AAR: Multi-Player After Action Report (Now Discussing Turns up to 13-16)

[Excist]

Ah, yes, I double checked my source and it is indeed 10% patrol and not siege.

[jotwebe]

From the notes of George Gammell Angell, Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

Fragmet II.a:

The Aboleth: Etymology and Legends

The name aboleth derives from the Sumerian abzu-lesh. Abzu (or Apsu in the closely related Akkadian) literally meant “ocean” (ab), and “to know” or “deep” (zu). It was also the word for “swamp” as well pools devoted to certain religious ceremonies. The word has survived into the English language, albeit in changed form. We speak of Abzu when we say “Abyss”. The meaning of lesh simply is “master”, or more literally: “he-who-enslaves”, in opposition to “the lord” nin.

There is some controversy on the provenance of the name giboleth - Dr. H. Barrington (Barrington, 1885) claims it derives from gaba-leth, meaning “the rival master”, indicating the giboleth's potential to enter the aboleths' exclusive society. This is strongly contested by Dr. L. Shrewsbury (Shrewsbury, 1913), among others. Dr. Shrewsbury instead champions the origin gi-bu-lesh, where gi-bu is literally “answer” + “to tear out”, or more freely “one who is made to answer/obey”.

Similarly, Dr. Shrewsbury favors to trace the last syllable “dai” of the gibodai to da-ri, meaning “eternal” or “enduring”, which is more convincing than Barrington's explanation of gaba-da -- “the rival who is protected/may not be harmed”. For while it is true that the gibodai occupies a priviledged place in aboleth society, its position is also fixed, which renders the applicability of the term “rival” questionable.

However, the derivation of dai from da, in the meaning of “one who is protected” is promising. Recently there has been some support (G. G. Angell, 1926) for the gish-ùl-lesh/gish-ùl-da theory, where gish is translated as “submitting” and ùl is the leash. The giboleth would be “the master who has submitted (and is leashed)” while the giboleth would be “the protected one who has submitted”.

While the term is Sumerian, we have very few direct references in Sumerian myth, although there are certain passages in the pre-Noachian flood myths that hint of things that the knowledgable might identify with aboleths.

There is the monstrous fish K'un in the Daoist classic Zhuangzi (“In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un.”). In the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan the Black Tortoise of the North Xuán Wu is described decidedly fishlike, and the serpents that traditionally encoil it could very well be a misunderstanding of an aboleth's tentacles.

There is the figure of the talking fish appearing in several fairy tales of the Atlantic and Baltic coasts that fulfils increasingly grandiose wishes, only to finally take them all back. In the anonymous work “Unaussprechlichen Kulten” there is mention of certain blasphemous rituals practised in isolated coastal communities in which some fish-like creature is placated and beseeched for supernatural assistance.

Fragment ends here

[Immaculate]

very interesting stuff

[Roland Jones]

I've decided that, win or lose, my goal for this game is to take over the entire hall of fame. Before the game is over I will at one point have it covered with fifteen Helheim flags, or die (or maybe ascend) trying. There will be nothing but silly names up there. I've already got one-fifth of it (technically more but one of my thugs up there is on the way out, having died ingloriously).

Also, did Caelum get his last turn in? When I last checked it was pretty late and he wasn't in yet, but there were a few hours left still and I fell asleep before I saw if he submitted or missed it.

[Shardphoenix]

I've decided that, win or lose, my goal for this game is to take over the entire hall of fame

Caelum is in game, ergo, you will fail. There is just no way to compete with shockwave-spamming lightning-immune thugs in XP generation.

[Immaculate]

for those of you curious as to where we are vis-a-vis starting the write-ups, we are now at turn 16. In four turns you can expect some exciting AAR goodies.

[Shangrila00]

Originally Posted by jotwebe

From the notes of George Gammell Angell, Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

So, just wondering, how much of that was bull****? It certainly sounds sufficiently pseudo-scholarly, so kudos for that.

[jotwebe]

Well, if you google the name George Gammell Angell, it'll direct you to Lovecraft sites right quick. Similarly to most of the sources he's using.

The Sumerian was mostly me looking through online dictionaries for words that might sort of make sense. "Lesh" is made up from whole cloth, although it could be a Sumerian word. "Leth" couldn't, since there was no t-aitch in Sumerian. According to the wikipedia article anyway, which is the depth of my knowledge there.

Also note that "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" is book in the Lovecraft mythos and supposed to mean "nameless cults", but it doesn't. To be correct german, it would have to be either "Von unaussprechlichen Kulten" or "Unaussprechliche Kulte", and that would mean "unpronouncable" (literally) or "unspeakable" kults. Nameless cults would be "namelose Kulte".

I decided to keep the Lovecraftian version since Prof. G.G. Angell might be a hotshot Sumerologist, but not necessarily so great with German. Plus those are only his notes. He would have checked it before publishing, I'm sure.

[Excist]

I have a business meeting tomorrow night, and I just realized that I'm not sure when I'll get back tomorrow night. Can we have a 24 hour delay please?

[Immaculate]

Done. Good luck with your "business" meeting.