On to the idea!Name:Bhel
Meaning of Name:White, clear; to shine, in Proto Indo-European.
Proto Indo-European was theoretically one of the first languages man ever spoke. Many languages today stem from Proto Indo-European, including Sanskrit, Iranian, Persian, Greek, and the Germanic and Romance languages. English, too, being derived from several European languages, has many roots in Proto Indo-European. I thought it'd be a good language to borrow from, since its range was about the same as the range of the aurochs themselves - from India across the Middle East and Europe and possibly even all the way to England.* The actual aurochs were black in color. The word "black", though, is thought to come from the Proto Indo-European root 'bhel', too
3nodding History:France, ~20,000 years ago A man sat in a cave, his hands shaking slightly as he chewed the end of a branch, preparing it for use as a brush. The meager light of a single torch flickered around him, as if influenced by his nerves. He had done this before, for an antelope, but that was a totally different beast. The aurochs was so much more dangerous, but so much more could be gained from killing it. More meat, more fur, and the great majestic set of horns.... Cautiously, he dipped the moist end of the stick into the black pigment cradled in his palm, and touched the tip of it to the cave wall to make a curved line. He had to do this just right, or else the hunt tomorrow would fail. His people were counting on him to do this properly. Strokes of black went across the rough stone to form the outline of the aurochs bull's body. The man could see the great black creature in his mind, snorting pridefully at his tribe even as they ringed him carrying their spears. The lines went down precisely as he saw them in his mind, gradually forming the bull on the wall. This one was chosen. They would kill this one....
Turkey, ~7000BC A woman knelt in her home before the wall, touching her fingertips to the bull painted in red upon it. Even with her ancestors' spirits sleeping beneath her feet, she was lonely without her husband. But she knew deep in her heart that the bull spirit within the painting on her wall would protect him. Nothing was fiercer than the aurochs bull. Anyone who painted its likeness upon their walls could harness its godlike strength and bestow it upon their menfolk. It was the epitome of masculinity, and would bring any man great fortune and power....
Mesopotamia, ~ 2000BC A scribe sat on his roof, taking a break from his writing to look out across the city. It had not rained for weeks; the crops were shriveling fast in the sun. The scribe knew that it was the Bull of Heaven, sent to trample on their grains. A part of him wished he could see the great beast. He had seen the mortal aurochs bulls before, and how one of those could cause great destruction if he wished. But the gods' Bull of Heaven must be a truely remarkable animal indeed to level the fields of a whole city like this. It would be a frightening, awesome sight to behold. Most certainly something amazing about which to write....
Crete, ~2500BC A boy stood in the ring, naked like his few comrades who stood beside him. It was hot on his island kingdom this time of year, so he needed on clothes, and he certainly would not have wanted them now anyway. The black bull charged him and his friends, and with nothing but the gleaming deadly-sharp horns in his mind, the boy was sweating enough in fear, ignoring the heat. This would be easy, just as he had seen boys do in the past. The one to his right would distract the bull, then the one on his left would catch his hands and throw him towards those horns. And all the boy himself had to do was grab the horns at just the right moment and jump onto the bull's back. It was now or never. He would do it and prove himself a man of the kingdom, or he would die trying....
Turkey, ~1700BC A priest walked out of the temple, his gaze upon the sky. Distant flickers of lightning told him that the Storm God was readying his chariot and the two aurochs bulls who drew it. A neighboring kingdom thought that the bulls did not cause storms at all, but rather bore the sun across the sky upon their horns. The priest knew, of course, that this was false, since the Sun God had his own means. But with their great might, an aurochs just might be able to carry the sun if the Sun God ever needed help. It was most certainly a celestial creature, a beast among beasts....
Rome, ~50BC Caesar sat in his study, listening to the report of his general and making his own notes. He had seen the beasts of which the general spoke, but never more than one. He could understand the fear the soldier expressed; the aurochs were huge creatures, and hateful, too. Never had any of the Caesar's men managed to capture one, let alone tame one. They could, at least, be killed, but it was a difficult task that no man could do alone, or even with a partner. Caesar was inwardly pleased; perhaps this creature of godly strength could help serve as an example for his men....
Poland, ~1620 The last aurochs bull sprawled on the ground, seeing all these memories in his mind. It had been a long time since those days of glory for his kind. Men had since hunted them mercilessly, and now he was the last remaining male. His female counterpart had gone into hiding, but he could feel her days were numbered as well. They both had these memories of earlier days, when men had respected their might. And they both still possessed great spiritual power. But if there is no faith, what spirit has power? The bull felt within him the crackling thunder, the godly strength, the power to withold the rain or give it in torrents - he had always felt it there, just as every other of his kind always had through all time. All of the aurochs had been gods. But what were they, what was he now to a human? A pair of horns for adorning a wall or making into a pair of drinking cups. So long as no one believed in the aurochs' power, they had none. And that was what had killed them. They were gods no longer; they were animals.
And the humans had made them that way.
Drawing what he knew to be his last breath, the bull did not allow it to simply drift from his nostrils as he faded into death. Oh no, he drew in all the air his tired body could hold, and bellowed out to all the world the hatred for the humans and their loss of faith.
