The proliferation of sorcery in Averoigne, AD 1175-1395

The main tales in Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne cycle which deal with major sorcery are three: Holiness of Azédarac (supplemented with Doom), The Colossus of Ylourgne, and The Beast of Averoigne. I charted them out last week and found something of interest to future authors.

Beast reveals that time-traveling Azédarac, Bishop of Ximes in AD 1175 and sainted (in one timeline) as of 1230, had left a society of sorcery behind him. These sorcerers, of whom Luc called "Cauldron-Maker" is he whom we meet in Beast, weren't in league with Yog-Sothoth. They were, instead, able to resist the worst of the Lovecraftian aliens.

Meanwhile Colossus had let us in that Vyônes, too, hosted a circle of sorcerers in the thirteenth century. In AD 1275 a dwarf Nathaire infiltrated this circle; it was claimed that he came from outside Averoigne. Nathaire, obsessive, cared only for necro and I assume he didn't bother with other arcana.

We are not told that the one city had any relation with the other. But I can guess, and in this chart my thoughts are represented by the dotted-line.

The Archbishop in Vyônes already suspected (Holiness) that his man in Ximes was not a holy man. When word got out concerning Azédarac's miraculous ascension, his library got raided. I do not speculate on who burgled the place first: the Church, or Azédarac's apprentices. Either way, most of his tomes were saved... and kept from the rabble. The Averoignard Church hit upon a compromise: beatify Azédarac in public; tolerate sorcery in private, if it be used for the good of the province. Ximes further got a Benedictine convent featuring a grand wooden icon of Our Lady. (My "Cult", like CAS's Holiness, is unaware of this convent.)

That meant that Vyônes could not well resist when white-magi established a cabal over there too. Gaspard "of the North" translated parts of the Book Of Eibon (The Coming of the White Worm); either the ninth chapter therefrom, or the ninth pericope he had deemed of interest. I assume these pericopae had been dictated by the Oracle Of Sadoqua. Other Hyperborean tales in CAS's oeuvre may well derive from Gaspard's translation.

After the Colossus had been and gone, if the Bishop of Vyônes hadn't yet secured some of these fell texts for his collection, his minions assuredly had got some after they had conducted their own raid on the Ylourgne ruin. There was a need to cleanse the Champ de Nathaire (hat-tip here to James Chambers, "Unhallowed Ground, Unholy Flesh") outside the cathedral city, or at least to keep its necrosis from spreading.

UPDATE 11/11: Istarelle - if you think "Sorceress" belongs in the canon - had nothing to do with Nathaire's circle. If, further, you agree she was at the height of her power in 1315 AD then she was an infant in 1275.

Near-complete review of The Averoigne Legacy: B+

I have read or almost-read most of the stories in The Averoigne Legacy. I reviewed them over at Ace's. Here's the first bunch and here's the rest.

I didn't review the poems - only Stillman's rises above the high-school level. For the stories, I reviewed twenty out of the twenty-two; skipping "Cult" which was mine and "Clotaire" which I didn't finish.

I graded them by the American system of FDCBA. By a grade-point system, that's 0-4. I'm counting my one "A-" as a "B" for the purpose of a grade-point average (GPA). My total was 66 64; so the collection's GPA is 3.2. Again: not counting "Cult" or "Clotaire".

I punished otherwise-competent authors for ignoring Klarkash-Ton's canon. The main offender here was Simon Whitechapel, who did it twice: first by relating of phantom city Touraine, second by summoning up a bridge to nowhere (tho' I may have rescued the latter). Third time lucky though, with "Quarry". I further had an editorial problem with the end of "Cats", which I hope can be fixed in future editions.

Of the three duds I counted, I observe that two of them were among the first-written: Hilger's "Oracle" and McNaughton's "Return". It is difficult to see what an editor can do with either, the one being abandoned by CAS himself (although Hilger did resurrect "Doom" successfully) and the other coming from an author now deceased. Contrast the poetry! Grace Stillman's 1934 "The Woods of Averoigne" is the only one free of false rhyme and forced metre.

As markers in the history of Averoigne derivative fiction, the editor has that case for including the two misfires. Here I point over to Nightshade Press, which included several tales from Smith himself that not everyone likes: among them, "Ubbo-Sathla", and the famously-misplaced "Voyage of King Euvoran". For Averoigne, anyway, the Nightshade editors found their way to salvage "Disinterment of Venus" and "Beast of Averoigne". Our editor agrees with Nightshade's decision: The Averoigne Archives (Pickmans) reconstructs "Beast" similarly and independently.

On a happier note I count that over half the stories - twelve eleven out of twenty-two, since for this denominator we may bring the exclusions - are excellent. The five I ranked "B" only barely missed my standard, which I like to think is a high one. I would like to read more from all of the associated authors.

As an almost comprehensive selection of the genre, I propose that The Averoigne Legacy succeeds.

UPDATE 3:30 PM MST: I've rung the alarm-bell on "The Fell Fête". I still don't count it a "dud" since some editing can fix this.

