Typhan of Ramoros

Typhan of Ramoros (155-96 BWR) was a Ramoran musician and composer of musical mummery. He is known for his plays on mythological subjects, some which are still performed today.

Biographical details

Typhan was born in Ramoros in 155 BWR to a family who were involved in the importation and processing of fabric in the city; his work is noted for the frequency and complexity of his poetic references to weaving, thread, and dyeing. Little is known of his childhood but he seems to have received an excellent education, which bespeaks a measure of wealth, although the fact that his surname is unknown suggests no particular degree of social prominence.
Typhan appears to have displayed considerable talent with the viol, abandoning the family business to make his living in music at an early age and becoming a major player is a musical ensemble. His earliest known compositions are from the mid-120 BWR, somewhat audaciously referring to the Northern Strait Conspiracy as a near-current event. This is the only surviving composition of his that deals with hard history; he would subsequently enjoy more success, both artistic and commercial, with compositions on folkloric and mythological subjects.
By 110 BWR Typhan was independently wealthy and the owner of a substantial manse in Ramoros; he also owned a pied-a-terre in Chogyos, demonstrating both his material success and the scope of his activities. He married and had at least four children, one of whom died of a gastrointestinal complaint at the age of twelve in 108 BWR. The circumstances of Typhan's own death twelve years later are unclear, but he was buried in the cemetery operated by the city's cult of Krezzan with all due ceremony.

Opus

Nine of Typhan's mummeries survive in full to the present day; five more exist in fragments, and the titles of another four are known. This is unlikely to be a full list of his works.

Works existing in full

* The Discontent of Gold, about the Northern Strait Conspiracy. Typhan's only venture into actual historiography, it tells the story from a conspicuously pro-Ramoran position.
* The Siege of the Harbour, about the Siege of Ramoros by the Dead. Although containing some of Typhan's most forceful instrumentation, it is mostly remembered for a chilling lyric passage in which a messenger describes the dead rising from the sea to trouble the living.
* Sapyanan, relating the story of Sapyanan and the Shadows. Long-standing tradition has it that during his lifetime Typhan insisted on the title role being sung by a boy; the provenance of the rumour is unknown.
* The Perils of TYtranas is a conspicuously bowdlerised version of the story of Tytranas. The delicacy with which Typhan approaches the lurid subject matter, and the vocal dexterity the play requires of its female lead, make it an abidingly popular entertainment in the southern cities.
* History of Morogyad tells the story of Morogyad's confrontations with ogres and sea monsters, bookending a lengthy encomium belabouring his still as a metalworker and weaponsmith.
* A Year on the Chonyos is a romantic - and, to some eyes, patronising - depiction of life in a peasant village in the Chogyan Hegemony, built around a love story between a pair of young people.
* Three Gentlemen of Ramoros is a light comic mummery about an eligible heiress in Ramoros coping with a trio of suitors, noted for the delicacy and evocation of its score.
* On Silver Seas We Ride is a stirring and romantic revue piece, light on plot, in which a crew of sailors wait out a storm by telling each other stories of their time at sea. It is noted for the variety of the vocal techniques it requires of its cast.
* When All is Done is an elegiac piece about a wealthy man farewelling his friends and family on his deathbed. Despite numerous parallels with Typhan's own history there is no reason to suspect the mummery is at all autobiographical, or even one of his later works.

Fragmentary works

* The Northern Flame is a lengthy tale of the fear and disruption sown in Ramoros by a party of dancers from an unnamed northern city. Only the lyrics survive.
* Emyanan is a musical comedy about a young Ramoran flower-girl; only the first few dozen lines of poetry survive, meaning that the plot is largely unknown.
* Zargyod the Lucky is the comic tale of a young scapegrace living on his wits in the dock district of a major city which is, based on textual evidence, not Ramoros. Only three short songs survive.
* The Life of the Wind is a reputedly lengthy, involved romanticisation of the Chogyan perspective on the Mast Wars. It was initially performed in three grand movements over several hours, but only the second movement, focusing on the exploits of the Raqamoros family, survives.
* Several small fragments of The Meddling of Madam Qessel survive, including some that celebrate the title character's ability to brew love potions.

Attested works

Typhan is also known to have written mummeries entitled The Tears of the Moon, Red Flowers, The Bloody Cup and Within Sight of Loros. Little is known about the subject matter or poetic content of these works.

Thaumatological significance

Most of Typhan's mummeries contain supernatural elements. This, coming from a pre-Wesmodian author, raises the question of exactly how accurate his depictions of magic are. Opinions diverge widely on this point, and on the question of which mummeries are or are not worth examining in this context. The ongoing popularity and widely-accepted literary merit of his work, however, makes it a significant source of information