tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49856584377886832362024-02-20T02:20:24.894-08:00Eerie CandleFolktales and Mythology through an RPG lens lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-90783629545018998622020-06-01T22:14:00.000-07:002020-06-01T22:14:08.669-07:00Blog migration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The blog is moving to Github Pages. You can find the gaming section <a href="https://industriesofinferno.github.io/categories/gaming.html">here.</a></div>
lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-6243629685030764212019-10-10T03:30:00.000-07:002019-10-10T03:30:07.295-07:00Yekinary Spirits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This post revolves around a new monster based mainly on Siberian pregnancy/birth folklore. The creature is used as the base material for painting with (very) broad brushstrokes a rough setting with taiga and steppe elements. A couple of tables are thrown in, along with three unusual items (a table with magical coins connected to one of the possible spirit habitations is bound to appear in the immediate future).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBspdSVGSvlov7RcBYTEIDpVJ9zpDi2Zz7PI3B0LsVqyN3Em4rxKZQ79wx8Bk1OlqPRLbC0GPR4BewQvGVvicXFIqHNRuhXOL57gbCamLq5V0rQ30j48dA5KSSoyhZSYjh-oxxo_Apx8o/s1600/11002961265_7f25ab6abf_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="940" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBspdSVGSvlov7RcBYTEIDpVJ9zpDi2Zz7PI3B0LsVqyN3Em4rxKZQ79wx8Bk1OlqPRLbC0GPR4BewQvGVvicXFIqHNRuhXOL57gbCamLq5V0rQ30j48dA5KSSoyhZSYjh-oxxo_Apx8o/s640/11002961265_7f25ab6abf_o.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="376" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As far as the
raw materials are concerned, they are the following four beliefs of
indigenous Siberian people, all extracted from <a href="https://archive.org/details/aboriginalsiberi00czap/page/n6" target="_blank">Aboriginal Siberia</a>:</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-A
woman wishing to become pregnant should eat spiders. (Kamchadal
people)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-A
child born in storm <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">m</span></span></span>ust
be killed (Kamchadal people)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Two
pregnant women should not be allowed to inhabit the same house, in
case the two unborn children communicate and decide which mother
should die. (Yukaghir
people)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Souls
destined to be newborn children are hanging from the crossbeams of a
god’s house. (Koryak
people)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
as
well as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachne" target="_blank">Arachne</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_of_Paris" target="_blank">Paris’ judgment</a> myths of ancient Greece.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<iframe height="480" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Olf_bco6aQ6jCx1L-TnoZe8d5pytDVOh/preview" width="640"></iframe></div>
</div>
lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-47192983683530562032019-09-20T05:38:00.002-07:002019-09-20T06:32:32.426-07:00Plait the Hair – An Erythraean spell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_CY32yj3fOwB3C_wqSn2kT8L3S3is5uCk9DEzRLJdLXZfPmp56L6uWsJp-WVRoKlo8k1SASbLmpPDiJROQQ9UdN7GvoDR4eA5JfAQNeYsTcB7pghsVCBKsBrNcVIHabWHAqYp1JRTe_Q/s1600/11127132543_6aea4435a0_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_CY32yj3fOwB3C_wqSn2kT8L3S3is5uCk9DEzRLJdLXZfPmp56L6uWsJp-WVRoKlo8k1SASbLmpPDiJROQQ9UdN7GvoDR4eA5JfAQNeYsTcB7pghsVCBKsBrNcVIHabWHAqYp1JRTe_Q/s640/11127132543_6aea4435a0_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>"One day a raft appeared with an image of Herakles the Dactyl on
board, halfway between Chios and Erythrae. A tug of war resulted as
the men of Chios and the Erythrean men both struggled to draw it to
their own shore, but neither could prevail. Phormion, who - like
Stesichorus - was blind, dreamt that the Thracian women of Erythrae,
by plaiting their hair into a rope, could draw the image ashore,
which they duly did. Afterwards the rope was laid in a sacred house;
Phormion visited it and was cured of blindness." </i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Encyclopaedia Goetica, Volume 2 - Geosophia - The Argo of Magic, Jake Stratton-Kent<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This spell weaves a
<b>magical rope of legendary strength</b> out of ten people’s hair. The rope
can be directed towards any visible target upon sea or land (not
air), though the further it goes, the harder it is to control and the
greater the toll it takes upon the caster. Secluded<span lang="en-US">
s</span><span lang="en-US">ettlements</span><span lang="en-US"> h</span><span lang="en-US">ave
been using the spell</span> to pull ships (and their cargo) upon
rocky coasts.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Apart from the <b>main
caster</b>, the spell requires <b>ten long-haired persons</b> (each called
<b>Clotho </b>during the ritual), <b>two aides in charge of braiding</b> (each called <b>Lachesis</b>), and
<b>one person</b> (<b>Atropos</b>) who holds the <b>sacred scissors</b> with which the
hair are cut when it is time for the spell to end. </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Ritual Procedure</b>: The<span lang="el-GR">
</span><span lang="el-GR">C</span><span lang="en-US">lotho aides</span><span lang="en-US">
</span>are hang upside-down in nets, their hair dangling. The caster
moves to a spot that provides a line of sight towards the target, and
sleeps there by use of potion, herb or magic. Then the Lachesis aides
start braiding. </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The spell begins to work as soon as the first braids are completed, slowly but
steadily extending the length of the hair. As soon as all braids are
united, the rope is ready. It is then that the dreaming caster starts
guiding the rope with her will. Once the rope finds its target, it
starts coiling around it. If the target is animate, or controlled by
animate beings, a grappling battle begins (treat the rope as a sea
serpent or a kraken tentacle immune to non-magical damage).
