Birutė’s Senovės Sutartis over Vytautas¶
Terms¶
[The saga’s invention], made in Book I ch. 3 (1382): the Senovės Sutartis by which Birutė binds her son Vytautas. Four requirements, all on the page: amber charged by the binder (the pebble); the binder’s blood on it (a crescent vaidilutė knife across her left palm); the bound one’s true name (slaptas vardas), a name he has never heard, spoken by her; and an unbreakable promise both ways. Hers: “Jo skola — mano skola” (“his debt is my debt”). His: “Kol aš gyvas, paskutinė ugnis neužges.” (the flame promise).
Birutė’s Senovės Sutartis over Vytautas
Birutė’s Senovės Sutartis over Vytautas · pact¶
Type |
pact |
Years |
1382–1430 |
Note |
Birutė’s ancient binding spoken over Vytautas in 1382 to preserve his life. |
Parties & witnesses¶
Binder and surety: Birutė, who stands laidas for the bound. Bound: Vytautas (“surištas”, the third path to Kalba). Witness: the elements, and the Amber Queen, to whose request Birutė answers “if someone must pay, let it be me, not him.” She comes to it half-blind from the Praurimė vision at Dagotuvės. The pebble (Motinos gintaras) is the token; see the event.
Breaches¶
Penalties are unchanged from the old doc: loss of gift, curse of the elements, memory loss, madness, death in the extreme. A cost can be deferred, not refused, and deferred costs compound. Failure of the promise: letting the flame die while he lives.
Consequences¶
Surety. Part of every price Vytautas incurs is paid by Birutė wherever she is: his costs look light in Book I while her voice and sight fail (the Krėva fog, ch. 14, 25). In ch. 27 (1384) she pays the whole remaining debt at once at Palanga (the sacrifice), and from Book II there is no surety: at the foundations of the island castle “the spring damp doubled it, and Birutė was not beside him” (Book II ch. 2); Vorskla has no mother’s fog, only shame. The pebble stays the bond’s token and barometer.
Relations
Binds: Vytautas
Caused by: Birutė binds Vytautas (Sutartis, surety, flame promise)
Created by: Birutė
- School
- Pact · Kalba's third path, surištas (bound)
- Tier
- Birutė binds at tier 4. Vytautas, bound-2, gets the Five-Voice and the pebble and nothing else
- Casting
- Birutė cuts her palm with a crescent vaidilutė knife and presses the pebble into his hand, speaks his true name, and exchanges promises
- Components
- Amber charged by the binder (the pebble); the binder's blood; the bound one's true name; an unbreakable promise both ways
- Cost
- Surety (laidas): part of every price Vytautas incurs is paid by Birutė, wherever she is. In 1384 she pays the whole remaining debt at once
- Duration
- Surety until Book I ch. 27 (1384). The bond itself, and the pebble as its barometer, until 1430
- Limits
- One anchor per caster. The pebble answers to the bearer's truth. After 1384 there is no surety: he pays full price
- Counters
- Consecrated stone deafens the pebble; the Order's sword closes the Five-Voice; a binder's own death
The promises. Hers: Jo skola, mano skola (his debt is my debt). His: Kol aš gyvas, paskutinė ugnis neužges (while I live, the last fire will not go out).
The Five-Voice. Lets an ungifted bearer call a little of every boon.
Birutė's decline. Voice failing after the Krėva fog, sight going, until ch. 27 at Palanga.
After the surety. Book II ch. 2: the spring damp doubled the cost, and Birutė was not beside him.
The penalties. Loss of gift, curse of the elements, memory loss, madness, death in the extreme.
The promise. Failure of the promise means letting the flame die while he lives.
Connections¶
graph LR
birute["Birutė"]
ev_sutartis["Birutė binds Vytautas (Sutartis, surety, flame promise)"]
sutartis_birute["Birutė's Senovės Sutartis over Vytautas"]
vytautas["Vytautas"]
sutartis_birute -->|Binds| vytautas
sutartis_birute -->|Created by| birute
ev_sutartis -->|Causes| sutartis_birute
style sutartis_birute stroke-width:3px