![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreSomething occurred to me the other day. The two deities that represent Good and Evil were born of the Law and Chaos. Making them twins, right? One twin is the creator of life, happiness, and unicorns that fart rainbows. The other? The foul beast that seeks to destroy the entire multiverse, himself included.
How would this affect the view on mortal twins? I can easily see where twin births would be seen as inauspicious at best. Twins, especially identical twins, would be looked on with suspicion as people tried to figure out which twin was the tainted one. This would tend to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, since one mischievous act as a six-year old can get you labeled "touched by darkness" for life. This will drastically effect your prospects in life. Such a twin might find himself forced out of his home town/village at a very early age, and be forced to fend for himself. Good background story for a Rogue, hm?
Far more common would be for the family to quickly remove one of the twins from the household. Preferably to another village. The priesthood can always find a family that just lost a newborn that would be willing to adopt (especially with a few coins "for their understanding" pressed into their palms) a replacement child. The belief is separation and a change of names breaks the ominous nature of twins.
Things are dicier for the nobility. Since births are normally witnessed (to prove that the child is legitimate, at least as far as who the mother is) if twins are delivered word will get out. This could be as dangerous for a noblewoman as failing to deliver a son. A Henry VIIIth type could use the birth of twins as "evidence" of consorting with dark forces. More often one of the twins will be fostered with an allied noble family a long way away.
When there is no fostering opportunity, the odd twin out will often by left with the church or with one of the remote library/monasteries of the Library of Alexandria. More about this later, but in my setting the monk character class comes from the Great Library, which is dedicated to no god but knowledge, and the monks seek that knowledge all across the world. Flame and metal tools are forbidden inside the Library (and most of their monasteries) hence the martial arts stuff.
Again, a good background for clerics, paladins (especially for them, imagine the kind of Jedi Paladin fanatic you'd get when you raise him from infancy to defend the faith!) and monks. Best part is you have no idea where you come from or why you were left with the priests/monks. . . until you see the heir to the throne of Navarre and realize that you and he look exactly alike.
I'd also see people seeing four as an unlucky number. After all, there are four gods, the fourth being the Destroyer. It's bad luck to seat four at a table (as the last to sit will attract evil to himself), a prayer needs to be said when attaching the fourth wheel to a wagon to ward off the evil, traveling in a group of four invites doom, etc. See how some Asian cultures deal with the number four (the word for four sounds almost the same as "death" in several languages.)
Percolating in the back of my head is the tale of one of the last emperors of the Western Empire, who had twin sons. One was sent off to be raised by one of the barbarian kings allied with Rome. Sadly, the Fates had so closely woven these boys that they lived truly parallel lives, down to the day that their fathers commissioned magical swords for them. The nature of the boys' relationship (unknown to the enchanters) resulted in two great swords, Sanguisigni, a great flaming sword able to cut through the finest armor, and Hideghalál, an ice-cold blade that froze souls as well as blood. Inevitably, the barbarian son led his people in revolt, and his brother was sent to stop them. not knowing their kinship, the two leaders fought, striking each other down, and only then realizing their link. The swords disappear from history for a time, but it is well known that when both are found and wielded by worthy warriors, those warriors will be drawn into inevitable conflict.
OK, less percolating than just popped into my head fully-formed as I was writing this.
As always, comments and suggestions welcomed. Y'all are my first-line editors and critics, I value your feedback. Along with corrections to my Google-enabled Latin and Hungarian.
How would this affect the view on mortal twins? I can easily see where twin births would be seen as inauspicious at best. Twins, especially identical twins, would be looked on with suspicion as people tried to figure out which twin was the tainted one. This would tend to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, since one mischievous act as a six-year old can get you labeled "touched by darkness" for life. This will drastically effect your prospects in life. Such a twin might find himself forced out of his home town/village at a very early age, and be forced to fend for himself. Good background story for a Rogue, hm?
Far more common would be for the family to quickly remove one of the twins from the household. Preferably to another village. The priesthood can always find a family that just lost a newborn that would be willing to adopt (especially with a few coins "for their understanding" pressed into their palms) a replacement child. The belief is separation and a change of names breaks the ominous nature of twins.
Things are dicier for the nobility. Since births are normally witnessed (to prove that the child is legitimate, at least as far as who the mother is) if twins are delivered word will get out. This could be as dangerous for a noblewoman as failing to deliver a son. A Henry VIIIth type could use the birth of twins as "evidence" of consorting with dark forces. More often one of the twins will be fostered with an allied noble family a long way away.