Otherwise, the rope is wrapped tightly around the target and starts
pulling it where the caster directs it.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When this is over, the Atropos must cut the hair of all the Clotho people with the sacred scissors, at which point
the spell ends and the caster awakes, alas <b>bereft of vision for one
month per kilometer traveled</b>.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The rope is coiled
by the Clotho aides, and transferred and stored to a holy place (a house
of gods in the case of Erythrae). During the months of the main caster’s
blindness, <b>all other blind people who touch the rope are cured</b>.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgnr2CYs2NP9yp5m4vhkdyVYmxK1THklgLTvLjGxNzWOJc0oUGZm7O0OpRxPl0IbQljoTa_4zgmTrHxjw9EcGxJhiXWQ8JHOwUTm1Feq_g4B4S9Bzr15Cqu32r6zfjqatEZmvW9RYgelc/s1600/11130168464_93635ec873_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="1600" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgnr2CYs2NP9yp5m4vhkdyVYmxK1THklgLTvLjGxNzWOJc0oUGZm7O0OpRxPl0IbQljoTa_4zgmTrHxjw9EcGxJhiXWQ8JHOwUTm1Feq_g4B4S9Bzr15Cqu32r6zfjqatEZmvW9RYgelc/s640/11130168464_93635ec873_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Notes</b>:</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-The <b>rope </b>is
unnaturally thick, roughly <b>two meters in diameter</b>.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-The rope can pull
any item as long as it isn't part of the earth. Thus a huge ship can
be pulled, while a stone lying half-buried in the earth (that has not been
excavated by human hand) cannot.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-The <b>rope’s speed</b>
is roughly <b>one kilometer per turn</b>/10 minutes.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-For each five
kilometers (beyond the first five) traveled by the rope the caster is
required to make a suitable test, spell check or saving throw with
a steadily increasing difficulty. If she fails it, the control is
broken and the rope swiftly coils back to its source, where it
unravels, each braid trying to suffocate the person it originates from.
