Patterns Discerned

The Book of Ebon Bindings is one of the "crown jewels" of published materials for the Tékumel setting. Sadly, the latest edition came out in 1991, nearly 30 years ago. Those of you lucky enough to have a copy of this unique demonology (there were apparently about 1000 produced, in four editions, between 1978 and 1991) will surely have pondered the 54 elaborate name-glyphs for the demons described therein (one demon lacks a name-glyph).

Many of these demons are of the "substance" or the "essence" of the twenty Pavárian deities of Tékumel, and we are assured repeatedly in the text that these glyphs identify the deities to which these demons are affiliated. The glyphs likely also identify other characteristics of these entities as well, although this is less explicit. In any case, the demon name-glyphs are not just artistic squiggles (although they are certainly artistic), they are artful as well: there is supposedly pattern and meaning to be found in them. Most especially, the glyphs contain elements that reference specific deities.

We know this to be true, in part because an analysis of these glyphs, undertaken many years ago (likely in the early 1990s) masterfully identified the motifs associated with each deity, traced their occurrences in the glyphs, and interpreted their meaning.

I first encountered this analysis rather fortuitously, on the internet in the middle or late 1990s. I have it mind that I found it on a Princeton University FTP site, but I could be wrong about the host. It was a long time ago, and unfortunately, I no longer have a copy (or if I do, it is on an old 3.5" floppy I can no longer read).  The analysis itself consisted simply of a series of scans of pencil sketches that broke down each glyph into its component parts, and named each element. it is possible there was more to the analysis than this, but the sketches were all I ever saw. Nevertheless, although rough and sketchy, the piece was breathtaking and clearly true to Tékumel, and for a long time, I assumed the sketches were by Professor Barker himself.

In later years, after the FTP site vanished, I made occasional enquiries on the Tékumel Yahoo group and eventually learned that this analysis was entitled the Patterns of Hidden Discernment, and that it was was done by Jamie Thomson. So it was not the Professor's work after all, but a fan piece. But such a brilliant fan piece! And one that apparently impressed the Professor greatly. Bob Alberti (whose webserver may have been where I discovered it) recalled that it "was a phenomenal piece of work. I don't think I've ever seen Professor Barker so impressed."

At the time, I was hoping to see the Patterns of Hidden Discernment republished, and I don't believe I was alone in that. I still hope to see that happen. But the last chatter around this was almost a decade ago, and I am not optimistic that the original Patterns will be available anytime soon. Tékumel publishing/republishing is often like that.

So pending the eventual (and sadly, unlikely) re-release of that brilliant analysis, I propose to undertake the same exercise here in this blog, from scratch. Starting all over again and re-inventing Jamie Thomson's wheel: a brand new effort to discern those hidden patterns. I do recall a couple of the details from the original. Not very many (naturally I will cite them when I do) and my discernment will surely not match the original, but it's better than nothing.

So what I propose to do, is group the demons according to the major Deities to which they are affiliated by essence/substance, where known (not initially distinguishing substance/essence, or deity/cohort) and look for shared elements in the name-glyphs that may be symbolic of particular deities. I think that is roughly what Jamie Thomson did, and I will say again that my effort to repeat his work will probably suck in comparison.

Of the 54 name-glyphs, 6 are of demons that appear to be affiliated with Dlamélish/Hriháyal, 13 are affiliated with Sárku/Durritlámish, 12 with Hrü'ü/Wúru, 12 with Ksárul/Grugánu, and 8 with Vimúhla/Chiténg. Bear in mind that some of these demons are of the essence of one Deity and the substance of another, so some of these name-glyphs will be examined twice. Once that is done, we can have a look at the remaining 16 demons whose substance and essence are unknown, and see if we can make any sense of those guys.

Ready? Alright then, fangen wir an and vamos a ver, next post we'll begin with Dlamélish/Hriháyal. Relatively few demons, few glyphs, some readily-apparent patterning (but not too much), and a good place to ease into this exercise.