When there is no fostering opportunity, the odd twin out will often by left with the church or with one of the remote library/monasteries of the Library of Alexandria. More about this later, but in my setting the monk character class comes from the Great Library, which is dedicated to no god but knowledge, and the monks seek that knowledge all across the world. Flame and metal tools are forbidden inside the Library (and most of their monasteries) hence the martial arts stuff.
Again, a good background for clerics, paladins (especially for them, imagine the kind of Jedi Paladin fanatic you'd get when you raise him from infancy to defend the faith!) and monks. Best part is you have no idea where you come from or why you were left with the priests/monks. . . until you see the heir to the throne of Navarre and realize that you and he look exactly alike.
I'd also see people seeing four as an unlucky number. After all, there are four gods, the fourth being the Destroyer. It's bad luck to seat four at a table (as the last to sit will attract evil to himself), a prayer needs to be said when attaching the fourth wheel to a wagon to ward off the evil, traveling in a group of four invites doom, etc. See how some Asian cultures deal with the number four (the word for four sounds almost the same as "death" in several languages.)
Percolating in the back of my head is the tale of one of the last emperors of the Western Empire, who had twin sons. One was sent off to be raised by one of the barbarian kings allied with Rome. Sadly, the Fates had so closely woven these boys that they lived truly parallel lives, down to the day that their fathers commissioned magical swords for them. The nature of the boys' relationship (unknown to the enchanters) resulted in two great swords, Sanguisigni, a great flaming sword able to cut through the finest armor, and Hideghalál, an ice-cold blade that froze souls as well as blood. Inevitably, the barbarian son led his people in revolt, and his brother was sent to stop them. not knowing their kinship, the two leaders fought, striking each other down, and only then realizing their link. The swords disappear from history for a time, but it is well known that when both are found and wielded by worthy warriors, those warriors will be drawn into inevitable conflict.
OK, less percolating than just popped into my head fully-formed as I was writing this.
As always, comments and suggestions welcomed. Y'all are my first-line editors and critics, I value your feedback. Along with corrections to my Google-enabled Latin and Hungarian.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 17 Mar 2011 00:33 (UTC)IIRC, there are indications that second-born twins were routinely killed in some places.
(and that adoption solution you mention is probably going to translate into a general cultural suspicion of adoptees and orphans...)
no subject
Date: 17 Mar 2011 00:49 (UTC)Yeah, given how important family lines were in the historical Europe (read the epic poetry of the era, genealogies are vital!) being "Biorn, son of No One" woulod get you the evil eye in a lot of places.
no subject
Date: 18 Mar 2011 01:53 (UTC)One of the sons inherits the title, the other is sent away to be raised by a foster family / monks / conveniently placed swineherds. He later comes back as a revolt leader, claiming his brother as the "evil" twin of the bunch. Is the pretender a genuine liberator or a would-be usurper? Is the brother in power a benevolent ruler or a dictator? Or an "ends justify the means" type? Or simply a misguided fool?
The other scenario is a ruler being replaced by his twin (perhaps after a sudden death or an assassination). This can be run as an intrigue / detective story - the ruler is suddenly acting out of character, party investigates why. Or, a character can unknowingly be a twin of someone, perhaps coming down with a bad case of Oedipus Rex.
Questions:
* How would male/female twins be seen as?
* Any superstitions about the fourth son of a fourth son and the like?
no subject
Date: 18 Mar 2011 23:22 (UTC)2. Given the high infant mortality rates and the need for large peasant families, fourth sons might be a little common. Stretch it out so it's the fourth son of a fourth son of a fourth son of a fourth son, and you could see some weirding. This would be a great place to get a Sorcerer from. Such births can reawaken ancient bloodlines.
Wizards will look for births where the number three showed up in odd ways. Born on the 3rd hour of the 3rd day of the 3rd month. Three wolves were heard howling as the child was born. Since the gods who are trying to save the universe from destruction number three, Wizards see that as a favored number for Umma, the primal being whose shattered body makes up reality and whose latent will powers magic. Such children will be watched, quietly, for signs they posses the gift. if so, the family will be approached when the child is nine and offered money in exchange for the child's apprenticeship.
no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2011 07:58 (UTC)