Melkor's lies

Recent news is that HBO just sank 30 million quid... into the Bermuda Triangle, with its ASOIAF prequel.

I'd make that #joke about going #woke and getting #broke, but you've heard it already and from funnier bloggers. I am here to talk about how to respect a canon. It might surprise those who know my name Better For Other Work; but in art, I do not rule out diversity for its own sake.

If, in the Westeros timeline, you want a story with non-Europeans (non-Westerosis) for the focus: your best bet is the Valyrian / Targaryen conquest. (Or you could just run a story wholly in Essos. But #wokesters don't consider that.) The Conquest - It Is Known - maps to the Norman conquest; an invasion by a foreign elite with no care for the Westerosi way of warfare. As The Bastard was pleased to take over Britain with whatever he could dredge from Europe's third sons; so the Targaryens - who had an air-force you know - would have merrily taken whatever they could find from wherever they could find them.

I could also consider recent plans to do a Middle Earth Second Age story. Yeah, Lord of the Rings was white against the rest. I am less assured of the age before that, when Ar-Pharazôn faced Sauron. What would the Haradrim - the Arabs - make of two Fir'awnûn locked in battle against one another? Seems to me like it would look, to Harad, like Justinian I against Khusru I. (Tho' probably not Heraclius against Khusru II.) A Haradi shaykh assuredly got himself a Ring. But under which banner was he fighting?

... nah, we're getting lesbian PoC against some wicked homophobe under a swastika banner.

#woke doesn't care about canon. It doesn't, in truth, care about diversity. It doesn't care about the good, in general. #woke is Melkor, the enemy to light.

The cutting room

Kronk’s record for the 776 AD comet runs as follows:

776. The Chinese text Ku chin t’u shu chi ch’eng (1726) is the sole source of information for this comet. It says a comet appeared at Hu-Kua [α, β, γ, and δ Delphini] on 776 January 11. The date and location indicate it was in the morning sky, implying a UT of January 10.9. The Chinese added that the comet “trespassed” Huan-Chê [60, SAO 102553, and SAO 102564 in Herculis, and 37 Ophiuchi], but remained visible for only 20 days.
FULL MOON: January 10
SOURCES: Ku chin t’u shu chi ch’eng (1726), p. 92; I. Hasegawa, “Catalogue of Ancient and Naked-Eye Objects”, Vistas in Astronomy 24 (1980), 59-102; 73, 92 #437*.

Hasegawa had translated the source:

On a i-hai day in the 12th month of the tenth year of the Ta-Li reign-period a comet appeared at Hu Kua (α, β, ν Del). It was several feet in length, after 20 days it disappeared. It trespassed Huan-che (near α Her).

"i-hai" is in the Shang-era sexagesimal numeric system; the yi-hai number from the new moon is indeed 12. This date is off only by one or two days to the “white vapor” noted in more-contemporary Chinese sources for 12 January that year.

Also to be noted, is a record for 767 AD. I'll follow its quote to John Williams. I'll correct it slightly.

A.D. 767. January 12. In the reign of Tae Tsung, the 1st year of the epoch Ta Leih, the 12th moon, day Ke Hae, there was a comet in Kwa Chaou. It was about a cubit in length. After 20 days it disappeared. It passed over Hwan Chay.
Emperor Tae Tsung [18 May 762 – 23 May 779]; epoch Ta Li, 766-79; ... 12th moon, day Ke Hae, January 12, 767.
Kwa Chaou, α, β, γ, &c. Delphini.
Hwan Chay, ε, ι, &c. Ophiuchi.

Shiji continuatus; Mă Duānlín's encyclopaedia Wénxiàn Tōngkǎo

"Ke Hae" would in modern Mandarin be ji-hai which is 36. A bit much for a month, but...

I had, last week, already decided that the 776 CE record in Ku chin t’u shu chi ch’eng is an eighteenth-century interpretation of its own sources, allied to those which record the “white vapor”. Recently I found J. Chapman, D.L. Neuhauser, R. Neuhauser, M. Csikszentmihalyi, “A review of East Asian reports of aurorae and comets circa AD 775” / “Chinese aurorae in the AD 770s”, Astron. Nachr. 336.6 (2015), 530-44; 540-2 #5.2.

It may be that the Ku chin - ah hell, the Gujin tushu jicheng - recorded a comet immediately preceding the vapor which the earlier sources describe. More likely, the phenomena are the same, in which case the modern scholar should prefer those sources closer to the event. Such a reader would interpret the Gujin record of that 776 event as misinterpretation.

But I figured that Chapman has already did the work for us. I am personally incompetent in Tang-era Chinese, and in Qin-era for that matter. If someone else wants to figure out how Williams calculated his date for 767, and what the Gujin was on about for 776; be my guest.

The latest navel-gaze

Scott Alexander has made an argument that the "secular web" started out from liberals. He then explains the #awokening of the second Obama Administration, 2013-15.

