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RUN PG 5 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-07 21:00:04
Edited:
2025-03-19 23:26:25
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Next page will be out on Monday!

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Comments

Dhaka Yeena

Swift!!! Always a join to see her

BiasMushroom721

Uh oh. Boi better run faster this time. Wolves got him last time... (I forgot again. Is this a flashback?

Pantera

Swift attacked swiftly.

Pantera

It's a prequel short story to volume 1.

treefiddy

So how does the Grey Mother know to associate the word 'metal' with those weird sharp pointy things? I think it's well established that the herd has had a bad interaction with group(s) that wield metal weapons at some point. But knowing that word says to me they know more than just 'that weird sharp & shiny stick is good at cutting & killing'. It suggests that they've had at least one conversational interaction with a group that knows what it is, and (possibly) how its made. After all, all the characters who've seen it without knowing what it is (Yarrow, Swift, Gristle, and the Pups), all reference it as a weird flat and shiny stick and not as a metal stick. Or is this just something that is being translated for the sake of brevity, and so the reader understands whats being referenced without being too verbose?

Torakhan

I think Teagan has mentioned that there are other places in the world that are more "civilized", more "advanced" with similar "understandings" between predator and prey species, where metal forging is common. Now, they haven't gone into detail of just HOW advanced they are, but it's possible that Gray Mother has some knowledge others don't and that's why she's where she is.

Liyoht

foolish wolf why did you go for the arm...all you had to do was delay and howl for more wolves.

Microgrampup

Try to take out as many limbs before she gets the pack, so then either one of their legs aren’t working well or they get ill from blood loss to make the hunt easier when the pack arrives.

Microgrampup

The Zenith already know about this technology and implied that it’s “spreading”.

treefiddy

I'm not talking about whether they are aware of its existance or not. That part has been well established already. I'm asking how do they know to call it metal, and not just a shiny pointy stick. Knowing to call it 'metal' implies they have a much more intimate knowledge of the material itself. Much more than what can be learned from just seeing it used. The eplilogue only reveals that they know what it looks like, what it's been used for, and that they are trying to escape it. Not that they actually know the word metal. The other explanation is that it's just an artifact of translation into English, and they don't actually have that knowledge.

Teagan Gavet

Language is a really interesting way to look into culture. Descriptors work for things until one day, they become common or important enough that a new word comes out of it. (An example is the old Norse word for bear derived from the descriptor “the brown one” from the original Proto-Germanic.) I try hard not to be anachronistic and only use vocabulary when it makes sense animals would have a word for it. Oren calls it ‘metal’ on page 118 so it’s in his lexicon. I think when you’ve created a thing you need a name for it. I like language that flags a level of understanding. Oren and others familiar with it call it metal, but to Rask and Swift, it’s alien/completely new and they originally call it by a descriptor (a tooth, weird pointy stick, etc.) I don’t think it’s a spoiler necessarily, though it will come up more in Volume Three— but in the south, where Oren learned to smelt copper, the Conclave is more advanced in terms of metallurgy (and probably some other elements of a more ‘settled’ and less nomadic culture, like pottery.) It’s quite possible they are not the ones who developed smelting. They likely traded the knowledge from further south. Whole nations could be rising and falling thousands of miles away in the analogous Central and South America and, just like the Picts barely had any concept of Rome despite being the tip of the trade network, Oren and the Hollow are largely unaware of a larger world around them. The bison, however, migrate hundreds of miles in a nomadic life, covering the length and breath of the grassland. Conceivably, they have seen more and… yeah. That’s all you get for now! ;]

treefiddy

I love this response because it both answers my question and doesn't at the same time :) What i'm understanding, is that the Grey Mother using the word is just sort of a translation from whatever the bison language/dialect is into english for the reader, BUT it doesn't necessarily preclude any additional knowledge about the material itself. Even the word metal itself in english is just derived from the latin word metallum. Which itself is derived from the ancient greek word, metallon "what is got by mining". Which is a derivation from the word metalleuein which is roughly translated to 'to quarry'. Perhaps in the languages of this world, the word for metal in each dialect comes from a completely different background. Where some dialects like Orens, the words might be similar to positive words like to save or to protect, where in the Bison dialect it would come from words that are negative like to cut or kill.

Teagan Gavet

Yeah, I'm good at those 'non-answer answers'. ;] I think it's safe to say that "metal" is word for the thing itself, lacking entomology for these particular animals. It's akin to a "foreign" loanword that has moved between groups and different dialects (like gairaigo in Japanese.) I definitely think there are different cultural associations with it and you're right to think Oren has positive association and the bison a negative one. However, all that said, animal language in this story is pretty squishy for the sake of the narrative. I don't mind stories about learning languages as an avenue into understanding a culture but I just... wanted to skip that in Oren's Forge and move onto parts I thought less explored. (I will add though, since I haven't seen anyone comment on it, Rask's use of the word 'weapon' is the first time it's showed up in the story, suggesting he coined a word for how he felt he was being used in context.)

Krzysztof K

Regarding the language issue. It seems that if bison and wolves can communicate with each other, it means that wolves understand the language of herbivores and vice versa. Unless bison and wolves from the zenith have created their own language. Who knows, maybe wolves from the zenith will understand animals from the Hollowl

treefiddy

Teagan has mentioned this in the past, but all characters can at least communicate if they try to. She intentionally keeps the language thing a little muddy, since it becomes too easy to get caught up in the details where the entire story becomes characters trying to learn each others language. The way she described it in the past is that all of the animals have a root language that is somewhat universal (at least on the continental scale), but may have some species based dialects that may need to be slightly parsed. The greater theme I've gathered is that the willingness to listen is what causes barriers, rather than the language itself.