The Birthright Zodiac

[AndrewTall]

I'd say that the Gorgon is pride more than anything else - his pride caused him to believe he had the right to rule, the right to be most loved as firstborn - all his failings, bretrayals and flaws grow from his inability to get past his pride even his refusal to ascend to godhood until he 'proves himself better than roele' in anuire...

[kgauck]

There are various quizes on-line that tell you what Hollywood leading man you are, which of Scooby-do's companions you are, and what kind of martini you are.

But some of these quizes also tell you what kind of tarot card you are, which Norse god you are, and what your zodiac sign are, by taking the quiz.

If one were to answer the questions from the point of view of the NPC in question, you might answers that are at least thought provoking.

One interesting string of brainstorming might go something like this:
I took a "which Tarot card are you quiz" for the Gorgon. Result- the Hermit. The hermit dwells in a wasteland with mountains in the background. Appropriate enough.

Solitude ----- Looking inward ----- Reclusion ----- Distance ----- Retreat ----- Isolation

All keywords associated with the Hermit.

Sometimes the Hermit is associated with an Obiwan Kenobi character in a Campbellesque sense. This doesn't really apply to the Gorgon now, but it does apply to Raesne with regard to his younger brothers, so there is something to it. The Hermit gives is the tools, training, or advise we need to confront the monster. Raesne did that, Haelyn and Roele had some measure of success in their lives, but Raesne became the ultimate monster himself. That's rather Greek.

From Wikipedia

A potentially dangerous aspect of The Hermit is his retreat, his isolation. We all need to retreat sometimes; retreat and renewal are necessary for growth. But The Hermit may be tempted to completely withdraw from the world, not because the journey is done, but because the dragons of the real are too daunting, or because the trivial pleasures of the cave are too intoxicating. Withdraw at the wrong time, stay withdrawn too long, and growth stops. The cowl The Hermit wears protects him and isolates him. Hopefully, at some point, he casts it off and rejoins the world.

People are always asking why doesn't the Gorgon conquer, and the Hermit answers some of that.

The name "hermit" is also from the name of the Greek god Hermes, so some thing there might be of value, though I suspect perhaps more for fleshing out Raesne than the Gorgon. In the Vikings Tarot the Hermit is Heimdall living at the edge of Asgard, standing ready with Gjallarhorn watching for the signs of the coming of Ragnarok.

Is the Gorgon waiting for a Cerilian Ragnarok? If Azrai returns does the Gorgon get to be a perpetual Emperor, finally his rightful place?

The original vinyl album cover of Led Zeppelin's hit album Led Zeppelin IV (as well as the liner notes for the CD release) contains a painted picture of the Hermit standing on top of a mountain peak looking down on a small village. The Hermit was the favorite Tarot character of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. [...] The painting is now associated with the song Stairway to Heaven, principally from posters and t-shirts showing the top half of the painting with the words "Stairway to Heaven" printed next to it.

This of course adds pop culture fodder, but that never hurts.

[geeman]

At 02:57 AM 8/8/2008, kgauck wrote:

>I took a "which Tarot card are you quiz" for the Gorgon. Result- the
>Hermit. The hermit dwells in a wasteland with mountains in the
>background. Appropriate enough.

I was debating whether or not to ask about tarot cards and where one
might want to fit the various awn-/ehrsheghlien into, at least, the
major arcana. 22 is a lot of categories, nearly as many as we have
full descriptions of awnshegh.... There could be scions who could
fit into the various other cards, I suppose... but I`m not really all
that worried about them. The major arcana could be interesting. At
the very least, it`d be cool to put together a BR themed set of Tarot
cards with the various awnsheghlien`s pictures on the faces of the
cards, wouldn`t it?

It is definitely appropriate to the general theme of this thread,
though, so here are the major trump cards in a Tarot deck and their
numerical value:

0 The Fool
1 The Magician
2 The High Priestess
3 The Empress
4 The Emperor
5 The Hierophant
6 The Lovers
7 The Chariot
8 Strength
9 The Hermit
10 The Wheel of Fortune
11 Justice
12 The Hanged Man
13 Death
14 Temperance
15 The Devil
16 The Tower
17 The Star
18 The Moon
19 The Sun
20 Judgement
21 The World

Rather than give a description of all of them, here`s a link to a
page that has one:

http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/divtarotmajorarcana.html

Gary