I attended the secular humanist events in the late 1990s. It was liberal-driven even then - but not yet #woke. The rank and file, where I was at, were young metalheads and autists. We thought there was, in humanism, a positive drive (because not negative like pure atheism) toward better wisdom. I personally hoped that, in this community, the Burkean Right had a chance to win.

The Burkean Right didn't win. Atheism+Plus excommunicated the whole Secular Right. In 2008 PZ Myers followed Atheism+; and in 2009 Charles Foster Johnson followed Myers. I have to confess that the Ex Muslims of Britain are Atheist+Plus as well; I fled them before I could get banned.

Meanwhile the fundamentalists were losing their power over the Right. They had a lot of clout... up to the Dover decision Pennsylvania 2005. Evangelicals still exist but they're now fighting on the cultural side, not anymore on the scientific and educational side. I would even go so far as that the Evangelicals and their Right allies don't argue from the Bible anymore (at least not as an authoritative text) - they have figured out that this tactic doesn't work.

I note that the Atheists+ have observed the Right remnant about accurately. The Right don't dispute the Left on religious grounds anymore. They - I should now and in this context say, we - dispute them on their own ground, these days. (Sometimes with unintended humour. As with the bleats about "Darwin!", and "Wilson!!", and "Sanger!!1"; all summed up, "hoo r reel raysiss then, huh!?". I personally avoid this.)

And yes, that the Right is challenging the Left from secular principle is the problem, and this is why the Current Year #wokening hates the Right so much more than the old secular liberals did. The Left thought they could convince us if they only talked us out of the Bible. So the Right set the Book aside (this much was easy for me)... and we still aren't buying what the Left were selling.

As for what Atheism-Minus can do next, I can recommend also the Prussian's comment. At least, to get his take on it. He observes that if "Atheism+Plus" truly cared about social justice, they'd oppose Islam more than they oppose (rump) Christianity. He predicts that social-justice and Islam will both lose the coming holy-war, formally allied or separate. The Prussian argues that Atheism-Minus should jump Right and convince us reactionaries toward classical liberalism, before we all go Freikorps. He wants more people like 1999-me in the Right.

The LeBaron story is yet untold

On the Right I have noted some dudgeon about steaming, smelly hot-takes dumped by various media concerning the LeBaron massacre. Drive-by media indeed. But although most our media's takes have been misdirected and stupid, the Right outlets' Pouncing and Seizing on these takes are no improvement. They're just feeding the troll.

Fortunately not all our media have been this irresponsible. One standout here (h/t Taqiyyologist) is my own dear Houston Chronicle. (Who knew?)

The LeBarons are infamous. They feature in at least one chapter in Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. They're a splinter group from post-LDS "fundamentalism" that, themselves, went on to compose new Scriptures. And they got into fratricide. I myself had first suspected the latest massacre to be, likewise, fratricidal; but I didn't post that theory here.

I was right to hold my fire: the Mexican authorities don't suspect fratricide, so the LeBaron Way is ruled out as a motive. And although some (better) LeBarons have gotten into Mexican politics, and died for their activism, it doesn't seem to be a crooked cop or army-division that did this, either. Some criminal gang did this hit.

So: cartel? maybe, but maybe not drugs. There are child- and sex-trafficking problems unfolding between Utah and Arizona; officials are implicated, and LDS bishops. Among the LeBarons, the (nonLDS) cult NXIVM has been implicated. As the Catholics have taught us, when you let in one pack of perverts, the other perverts see their opening and eventually it's full paedo. It doesn't matter what the authorities want; the lower decks are infested, and need purge.

Back to the media: another angle I could see being taken is a story on Sonora - and its descent to anarchy, being one of the farthest-flung states in Mexico. Bantjes' As If Jesus Walked On Earth might be a place to start. Here's a review.

So this is why I delayed on this story: we haven't sufficient facts. But hopefully we can sketch out paths toward the facts.

Are the LeBarons Americans?

I typically don't entertain the "but they're Ameeericans" argument, arguing how we must Do Something whenever some compatriot meets up with Darwin. I argued as much as long ago as 2001: when you disown the Constitution, the Constitution should disown you. Since we have just passed the decade anniversary of Fort Hood, the Awlakis - here - were a Righteous Kill. Obama sometimes did do the right thing.

The whole LDS clade was deemed non-American the moment they fled the United States into Indian Territory. American government over this region started out as an occupying force. The Union classed it all as Territorial, and they retained a Territorial government until the near end of the nineteenth century - when the LDS mainline finally bent the knee. The LDS splinter-groups became, thereby, the white equivalent to rebel Native tribes off the reservation. So the LeBarons are not American, unless and until they formally apply to be.

A white nationalist might make a case for the LeBarons' Americanism; but if that's your definition of American, it's not (say) Ace's definition.

As for the birthright citizenship game, which the LeBarons play across the border, I hope no Americans of whatever definition are still falling for that, just coz the LeBarons be honkies.

BACKDATING 11/8