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The Korvaid

(An Epic Tale of the Fall of Man.)

License

The Korvaid by Benjamin A. Shelton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.zancarius.com/writings/the-korvaid/permissions/.

In English: You may share this work with others freely, but you may not produce derivative works nor distribute this work commercially.

Preamble

The Korvaid is an unfinished work I first started writing in 2004. Inspired by Grecian literature, I first conceived the notion of writing an emulation of Greek lore (particularly the Fagles’ translations) after having attended a couple of university courses taught by John Hailey (the photos on the right are randomly generated; I couldn’t find his faculty page). I expect to complete The Korvaid at some future date when the inspiration strikes me again. For now, feel free to read the text on the following pages. Where possible, I have made minor corrections that deviate from the original in addition to clarifications and changes to the format. The original works attempted to implement line numbering similar to the structure one might expect of an epic poem, but the constraints presented by using larger fonts within a two-column page structure worked poorly in conveying the idea that the poem was translated from another source. Here, I have attempted to apply a single-column layout (minus line numbering for now) to better present what I feel is an outstanding work of art. I hope you will appreciate this first installment as if it were unearthed from antiquity.

If you’re interested in this work, find it sufficiently interesting, and would like me to finish it, please attach a comment!

General Overview

Korvas, hero of The Korvaid, is the immortal son of the goddess Thalia and his mortal father Pleonus (you will see a similarity with this name in later works of mine). During the first act of the poem, Korvas is seen leading his army away from a massive battle. Little is made known during the introductory passages of the poem, but it is quite clear that Korvas and his men are in distress. Upon reaching the city of Sar, Korvas is criticized for his actions by the false-hearted son of King Serses. In response to his interrogators both, Korvas provides a detailed manifest of the dead, cataloging events that transpired in battle, and sets the stage for a sinister plot to unfold.

The gods, as with Greek mythology, play a significant role within the context of The Korvaid. Like the true mythological roots that inspired me to write this poem, one similarity within the epic of Korvas depicts the minor gods as descendants of two major gods, Nova and Thaemnius, who represent Love and Hate. There is a guiding principle behind the naming convention of all gods, not exclusively the major gods. Each god represents a human state of emotion, need, or other intangible philosophy. Further, the gods themselves are tied to elements or celestial objects, such as the moon, and often appear as an animal in their tangible form, though such appearances are typically ephemeral.

A specific tension exists between many of the gods, and like their counterparts from actual historic antiquity, their squabbles create within them a sense of humanity. While the gods themselves may indeed be immortal, their imperfections, desires, and intentions instill an almost comedic level of pettiness and immaturity. Indeed, Korvas himself, offspring of man and god, strives to find favor amongst the creators while delivering humanity from its destruction. As the subtitle suggests, Korvas ultimately fails in his goal, though I have yet to accumulate sufficient materials to finally reach that point.

The Korvaid was originally intended to be the back story of a post-apocalyptic story with minor hints suggestive of a nuclear war or at least a sufficiently destructive exchange that lead to the near extinction of the species. As I once wrote in my notes:

The Korvaid picks up at the end of a massive battle, as recounted by Korvas himself en route to the sacred city of Sar with a small contingent of men. Korvas and his men are welcomed warmly by the Sarnains, themselves mostly a tribe of refugees from the war torn mountains of Karthai. Karthai is the post-apocalyptic remnants of the Rockies, possibly in Colorado; though it is impossible to tell for certain due to the massive climatic changes that have taken place.

Of course, this particular direction was abandoned shortly after I began writing The Korvaid. It became clear to me that writing the story for its own sake was much more fulfilling. Therefore, while it is useful to consider my original purpose for The Korvaid, it is much more important to read it within the context of an ancient work rather than the derivative of something cataclysmic.

Additional Resources

I have added a resources page containing a list of gods, their affinities, identities, and likenesses currently spoken of in The Korvaid or planned for inclusion. You may wish to reference this document when first encountering higher beings as it may supply useful information