Besokan river

The Course of Besokan and Estennil

The Besokan is a major river of the eastern Reknaya and the traditional dividing line between Belkondíl and Old Seligon. With a maximal width of over 300 elôrini, it is considered Elondor’s widest river.

Etymology and Names

The name Besokan is of Olgish origin, most likely related to Besok, an ethnonym for to the inhabitants of the Besokan Valley and possibly the lands to its west (largely Soskish and Reknayan populations). The term means ‘gift people’ or ‘fee people’, referring either to valuable gifts brought to Belkdondíl by Soskish merchants or to their function as merceraries, notably as hired cavalrists, in the Olgish kingdoms. The ending -an is a commonly found Olgish nominalizer, or could be a related to the root *an- ‘to proceed, progress’, referring either to the river itself or demarking the area the Besok came from. The term is found denoting the border, or possibly a country, between Belkondíl and (Old) Seligon in the earlier Olgish writings (c. 700 B.E.B.) and by the end Olgish Expansion had been established as the general name for the river.

The Old Besokian World Map lists it as Kô-Nôwis, from a possible Proto-Besokian *Kô-Nôwiseten ‘Great Mother’ (hence Soskish Kônovec), thought to refer to the river’ significance to early Besokian culture. The Besokian languages were in turn named after the Besokan.

Course and Hydrology

The Besokan is shallow for most of its upper course, passing fields of sand and gravel, comparable to the Loire in central France.

The source of the Besokan is located in the Erkenmian Mountains north of Kernogori. It has no major tributary on its course through the Dark Valley but is said to be ‘fed by a thousand streams’ as it passes through the fertile landscape, and reaching Dom the river has already grown to a major body of water. From there, it turns south, passing the southeastern end of the Reknayan Wall and entering a narrower valley, the Besokan Valley proper, between the Herna mountains and the Párian Ridge. For most of its upper course, passing large beds of gravel and sand, and despite its renowned width, the Besokan does not achieve a great depth, remaining relatively shallow until it enters the plain of Tár. The river proceeds in a trough close to the Herna mountains, again fed by countless small streams and growing in sizeuntil it forms Lake Marin immediately north of the gorge of the same name, the southern entrance of Tár. Exiting the gorge and passing Nishûnâc, the remainder of its course is hemmed by rolling hills and dense woodland, the Forests of the Besokan. It is here that the Besokan meets its major tributary, the Estennil river. The combined bodies of water reach a maximal width of 317 elôrini, the widest of any river in Elondor. They mouth into the Gulf of Seligon forming a bar-built estuary between the islands of Golim and Kirospel.

Cultural Significance

The lower Besokan Valley was the original homeland of the Besokian peoples, who referred to it as ‘Great Mother’, equating it with their main goddess Kônôwis (a figure comparable to both the goddess Ílgar and the titan Kána in Olgish mythology). Much of the early Besokian cult at Nishûnâc was centred on reverence of the Besokan as ‘life-giver’ to the Second Hill. The river is noted on the Old Besokian World Map, and several of the younger Nishûnâc hymns are devoted to it. Worship of Kônôwis seems to have declined with the decline of Nishûnâc. As the Besokian nations spread across the Reknaya and Belkondíl, separating them further and further from their ancestral homeland, the river’s significance in their cult diminished, remaining notable only in Reknayan religion.

The Olgs, knowing the river as Besokan, were aware of its existence and religious significance at least since their first contact with the Sosks c. 2400 B.E.B., and from its first mention in writing, in the Elder Lonsorigi (c. 700 B.E.B.), it was designated the border between Belkondíl (the Olgish world) and Seligon (the foreign east). Even after its decline as a spiritual landmark, the Besokan was recongized as a major body of water and critical resource to the Kernogori and eastern Belkondíl. Melvas of Bernab, writing in the 4th century L.R., lists it as one of the ‘seven great rivers’ in his Landmarks of the World, beside Cëlac, Brethan, Ilathw, Kalpa, Muïnulis, and Eargliss.