That’s a spoiler? This is my first time reading this far, and I can tell this isn’t going to go good. For one thing, there’s not a single myth in Digger that ends good. It always ends with someone dying or being banished. But somehow, that’s a good thing. Or it seems to be, because I love them all.
Then, this one begins much too happily, and that just can’t be a good sign. And then of course, I am totally seeing where this is going, but I guess that might be just because I actually stopped to think. For once.
Yay! I finally found this! I was on vacation when Ed’s story first came out and missed out on the first half of it, now I’ll finally get the whole story.
I’m guessing show of talent…it’s also, I would guess, a traditional male occupation. Hyena society so far seems to run on a strict division of gender but otherwise is a skill/honor based hierarchy that doesn’t seem to be long-term hereditary.
Interesting how Ed comments on the skin-painter being a lucky firstborn, as hyena pups rarely survive being a firstborn because of the hyena’s extended birth canal and its associated hair-pin turn that also makes mating something that can be totally controlled by the female. Damned unique buggers they are!
It could be part and part. Being a good painter… that’s a skill, an achieved status. But maybe to be eligible to learn skill painting in the first place you need to meet certain ascribed conditions, such as being male and “lucky”.
We’ve seen noting of the tribe to suggest anything but achieved status: Boneclaw Mother leads by dint of being both very smart and improbably badass. She may have stared of with some advantage in life from famous or honored parents, and she certainly, had the advantage of being female, but in most “bands” or “tribes”, the destitution in archaeological terms being if they have some fixed hierarchy structures and maintain a hereditary or ritual clam to territory (tribe) or not (band), status is usualy achieved, either by being the best at something or by dint of living old enough to become an “elder.” You seldom inherit status.
However, real world spotted hyenas DO inherit status, and are one of the few animals to do so. Hyena Clans can number up to 100 individuals, far too many to just have the biggest meanest fighting female in charge as in a group that size there would be several good changers to the tile of biggest and baddest and the group would break up fighting. So stably tough fully grow hyenas make allies with other females, force their sisters to join in against their non-sisters, and the matriarch is the female with the most allies, just like how female status works in baboon groups, except with baboons the males are important and in hyenas… less so. Being related to a female means to inherit her allies automatically on death, but you have to work to keep them on your side, so a mix of inherited and achieved..
Hence if i was going to say if the “skin painter” title could be inherited or not… who knows? Who cares? He looks happy. Drink it in.
Well,the lifestory of Ed is truly a sad one,but at least he had a good life in the tribe.Painting the body of female hyenas aaaaall day long :D.That isn’t that bad.
uff.
Aww, Ed. I sorely hope against all odds that this is not about Ed, but rather an unrelated notch-eared skin painter. Poor, poor Ed, with his sad stories.
Be prepared guys, this is a sad story.
What he said. *gets box of kleenex*
Great, guys. Tear me up already.
No spoilers, dammit!
Oh gods, is this gonna be what I think it is?
That’s a spoiler? This is my first time reading this far, and I can tell this isn’t going to go good. For one thing, there’s not a single myth in Digger that ends good. It always ends with someone dying or being banished. But somehow, that’s a good thing. Or it seems to be, because I love them all.
Then, this one begins much too happily, and that just can’t be a good sign. And then of course, I am totally seeing where this is going, but I guess that might be just because I actually stopped to think. For once.
Yay! I finally found this! I was on vacation when Ed’s story first came out and missed out on the first half of it, now I’ll finally get the whole story.
Hahaha, this is exactly what I mean, about the friends and the visitors around the campfire. 😀
I’m going to stop reading the comments until this story is over.
You know, it never occurred to me until now to wonder about the skin-painter thing.
Is that a hereditary position?
Decided by the parents?
Decided by the child, or perhaps by a show of talent?
Or maybe even a function of caste?
Just curious …
🙂
Probably a show of talent. You wouldn’t want a skin-painter to be a bad artist.
I’m guessing show of talent…it’s also, I would guess, a traditional male occupation. Hyena society so far seems to run on a strict division of gender but otherwise is a skill/honor based hierarchy that doesn’t seem to be long-term hereditary.
Interesting how Ed comments on the skin-painter being a lucky firstborn, as hyena pups rarely survive being a firstborn because of the hyena’s extended birth canal and its associated hair-pin turn that also makes mating something that can be totally controlled by the female. Damned unique buggers they are!
It could be part and part. Being a good painter… that’s a skill, an achieved status. But maybe to be eligible to learn skill painting in the first place you need to meet certain ascribed conditions, such as being male and “lucky”.
We’ve seen noting of the tribe to suggest anything but achieved status: Boneclaw Mother leads by dint of being both very smart and improbably badass. She may have stared of with some advantage in life from famous or honored parents, and she certainly, had the advantage of being female, but in most “bands” or “tribes”, the destitution in archaeological terms being if they have some fixed hierarchy structures and maintain a hereditary or ritual clam to territory (tribe) or not (band), status is usualy achieved, either by being the best at something or by dint of living old enough to become an “elder.” You seldom inherit status.
However, real world spotted hyenas DO inherit status, and are one of the few animals to do so. Hyena Clans can number up to 100 individuals, far too many to just have the biggest meanest fighting female in charge as in a group that size there would be several good changers to the tile of biggest and baddest and the group would break up fighting. So stably tough fully grow hyenas make allies with other females, force their sisters to join in against their non-sisters, and the matriarch is the female with the most allies, just like how female status works in baboon groups, except with baboons the males are important and in hyenas… less so. Being related to a female means to inherit her allies automatically on death, but you have to work to keep them on your side, so a mix of inherited and achieved..
Hence if i was going to say if the “skin painter” title could be inherited or not… who knows? Who cares? He looks happy. Drink it in.
This concludes the BunnyRock “archeology/mythology/biology and comparative storytelling” lesson for the week.
There will be a quiz.
(In other words, thanks BR! Great info, as always!)
Oh, to the spoilers people, you can TELL the minute he says “skin painter” that it’s his story, and we KNOW it ends badly, or he wouldn’t be Ed.
@Tindi- The notched right ear in the painted hyena’s another dead giveaway as to who this is about.
Especially as I think he actually said earlier that he was “lucky” in any case – and this is someone on his first archive trawl for Digger here.
Didn’t catch the ear, Tibia, thanks!
Well,the lifestory of Ed is truly a sad one,but at least he had a good life in the tribe.Painting the body of female hyenas aaaaall day long :D.That isn’t that bad.
uff.
Aww, Ed. I sorely hope against all odds that this is not about Ed, but rather an unrelated notch-eared skin painter. Poor, poor Ed, with his sad stories.