Personality:Just like the aurochs of old, Bhel has no particular love for humans. Upon meeting anyone, he would probably be wary at best. Yet while he is reluctant to trust anyone, Bhel his also affected by athazagoraphobia, or fear of being forgotten. Somewhere deep within his heart, he worries that if no one remembers his name, he will disappear. This would be quite an acute fear for him as a youngster, but it might fade in later stages of his life. His deep need to be remembered would drive young Bhel to be quite arrogant and prideful, and generally hard to get along with, since in his mind, being hated is better than not being recognized at all.
Intellectually, Bhel always remains a bit slow. Even when he does know something, he is reluctant to speak up, since he is not terribly articulate. He is quick to use his great physical strength, though, for good or for evil, since he feels that it is his one good quality. He has a notorious temper as a youngster, and it might take him longer than most to get good control of it.
As he gets older, Bhel would likely settle down somewhat, though he would probably always remain somewhat rough around the edges and difficult to approach. With any luck, though, he would put his strength towards constructive goals, and come to terms with living among humans.
Appearance:Bhel looks like a more human version of a minotaur - he is bull from the waist down, and sports a pair of wide horns on his head, but his head and shoulders are human rather than beast. His skin is tanned-dark, and his fur and hair are cream-colored. Bhel's hooves and horns are shiny black, and the skin of his hands up to about halfway to his elbows is darker, too. On his forehead is an inverted white triangle. He has a very sturdy and muscular build, particularly in his neck and shoulders to support his broad horns. His hooves are plenty large enough to support his weight, but still offer little traction on slick ground.
For clothes, I wanted to put him in something similar to what Minoan men wore - that is a fitted skirt that goes to about mid-thigh, made of colorful patterned cloth. Works with his mythos, and is probably more comfortable than pants what with that tail
xd ;
If I have to pick 3 things...
1. big black aurochs horns
2. bull-like from the waist down
3. white or cream-colored fur and hair
Since no more Gen 1 Fa'e will be given out, though, I really do not have too much control over what Bhel will look like, at least at first; he will resemble his parents at birth if he is lucky enough to be a Gen 2 Fa'e. But he would not be Bhel without the half-bull body and horns :< I wonder what sorts of markings he could end up with. I always kind of planned on him being rather plain in colors, markings and details, because I want to see how those things will settle out if he ever becomes real.
Powers:Bhel is a meathead at heart, and so would initially have little interest in any sort of powers beyond his impressive physical strength. As he finds out about his origins, though, he would gain more of an interest in his more mystical abilities. Since the earliest aurochs were deities of celestial things such as the sun, moon, and weather, Bhel would have a knack at predicting the weather accurately. Earlier on, this would likely just be a vague idea of weather patterns for the next few days, but with practice, Bhel could refine this down to predicting how long it will take a storm to approach down to the minute.
As he matures, Bhel would eventually gain the ability to even control the weather to some extent. He would never be powerful enough to create a storm from nothing, or make an entire hurricane disappear, but he could certainly learn to bend weather patterns around himself. In this way, he would be able to steer storms closer or farther away, but not alter a storm's size or severity.
How do the powers and your character relate back to your mythos?I am hoping it is alright that I based Bhel the way I did, across several myths and some true history, too. I wanted to unify several bull-centered myths through the species itself, the aurochs.
Bhel's powers come from the general ideas of the earliest roles of the aurochs as gods - namely, power over weather and immense strength. The former comes from a combination of Hurrian and Babylonian mythology; the Hurrian storm god Teshub's chariot was always drawn by Seris and Huris, a pair of great bulls, while the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh in particular depicts a great Bull of Heaven who caused drought where ever he went. The impressive physical strength comes from numerous other sources, including speculations on cave drawings which included aurochs. Paintings of the great beasts also appear on the walls of Catal Huyok, which is thought to be the earliest human city. Finally, the Minoans of Crete were known for their practice (sport?) of leaping onto the backs of charging bulls; this is sometimes thought to be a coming-of-age sort of ceremony as well.
Bhel himself is more aligned with the aurochs animal. Since his species went extinct primarily as a result of overhunting by humans, he bears a large grudge against mankind that would drive his personality for much of at least the beginning of his life. Also as a result of extinction in his past life, Bhel is deeply insecure with his existance, and sometimes feels that he susceptable to vanishing into oblivion at any moment.
I figure that the primary conflict in his life if he is reborn would revolve around whether or not he can accept living among humans again. I want to see if and how Bhel would come to terms with that, and how interacting with the other Fa'e would change him in that choice, for better or for worse.
NPC'sSome people and creatures whom I know will be important to Bhel during his life. I will keep this list short to avoid looking like I'm snapping up a ton of things, but these are characters I'm certain I will need for Bhel's story.
Mithra, particularly for his symbolsim concerning the
tauroctony.
Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras: a really interesting site that helps further explain from the religious standpoint why Mithra is important to Bhel.
Anu/a**s, the god who, in Babylonian mythology, created the Bull of Heaven, and in Hurrian mythology was the father of Teshub.
Teshub, the Hittites' and Hurrians' storm god.
Seris and Huris, the two bulls who drew Teshub the storm god's chariot in Hittite and Hurrian mythology.
Subject to change, but only slightly, on the off-chance I get more ideas.
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