. We don't really age, we just learn more about the world and either our vessels stay around so we're alive, or they get destroyed and we die.

[He shrugs]

If you can't heal, don't worry about it. I can't either, so I'm just doing what I can in my own way. [A beat] What's a Dunedain?

[bythewaves]

No, I suppose you are not. [ Maglor acknowledges with a smile ]

Mm, I am glad yours was not, however! I will do my best to make sure so, here.

'Dunedain' means 'West Man' - Men of the West, if you wish something that scans a little better. They are the descendents of the Edain, the three tribes of Men who came first over the eastern mountains to Middle-earth and became elf-friends. Their line of kings descends from Elros, who was Peredhel - Half-Elven, but who chose to become mortal. They have a tendency to live a little longer - those of Elros' direct line may make several centuries, at times.

[helmsplitter]

.....I was. Destroyed, I mean. I've died a lot.

[Destroyed, he means. That's the thing about him, he's not exactly...a normal sword spirit. He tries to keep the tone light, but all the deaths he's had are always in his head and they bother him sometimes.

But more importantly (and so he can abruptly change the topic to something that doesn't remind him of fire and pain)--]

So they're humans, but they used to be kinda like elves? Why not just call them humans?

[Huff]

Why do you guys have t'have so many names for stuff?

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor's breath hisses in low sympathy, but he doesn't dwell on it, since Doudanuki likely does not wish to be reminded ]

I will do my best to not let that happen here. [ He promises him ]

Mm, not really - say more that some of them have a little, tiny, bit of elven blood, and that strain will sometimes out! And we like words, we elves!

[ He chuckles a bit ] The very first name we called ourselves when our foreparents first awoke, was Quendi. 'Speakers'. For we were the first to devise words for things, and ever since then we have been doing so. But Men do so also, do they not?

[helmsplitter]

[He gives a half-hearted shrug and keeps walking. Even if he died here, he's pretty sure the other Doudanuki swords out there somewhere would just pick up where he left off. It was the beneift of being a mass produced sword - somewhere there was likely another of him.]

I guess humans do. I think one word for each is more than enough though. Who's got all that--

[Right, time. Elves live for as long as the world is around so...yeah, they have the time. Doudanuki sighs and stares up at the "sky".]

I guess you guys have the time to sit around and make up a thousand names for the same thing.

[bythewaves]

I suppose so! But we do just like language, I think. My family has a bit of a history with that sort of thing, and I am very fond of the different ways people speak, myself.

[ Maglor smiles at him gently ]

I still regret the fact that our languages are automatically translated, here. I miss the chance to actually learn.

[helmsplitter]

[Doudanuki makes A Face(tm) and looks away. He'd hate learning all the different languages here.]

It's already hard enough havin' to learn how to say everyone's names. Making it so we couldn't even talk to people here would probably lead to war pretty damn quick.

[Not that that outcome would make him unhappy, but he's pretty sure most of the Fleeters would hate it.]

[bythewaves]

Maybe, but you might be surprised! In any case, our captors clearly decided they did not wish the hassle.

And you do well with our names, which I assume are quite odd, for you?

[helmsplitter]

Yeah, you guys have weird names.

[Blunt sword is blunt.]

But when you're used to names like Shokudaikiri Mitsutada or Izuminokami Kanesada, it ain't so hard to learn other ones. Mostly it's the pronunciation that trips me up at first.

[bythewaves]

Weird for you, but not for us! And the reverse is also true, eh?

[ Maglor takes no offence ]

You do very well - and those names are quite complicated, yes!

[helmsplitter]

[He shrugs. Learning names is something he has to do - it comes with learning how to talk and have a mouth and everything else that comes with being human(ish).]

What's the weirdest name in your world?

[bythewaves]

Hm, well, the original names of the Valar - that is, the names they use for themselves, are very strange to us, partly because we cannot quite hear all the syllables and harmonics, I think. Also, they are fiendishly difficult to even pronounce, and to hear them actually spoken by the Valar themselves is actually painful.

But....

[ He frowns dragging up old, old lessons ]

Lord Tulkas' name... the closest I can come is Tulukastāz. [ But when he says it, there is something about the way he says it that trembles the water around them, as if a great fist struck down, a vibration, a pulse of something in the actual word that encapsulates and conveys Strength and Might.

Immediately after, Maglor pales and coughs, hand going to his throat ]

Ow.

[helmsplitter]

[Whoa holy shit. The entire world around them seems to shake when he says his name and Doudanuki stops, shifting his feet for better balance.]

Does saying names always do something like that?

[bythewaves]

No. [ Maglor rasps and then clears his throat ]

But the Valar are the Powers of the World, and their true names are not just names but also descriptions - they tell you something of who they are, and what they do.

[helmsplitter]

[He thinks back on the feelings that came through with the word that shook the air. It felt like when he was in the hands of the Kato clan again, racing toward battle. It reminded him of clashing with the Keibiishi and the push of their blade and their overwhelming power against his.

He shakes his head to clear it.]

I'm guessing that guy was something about being strong then?

[bythewaves]

Aye - Tulkas the Steadfast is a warrior, who delights in wrestling and contests of strength. He is slow to anger, but his anger is fearsome indeed, a poor counsellor but a hardy friend. You would like him, I think.

[helmsplitter]

Yeah? He does sound like someone I'd get along with.

[Although, he's not huge on "contests," he likes the sound of someone who likes to fight.]

Except he probably can't say his name, right? That whole earth-shaking thing would make it hard.

[bythewaves]

He uses Tulkas, these days - it is easier on everyone! Well, I assume he might still use his real name with his kin, but with all of the rest of us he has been Tulkas for as long as I can remember.

[helmsplitter]

So his people and yours are different, but you're all...elves?

[The Speakers, or whatever else they call themselves. He really has a hard time keeping all the names straight.]

[bythewaves]

No - we elves, we are the Firstborn - but the Valar and the Maia, they are Ainur, the Holy Ones, those who made the world.

[helmsplitter]

So...like the gods then?

[Because "Holy Ones" sure sounds like gods.]

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor waggles his hand in the universal symbol for 'kinda' ]

Yes, and no. They are our world's builders, and also those whose power upholds it - but they themselves would deny that they are gods, for they but followed the blueprints set for them by Eru, the One, who is their creator.

[helmsplitter]

[oh my rust there are more names now.

Doudanuki tries to piece that together in his head, so that it goes Eru > Tulkas's people > Elves > People ?

He thinks he has it right.]

So...demi-gods?

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor considers the word, turning the meaning over and then nods ]

Close enough. [ He agrees ]

They are very powerful, but they are not all powerful, especially not those who we know, who have bound themselves to the world.