The “Roaring Man” was the traditional protector-god of Toborr, from the Beryl Epoch until the Siege of Toborr. Originally he was fire god of the Issid tribe who settled here, protector of home and hearth. In a marshy estuary environment where every day was a struggle against water, a fire god was in opposition to the aquatic element, provider of warmth, dryness, light, food and defence. In the imperial period he became identified with the Godman Mecal, one of the ancient Godmen.
The city remained strong on several bases. First, it was built on a natural fortress, an abutment of rock in the Wiyel estuary, with water on the east side, and miles of shifting swamp to the west.
Second was its wealth. At the mouth the river, Toborr still controls all the trade from the sea to the mouth of the river.
But third and most important, was the Roaring Man. The Man was a huge bronze statue, a marvellous artefact that spat mouthfuls of flame at all enemy ships who dared violate Toborran waters.
The Man has been depicted in sculpture and paintings, most erroneously, as a vast human figure, standing erect, staring out to sea. In fact the statue squatted against the northern rocky promontory of the island. Its upper body was a shell made of bronze, the lower half carved from the rock itself (a common custom of Issid stone-gods).
The statue had two burning eyes that acted as a lighthouse and warning to approaching ships. Its two arms were bent and generally rested on its rocky thighs. When preparing to fire, the hands would raise ninety degrees to the mouth, and then drop rapidly. The arms acted as a counterweight in the mechanism – used to rapidly pump caustic liquid from a nozzle in the mouth. The pressure could be released in two ways, either in one shot, which spat a mouthful of flame a great distance across the estuary, or as a thin stream of flame.
The Man was operated and maintained by a priesthood, who were pre-eminent in the city and were rewarded by citizens with an annual tribute. At festivals and state funerals the priests would rouse the Roaring Man to destroy ritual ships - a form of target-practice ensuring the priesthood maintained skills and accuracy, as well as reminding foreign visitors of the military power of their god.
The Roaring Man was the focus of innumerable civic rituals involving the blessing of ships, marriages, homes, hearths and children, as well as regular seasonal festivals. The most important annual festival occurred just before the storm tideplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigStorm tides
Storm tides are particularly high tides, often accompanied by storm surges and dangerous flooding, which occur on Helevos every 1.3 solar years when Helevos comes into conjunction with the giant planet Kwato'or. Storm tides are at their peak within a two week period, and at their most severe when accompanied by natural storms. season: a series of games which would choose a champion for the year. The games involved various tests of strength and stamina, notably: climbing the cliffs to the top of the Roaring Man, running a circuit of the island, and swimming the gap now spanned by the Long Bridge. Originally the east channel of the river was relatively narrow, but after a number of deaths the swimming challenge was changed or dropped.