Lucian as inspiration for Windrunners?

[Fifth Scholar he/him]

Hey y’all! I almost never post outside the SE subforum, but I came across something interesting while reading one of my Greek texts for a class. It’s from Lucian’s True Stories, or Άληθη Διηγήματα Α’. Here’s the relevant passage and my (admittedly novice) translation: 

Quote

οἱ δὲ Ἀνεμοδρόμοι πεζοὶ μέν εἰσιν, φέρονται δὲ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ἄνευ πτερῶν· ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς φορᾶς τοιόσδε. χιτῶνας ποδήρεις ὑπεζωσμένοι κολπώσαντες αὐτοὺς τῷ ἀνέμῳ καθάπερ ἱστία φέρονται ὥσπερ τὰ σκάφη. τὰ πολλὰ δ᾿ οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἐν ταῖς μάχαις πελτασταί εἰσιν.

Quote

And the Wind-runners are foot soldiers, and they are carried in the air without wings; and their manner of being borne is as follows. Having been undergirded with full-length tunics, and having filled them by the wind just as [if they were] sails, they are carried [borne aloft] like the ships.* And for the most part such [troops] in the battles are lightly armed.

(*There are flying ships in other parts of Lucian.)

The parts of interest here are Lucian’s name for these soldiers (Ἀνεμοδρόμοι), which is literally a fusion of the Greek words for Wind (άνεμος) and Runner (δρομέας, here given the nominative plural ending), as well as his description of them as light infantrymen who fly without wings. Obviously the mechanics look a bit different with Brandon, but has anyone ever asked him if he got the concept of the name for this Order from Lucian? In the absence of a WoB, could someone bring this up to him who has the chance? I find this to be a startling coincidence  

[Treamayne]

I was unable to find a WoB on this; but for those unfamiliar with Lucian, here's the Wikipedia link.

I would guess that A True Story's status as one of the first "western novels" and the (currently known) first Speculative Fiction novel (see below) would make it possible that BS may have drawn inspiration for the Windrunners (and other KR) from Lucian - since it is likely he studied it in college. 

Wiki Excerpt:

Spoiler

Lucian was one of the earliest novelists in Western civilization. In A True Story (Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα), a fictional narrative work written in prose, he parodies some of the fantastic tales told by Homer in the Odyssey and also the not-so-fantastic tales from the historian Thucydides. He anticipated modern science fiction themes including voyages to the moon and Venus, extraterrestrial life, interplanetary warfare, and artificial life, nearly two millennia before Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. The novel is often regarded as the earliest known work of science fiction.

Good catch, and hopefully somebody at a signing/Q&A/AMA will ask for us.