Z is for Zephyr: In the world of Gossamer Steel, the west winds or zephyrs allow Walen Sokol-Thorson to fly his solar plane east from Mojave to The Country, hoping to find his shaman grandfather Jarilo Sokol, and join the struggle to revitalise the Earth.

A zephyr is a wind that blows from the west, in an eastward direction. In Western tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favourable of the directional winds. The Greek wind gods were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came

In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the personification of the west wind and the bringer of light spring and early summer breezes; his Roman equivalent was Favonius. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus was the attendant of Cupid, who brought Psyche to his master’s palace. Zephyrus appears in a number of Greek myths, and in classical art he is portrayed as a handsome winged youth.

As Wikapedia also says, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the “swete breth” of Zephyrus, and a soft, gentle breeze may be referred to as a zephyr, as in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (IV, ii): “They are as gentle / As zephyrs blowing below the violet, / Not wagging his sweet head.”

Flora and Zephyr ~ William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1875) on display at Musée des Beaux Arts de Mulhouse

Zephyr is also name of various ultra-light aerial craft from recreational kit planes to the lightweight solar-powered UAVs originally designed and built by the United Kingdom company, QinetiQ, and is now part of the Airbus High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme. . The military uses the vehicle for reconnaissance and communications platforms. Civilian and scientific programmes use it for Earth observation. The Zephyr 7 holds the official endurance record for an unmanned aerial vehicle for its flight from 9 July to 23 July 2010, lasting 336 hours and 22 minutes (2 weeks / 14 days).

Z is also for Zealot as the fanatics that want to control the world and also Zoroastrianism, one of the many religions surviving in Bhārata (India sub-continent).

Z ends these A to Z posts focusing on my Gossamer Steel world. However, they will become the basis for a new Gossamer Steel page – or should it be called Gossamer Steam? Is that more appropriate for my future world? Or Gossamer Dreams or Threads? What do you think?

Finally many thanks to all my visitors, the 2048 participants and the hosts of this amazing A to Z Challenge, especially Arlee Bird.

PREVIOUS A TO Z POSTS:

A is for Array ~ B is for the Blood-Marked ~ C is for Corylus Avellana ~ D is for Duskweald ~ E is for Energy ~ F is for Feeniks ~ G is for Garuda ~ H is for Herders ~ I is for Ithaka ~ J is for Junk ~ K is for Kitsune ~ L is for Lorelei ~ M is for Mojave ~ N is for Native~ O is for Outcasts  ~ P is for Punk ~ Q is for Quisling ~ R is for Ragnarök ~ S is for Seiðr ~ T is for Technology ~ U is for Urdu~ V is for Vidda ~ W is for Windsong ~X is for Xerarch ~ Y is for Yggdrasil

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The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out, the A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behaviour.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. So this year on April 1 we blogged about something that began with the letter “A.” April 2 was “B,” April 3 was “C,” and so on. Please visit other challenge writers even after the month is over – there are a lot of us out there so there’s plenty to read and get you thinking.

See you around in May, although daily posts might slip to nearer weekly… unless I’m inspired.