If the Atropos aide is not fast enough with the scissors, the Clotho ones die in a matter of minutes.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Due to the risk involved, most casters do not guide the rope beyond 5 kilometers.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Cutting the hair
without the Atropos scissors is not an easy task. For the duration of
the spell they are hard as steel wire.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-After the spell's
completion, the rope loses its extraordinary flexibility, though it
gains the power to heal blindness as mentioned above. Also, it can be
used as a fishing net in times of need, if the braids are
sufficiently loosened. This can happen only once for each rope;
afterwards it becomes useless. Fish and other sea beings caught in
the hair provide unnatural sustenance but also tend to whisper long
after they have been eaten – they may reveal sea secrets but they
also make concentration and sleep hard for a month.</div>
<br /></div>
lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-62806602573370819172019-09-06T02:02:00.000-07:002019-09-06T02:02:33.640-07:00Found in a forest clearing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIywpP70EgbpBh5y5zyxPQZw0Ow0Kv4Wm-cwC-6TCzOYchBTGRupclZBqKNT5RWDt40bo3IGOlXE7GPCs7IGG1M7pbzaObcZeLDVBLm_BU6OxVWc92ThZyPQOAvrIAZKSSl2Me8iK-k0s/s1600/2+Frozen+Forest+Ookawa+Museum+Foundation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="1080" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIywpP70EgbpBh5y5zyxPQZw0Ow0Kv4Wm-cwC-6TCzOYchBTGRupclZBqKNT5RWDt40bo3IGOlXE7GPCs7IGG1M7pbzaObcZeLDVBLm_BU6OxVWc92ThZyPQOAvrIAZKSSl2Me8iK-k0s/s320/2+Frozen+Forest+Ookawa+Museum+Foundation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Here are three tables I created some months ago, to be used in forests with a folk/mythological atmosphere (<a href="https://necroticgnome.com/collections/dolmenwood" target="_blank">Dolmenwood</a> is the obvious choice, ideally with a hint of <a href="http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/p/against-wicked-city.html" target="_blank">Siberian shamanism</a>). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<iframe height="480" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cbo9fMEAyWRADtHurZuGHjtBM9pGU9DP/preview" width="640"></iframe>
</div>
</div>
lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-25139420176875953292019-08-23T21:29:00.000-07:002019-08-24T04:54:49.645-07:00Of hearth infants; an elven origin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJklTbVP9TOM1Y-GOAuNEdgNStk3Dt9POSwdxJfaBvRj5glfyjznG-jRcfcu_0iOA8K8T9orZNBIJ5nCRu-v1qo_wnCTe4DmQko8fs2ZOl5Q3JOvNSPFPhBR0WE7yuDZlb8db7u0vt_s/s1600/Johann_Balthasar_Probst_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="991" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJklTbVP9TOM1Y-GOAuNEdgNStk3Dt9POSwdxJfaBvRj5glfyjznG-jRcfcu_0iOA8K8T9orZNBIJ5nCRu-v1qo_wnCTe4DmQko8fs2ZOl5Q3JOvNSPFPhBR0WE7yuDZlb8db7u0vt_s/s320/Johann_Balthasar_Probst_001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>For a number of nights after giving birth to Achilles, <span lang="en-US">Thetis
kept passing him through the hearth flames so as to burn away his
mortality. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete her work,
because of her husband, Peleus, who stumbled upon the (gruesome to
his eyes) scene one night; thinking that his wife was trying to
incinerate their son, he interrupted her. Thus Achilles was left an
(undoubtedly mighty) half-mortal, with a glorious albeit short
lifespan.</span></i><br />
<i><span lang="en-US"> </span></i>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span lang="en-US">When
the goddess Demeter roamed the earth in mourning for her daughter’s
(Persephone) abduction, she visited the palace of Celeus, king of
Eleusis, in the </span><span lang="en-US">guise</span><span lang="en-US">
of an old crone. He welcomed her and asked her to nurse his newborn
son Demophon. Wanting to reward the king for his hospitality, Demeter
passed the infant through the hearth flames each night, in order to
burn away his mortality and turn him into a god. Alas, as in the case
of Achilles, one of the boy’s parents (the mother this time)
chanced upon the night scene and interrupted the ritual. To make
things worse, in this case the infant wasn’t powerful enough to
survive the ritual’s interruption.</span></i></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The idea that mortality can be burnt away in the hearth flames is a
memorable one and has long fascinated me. Stumbling once more
recently upon the Demeter myth in Martin Persson Nilsson’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/greekfolkreligio00nils" target="_blank">Greek Folk Religion</a>,<span lang="en-US">
I thought about how this removal of mortality can be distilled and
transmuted in game terms. What I ended up with is a rough take on
elves and half-elves; how these races come into being and what sets
them apart from humanity.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The core idea: </b>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">Infants
that are passed through the flames of the hearth by their
otherworldly wet-nurses or mothers for a number of nights (3 or 7 or
what reasonable magic number suits you) become elves – this is how
</span><span lang="en-US">elves</span><span lang="en-US"> come into
being. If the process is interrupted and the infant survives (5%
chance), it becomes a half-elf.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Concerning the process itself:</b></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-The
power of the ritual does not solely lie in the hearth fire or in the
person manipulating the infant. Rather, it is <b>the combination of the
two</b> aforementioned elements that <b>makes the magic work</b>.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">-The
