Chonyos

In the religious tradition of the Eleven Cities, Chonyos is the mythical founder of the city of Chogyos.

Narrative

Chonyos's mother was Thamyan, a priestess of Hayan who kept holy fires burning at a sacred sanctuary of the goddess on the island of Ormkalos in the Sea of Jars. A beautiful woman - Chogyan songwriters have long made a great deal of her long dark hair - Thamyan attracted the attention of Zargyod, who desired her and demanded she leave the service of the sanctuary to be his wife. Accounts differ over how difficult this choice was, but she eventually chose to be honoured by the god of luck rather than to serve the goddess of kindness and acquiesced to his demand. There is also a range of opinions about the length of the resulting liaison, but all agree the central noteworthy result thereof was Chonyos.
Early versions of the myth contain little to no information about Chonyos's childhood. Later versions, however, describe him distinguishing himself as a young man by ridding Ormkalos of a plague of sea-snakes. These stories are mostly rare examples of post-Wesmodian additions to the mythical tradition surrounding the gods.
Chonyos left his mother to seek his fortune on the open seas. The winds blew him to the mouth of the Chondolos River, which he found had been poisoned by an evil serpent whose skin was impervious to blades. He took the serpent on at the mouth of the river and throttled it using the rigging from his ship. He then pulled out the monster's fangs and used the blood from the resulting injuries to scour the river free of poison. The farmers along the banks of the river were immensely grateful to Chonyos for cleansing the river in this way and thus competed over who would be able to marry their daughter to him. Chonyos, endeavouring to avoid arguments, proposed that he could marry all the girls in succession. The results of these unions were the first citizens of the city of Chogyos.

Literary/artistic tradition

The story of Chonyos's conception and birth is recounted in the full copy of The Book of Favour held at the Chogyos Customhouse. This prose is commonly reproduced in abbreviated versions of the book found in other libraries and cities. This version of the story makes a lot of Thamyan's beautiful hair, but makes no specific reference to her after Chonyos is born. There is also no specific reference to the plague of sea-snakes, though interestingly this part of the story is told in some of the later versions of the book.
The story of Chonyos is a stock plot for musical composers in Chogyos and, to a lesser extent, the other cities of the former Chogyan Hegemony. These compositions - usually but not exclusively instrumental - date back at least into the early third century BWR (fairly early in the organised worship of Zargyod) and continue in Chogyos to this day, although the collapse of the Chogyan Hegemony put a fairly abrupt stop to them elsewhere. These songs and pieces remain popular in the Chogyos Customhouse, however, and are increasingly used as part of the entertainment in customhouses of other cities. The interestingly tend to focus on the distaff elements of the story. Various compositions dwell on the beauty and nobility of Thamyan, while others use musical motifs and themes to evoke the charms and personalities of Chonyos's various wives.

Commentary

The tale about the plague of sea-snakes is clearly a late addition to the myth, but exactly how late is open to debate. Most of the versions of the myth that include it are instrumental compositions which tell the story via a series of impressionistic musical passages of greater or lesser length and emphasis, and it is difficult to definitively say which sequence of notes refers to this episode of the myth. It will be observed that the snake is a noted symbol of the goddess Ynglyas, the cousin of Chonyos's father. Why he would be ridding an island of them is an interesting question.