On Essential Stories

[Pedant]

Just as a query for all and sundry:

There are some stories which everyone knows, for a given value of everyone. Not too long ago Up Here, knowing the stories in the Bible would have been essential for one’s education. We learn Shakespeare in school (and tend to miss out on some of the best bits), read Dr. Seuss to our kids at home. Even if you haven’t read it, everyone’s heard of Anne of Green Gables; same with Frankenstein, 1984, 1001 Nights...there are some baseline elements in the culture that almost depend on these. And that’s not even getting into movies, songs, video games...

That said, what stories most shape your concultures? What would everyone (or most everyone) grow up knowing?

[Ares Land]

That's a good question! That is an excellent opportunity to write some ideas down...

Around the Middle Sea, the essential founding text is the Tawta. Few people really read it, but everyone knows some of the stories:

• King Wanateras, legitimate heir of Taris. In a fairly classic move, his mother was chased, still pregnant, by his half-brother Morates. The adult Wanateras leads a band of nomadic warriors against Morates, with a little help from Qoan, the creator god.
  Ultimately he defeats, deposes and blinds Morates.
• Stories of Wanateras' utopian reign. King Wanateras is content with just sitting there and being generally awesome, so the story focuses to Morates instead. In a surprising move, Morates accepted his defeat and became Wanateras' most trusted advisor. He's portrayed as giving out Solomonic judgements in court, or on occasion wandering his brother's kingdom and punishing evildoers in crafty and over the top ways.
• Piyon and Yiwuka. Old Man Piyon or Pon, who may or may not be the first man, becomes prideful and fails to honor the Lords and Ladies of the Underworld (representing death and disease). He also claims to be worshipped as the Sun and Stars. He's defeated by a Lady of the Underworld, Yiwuka -- his body becomes the Pontli peninsula.
• The Lords and Ladies of the Underworld, prideful and vengeful, demand worship from Piyon's widow and their 20736 children, then, judging the worship insufficient, hunts and binds them in the Underworld. Yiwuka turns against her brothers, disguises herself as a human being, and allows herself to be taken. She tricks, in turn, all of brothers, and frees human beings from the underworld.
  By Yiwuka's decree, all living things will be submit to death or disease but all will be reincarnated.
• Agwen, the Red King. The Red King is the last king of Taris; he is also Wanateras' reincarnation. Yiwuka gets him drunk and then drives him by playing the flute. The Red King's madness manifests as despair over the endless cycle of reincarnation, disease and death. He seeks a deal with Lord Jaundice of the Underworld, who will offer him immortality in exchange for 20736 victims.
  The Red King proceeds to do the deed -- the sacrifice is described in fairly unsettling detail. Yiwuka then punishes him by burning the city of Taris in a fire and cursing the entire kingdom. It's implied that Agwen does penance in the Underworld and will eventually be allowed to return.
• Mossa and Oeqis. In the aftermath of the Red King's story and the fragmentation of his kingdom, the kings of the two titular cities fight it out over who will get to be king of Taris. Of course, neither will. Yiwuka shows up again, offering supernatural help on both sides.

From about 1500 years later, the comic and tragic cycles of Cardosatli theater are moderately well-known, most notably because modern theater endlessly borrows their plots and tropes. I haven't figured out yet what these are about. Presumably, there's a fair bit about Atsotas, Monassis and Tlon, founding figures of the immense, but short-lived Tarandim empire.

Arisqan the Saint is a real historical figure -- he lived about a thousand years before present. At the time the Tarandim were part of the Erdan empire; Arisqan fought against the Erdan and reestablished a Tarandim empire (It didn't survive him; the Tarandim are now divided into small kingdoms and city states and never really were united again.) The tales follow historical events, with a fair bit of creativity and many supernatural elements. There's a religious element there; Arisqan is supposed to be the reincarnation of Wanateras and the Red King (suitably chastened) and disappears voluntary in the Underworld (to return, presumably, at a later date.)
The story is popular among the modern Erdan as well; they sort of ignore the Tarandim nationalist element, and even have him sojourning for a time in Erdani.

Red Owl stories are very recent and set in modern times. They are the works of various authors, who write and publish anonymously. This is partly because of tradition, partly because Red Owl stories aren't considered respectable work.
The Red Owl is a travelling witch, a devotee of the goddess Yiwuka who among other powers can turn into an owl at will. She will confront corrupt nobles, cannibal kings and, of course, supernatural monsters in the course of her travels.

[Foolster41]

In Saltha they would be
[*]The The Story of creation
[*]The story of the flood
[*]The adoption of the twins Olasasha & Gishlokea by the divines Kai and Laikei
[*]The tale of the Nekesana (a cactus creature who whips bad children)
[*]Salthan Children grow up with story of the downfall of King Kakela, and rhymes mocking the former king. Also stories of the bravery of those who overthrew him. The stories are usually sanitized for younger children, and older children hearing of the atrocities, like the whipping at Karathe Market and his beheading.
[*]The exploits of Gia Kakelsdoan, a dashing spy and seducer of female Salthans, during the divided city-state period.