<b>caster </b>of the ritual must be a <b>full-blooded elf or a divinity</b>, and
the <b>hearth fire </b>must have </span><span lang="en-US">been <b>burning</b></span><span lang="en-US"><b>
continuously for at least a whole week</b> (that is why people are
over-protective of winter-born children and cold autumns).</span><b> </b>For
the purposes of this text, a hearth fire is any fire around which
people gather to warm themselves and tell stories: a
fireplace, a stove, a campfire, even the oven if people usually
gather beside it in winter while food is cooking. <span lang="en-US">[Note 1: </span><span lang="en-US"><i>If
a human/half-elf/other pushes an infant through the hearth flames,
the child will be burnt. In the case of the half-elf there may
optionally be a very small chance (1% or less) of it working – but
then there is the matter of how the half-elf will find the way to the
Elfland </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>(see below)</i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>,
for only true elves </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>have been taught
</i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>the way.</i></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;">]</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">-Upon
the ritual’s completion the caster takes the newly-transformed
elfling and departs for the
otherworld/</span><span lang="en-US">Elf</span><span lang="en-US">land/beyond-the-hedge/wherever
it is that elves dwell in your world (preferably in a place that reeks of otherness
and myth). [Note 2: </span><span lang="en-US"><i>As a side-note, they may
leave in its stead a changeling, which becomes a half-elf. This fits
nicely with changeling folklore, the kidnapping of infants by elves,
etc.</i></span><span lang="en-US">]</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVzXkUVRkH4J9FwK6M39ymtDXQ_5Y5o0EhaSbKchg17v-Oq3Wf44pX472LZPLJPelcIQSF7VnjMWZPm3kdXQeYJrZ9mKFrWSZyDzTDsNL6lQ06yHdQP601fH8htU1ml7TPjCVZ6_jnbRA/s1600/horror-in-iceland-frostbiter-icelandic-horror-film-festival-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVzXkUVRkH4J9FwK6M39ymtDXQ_5Y5o0EhaSbKchg17v-Oq3Wf44pX472LZPLJPelcIQSF7VnjMWZPm3kdXQeYJrZ9mKFrWSZyDzTDsNL6lQ06yHdQP601fH8htU1ml7TPjCVZ6_jnbRA/s320/horror-in-iceland-frostbiter-icelandic-horror-film-festival-4.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Parenting:</b></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There
are people that consider their child’s immortality a great gift
that overshadows its being raised far away from them. As a result, they
try to attract elven midwifes and caretakers; a task rarely
successful, for elves work in mysterious ways. Of course, there are
creatures (<b>wizards, hags, shades, pregnant ghosts, intelligent cuckoos, the new moon</b>) that try to
take advantage of the situation, passing themselves as elves in order
to snatch the baby.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>How to attract an elven midwife (aka adventure seeds):</b>
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Burn the last corn of the year in the hearth at midnight, and douse
it with snow from the highest mountains (above the permanent snow line).</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Carve the baby’s true name on an eagle shoulder bone and hang it
above the threshold. </div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Recite a prayer in front of a mirror that has seen a basilisk or
medusa.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Leave a plate of wooden/earthen fruits (found in dense forests and deep underground respectively) on the windowsill.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fill a gown with twigs stepped upon by criminals on their way to the
gallows.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Count the grains of sand in a blessed hourglass and plant each, separately,
in the garden.</div>
<span lang="en-US"></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span lang="en-US"></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most parents, however, tremble with the idea of their child being
taken and raised apart from them. That is why they are <b>extremely
suspicious with autumn and winter visitors</b>, and <b>snuff out the hearth
fire at least once per week</b>.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span lang="en-US"></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Concerning the races:</b></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US"><b>Half-elves:</b></span><span lang="en-US">
They grow among humans but they usually feel slightly out of touch
with them. Half-elves have the potential of living longer than
humans, though they usually die young and tragically: they all have a
mortal weakness; their mode of death, or a condition pertaining to
it, is always foretold in prophecy. [see table] If they are doing a
deed that requires prolonged activity and is heroic in conception,
then not only are they not tired or need sustenance, but they show
superhuman resilience and skill; the deed must be something that
verges on the heroic in spirit (run for a whole night in order to
save someone, stand guard at a passage fighting off enemies, etc). </span><span lang="en-US"><span lang="en-US"> Half-elven children do not have a proper elven mien (see below, in the elven section), though distant echoes of it may appear as a
flickering flame in the eye pupils or whispers in an unknown
language.</span> They
are mightier than both humans and elves, akin to mythological heroes. </span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span lang="en-US"></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Table of Preordained Half-Elf Banes & Dooms:</b></div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Will die by a wound in a specific body part (heel, ear, left palm,
