Liēt and Jammah'a: Difference between revisions

<b><i>Liēt and Jammah'a</i></b> is a romantic epic poem first popularized among sailors in the [[Skaugan Main]] during the [[First Century Valanthe II Naïlo|First Century Valanthe]]. The poem, part of a larger oral tradition of Skaugan mariners, recounts the romance between [[Liēt II The Opalescent]] ("Liēt Opal-Eyed"), Imperial Princess of Doloriane, and Jammah'a, a [[djinn]] slave held in magical thrall by Liēt's mother, [[Liēt I The Serene]] ("The Implacable Queen"). The lovers conspire to free Jammah'a from his enchanted bonds and flee to his ancestral Cloud-Manse in the [[Elemental Plane of Air]], but their romance is revealed, scandalizing the elven court and leading to a series of reprisal killings. At the poem's conclusion, Liēt, rather than be forced by her mother into lifelong celibacy as a nun of the [[Abbey of Doloriane]], hurls herself from a rocky crag into the arms of "her lover, the air."

Although the court setting and personages are based on historical figures from the [[Liētine Epoch]], the poem is a romantic pastiche of Elven court life and only loosely reflects the actual politics and practices of the time. The sudden death of Liēt III in 481 L.II, purportedly due to sudden illness, created a succession crisis in the Liētine Court, giving rise to many folk legends, but no evidence of the alleged affair, or even a Djinn servant in the Liētine Court, exists in the historical literature.

<i>Liēt and Jammah'a</i> faded into obscurity in the later years of the Second Valanthian Epoch until it was encountered by the bard [[Ka-Ess Lizardkin]] sometime in the early [[third century Valanthe II]]. His version of the tale, published in his posthumous<i>[[Tales of Ka-Ess]]</i>, is the first known written version of the poem. Ka-Ess is credited with adding the now-standard frame story, in which an Eagle-Prince, disgusted by the "savage spears and arrows of Man," observes the courtship of the two lovers and comes to respect the nobility of the maiden, who "lack'd wings yet she gave herself to the sky." Notably, Ka-Ess' version of the work retains the ambiguity of the conclusion, and whether Liēt is carried away into the clouds or plummets to her death in the waves remains unresolved.