tip of the finger, etc).</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Will live until a particular piece of firewood burns completely (usually, this
log is kept in a safe place by the half-elf and/or
its family).</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When a bird knocks three times thrice upon the stone on which the
half-elf was born, the half-elf will fall. </div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A river will not tolerate the half-elf’s bloodlust and rise up to
drown it.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A traveler both known and unknown, relative and lover, foe and
friend, will be the bane.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Will die when forced to speak its true name in complete silence.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US"><b>Elves:</b></span><span lang="en-US"> They are
the stuff of legend, immortal otherworldly beings. </span><span lang="en-US"><span lang="en-US">They
know the way to Elfland. </span><span lang="en-US">They may eat and drink,
though they need not to.</span> </span><span lang="en-US"><span lang="en-US">They cannot be
truly killed. </span><span lang="en-US"><span lang="en-US"> </span></span>However, they can be defeated at which point they are
banished (their body gone, leaving behind ashes and clothes/equipment); their return to the world may take hours or years, as they
nurse their wounds in the </span><span lang="en-US">E</span><span lang="en-US">lfland
(where time is a mysterious thing, having nothing of the
</span><span lang="en-US">inevitability</span><span lang="en-US"> and
</span><span lang="en-US">single-mindedness</span><span lang="el-GR">
</span><span lang="en-US">of our world’s time).</span><br />
<span lang="en-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">In
almost all of cases, elf babies are taken by their mother or nurse to the
otherworld/elven place. This is because their grandeur may literally
kill mortals; having no control </span><span lang="en-US">over their glamour, even their
sole presence may immolate a mortal gazing upon them. In game terms, elven children may (especially when angry or blissful) manifest
a flaming mien accompanied by unnatural sounds that causes fire and
divine damage to all nearby mortals. Elven adults have managed to control the mien, but as a result it has been rendered dormant; the power is at odds with any sort of control.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-US">Both races have a special relationship with hearth
fire: Elves are invulnerable to it, while half-elves are resistant
(other kinds of fire may damage both races normally). Both races can
make people take vows upon the hearth, which vows become binding.
Elves can manipulate the flame in subtle ways, creating shadows,
lessening or heightening its light. They can draw sustenance (eliminating their need
for rest) and power (empowering their magic) from it, though they
must serve the people of the hearth for a time if they do so.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Mortality
ashes:</b></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mortality
is a fleeting, immaterial thing which, surprisingly, leaves material ashes
after each ritual night. These ashes are treasured. They can be made
into potions that accelerate or delay old age. If scattered in a
field anything that grows in it has blood inside. If used as
fertilizer for mandrakes, the plants will initiate a cult or coven.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-43004006980417679292019-08-09T04:10:00.000-07:002019-08-09T04:10:13.042-07:00Velkeres - Lords of the Frigid Breath<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
Velkeres were part of the folklore of the villages of eastern Pelion mountain until roughly the start of 20th century. Wintry spirits, they were alien personifications of snow and weather, shepherds of clouds that provided the people's ancestors with sustenance in the deepest winter; all that until the coming of Christianity which forbade the consumption of such heavenly flesh.<br />
<br />
Here is my expansion upon the fragmented original material. Velkeres could be used as a whole race of weather spirits (even players could be Velkeres, especially those that have been forced into human skin), or as a lone demented and utterly hostile creature, the last of its kin. They could also be tied to an ongoing war with a celestial cult or religion, or their draconic ancestry could be emphasized (the awakening of the dragon sleeping under the earth (an enormous creature of whom the mountain itself is just a part) is a distant (or not so) menace).</div>
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lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985658437788683236.post-85108284304708071062019-07-31T03:52:00.000-07:002019-07-31T07:08:46.992-07:00Varypnas (Vrachnas/Mora)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Paradoseis [Fables, or Folk Beliefs] is a collection of folklore (mainly of a supernatural hue) from all over
the Greek and Cypriot world (as well as several Turkish places also), published by the folklorist N. Politis in 1904. It spans two tomes, the first being the main work, organized in thematic chapters, and the unfinished second being the notes to the entries of the main tome (notes of extreme length, including a lot of material).<br />
<br />
This corpus of folklore has a lot of potential for gaming purposes. As a result, the idea is to kick off a series of posts concerning creatures from this book, gameifying and expanding the source material, all the while enriching a folk setting that I have been working on. The first entry draws from chapter 33 (Vrachnas) and deals with a well-known motif, namely a creature that smothers sleeping people.<br />
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lakserkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05928268486923242067noreply@blogger.com1