N is for Nenaea - derived from Inanna
Nenaea is a Draken earth goddess of fertility and snakes. Generally speaking, all serpents are her children. She was the consort of the Sun/Sky Serpent, Roa - taken from Ra. More on him will come with the letter R.
These two gods existed before time itself began. Dragons are the ancient children of Roa and Nenaea - they are demigods of the Draken. Today's dragons are the great (to the 10th) generation of the first children of earth and sky. They are forever creatures of the "in between", sharing traits of both parents. This shared heritage of sun and earth is why all reptiles are
cold-blooded and must be exposed to the sun to live; otherwise, they
fall dormant into a centuries long hibernation. Dragons live for many millennia. Even to the Draken who can live for several centuries, the age of dragons is almost incomprehensible.
Nenaea was so beautiful that she could not help but attract the attention of the great sky serpent. At first she was terrified that one so humble and unnoticeable as she could ever draw the gaze of one so vast and eternal. But her older brother, the sea, vowed to always protect her. He will be covered by the letter T.
**********
O is for Oro and Oda Ironheart. They were the twin children of the ancient dwarf King Dain Richheart.
Their
father's dying wish was for them to divide the monumental family
fortune and use half of it to improve dwarvendom for all the clans. They
followed it in their own way. They each took half for themselves and
figured they'd do lesser dwarf families the favor and honor of letting
them marry into the richest imaginable clan. Thus they earned the new
mantle of Ironheart.
When a family did marry with them,
the new king and queen would seize all of the family's holdings, adding
to their already avaricious coffers. This ensured that the Ironhearts
got richer and richer while the new members of the clan had basically
sold themselves, and all they owned, for life. If the offspring did not
continue to enrich the family, they were summarily sold to other clans
for a pittance.
The Ironhearts are now the most wide
reaching and interrelated clan of all dwarvendom. They own legions of
armies and readily hire mercenaries of other races to do their bidding.
None dare trifle with the Ironhearts because it would not simply mean a
gruesome end for the individual, but also anyone and everything they
hold dear. In the past, the Ironhearts have destroyed even far flung
lineages of other dwarf clans many times removed from the actual
offender. This means lots of fearful bowing and boot-licking to the most
cold-blooded clan to ever dwell within the mountains.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
May to Z: M
Morrigan the Raven. The glossy haired wife of Beorngardt and mother of Fhionna Firehair/Fireheart.
Derived from the Gaelic name Muirgen meaning "born of the sea" and/or the Irish Morrighan meaning "great queen". Muirgen is said to have been a mermaid for 300 years and reborn on land as a human. Morrighan was a goddess of war and death who could take the form of a crow.
Her true birth name is unknown, even to her. She suffered amnesia after her vessel was attacked and burned by pirates.
When she was just a small girl her fisherman father called her Blackbird because her glossy hair reminded him of ravens' wings. Many other sailors in their small island village refused to set foot in the same boat with them because they saw carrion birds, like ravens and crows, as bad luck. Thus she and her father usually fished alone from their small boat.
One day, tales began to spread through the fishing fleet than a shipwreck of treasure had been found in the area of the Shattered Shoals. Much of the valuable cargo was still intact because it was made from nigh indestructible dwarven adamantite. However, it could not be collected because the incredibly clear water was much deeper than it appeared. Little Morrigan was a strong swimmer and her father devised a way that she could fill a hide air bladder and breathe through a small tube, allowing her to dive deeper than even grown men. Suddenly every sailor wanted her aboard their ship so she could haul in treasure for them. So great was their greed that they failed to guard their tongues and soon the tales had spread to many other islands.
The fishermen turned treasure hunters figured they'd be safer in numbers and could recover more treasure all at once with a single larger ship, rather than the smaller fishing boats. However this also attracted more suspicion than a fleet of smaller ships would and presented a larger target.
Morrigan began diving for treasure early in the red dawn of morning, and continued to haul in armloads of wealth all day. As the sun was setting, the crew egged her into one last dive. While she was down, scrabbling for treasure in the darkening water, a pirate shipped sailed out of the sun and attacked her boat. Even if the crew hadn't been greedily peering over the rail and picking through their horde, they never would have seen the sea-rats coming with the sun behind them.
As an exhausted Morrigan kicked for the surface, she could see a flickering light above the waves. It was the remnants of the burning hull, picked clean and drifting. All the crew were dead. The pirates pulled the weary girl from the sea and stole the last of what she'd recovered. They threatened to kill her if she didn't reveal the location of her village, which held even more loot. Desperate and shocked by the violence, she told them. They then struck her a heavy blow on the head and dumped her overboard, believing she'd die in the dark water. Instead she washed ashore while the pirates turned north to plunder her home.
The fishermen that found her named her Morrigan because she was "born from the sea". Now an adult she only remembers flashes of her childhood: the cry of gulls, visions of blackbirds in flight over a village, a shipwreck in southern islands, glittering treasure beneath the waves, and rising through dark water towards fire. The last thing she can recall before washing up on the beach is a red sunrise and red sunset.
Now grown with a family of her own, she longs to find where she came from. She wants her daughter to know her grandmother on the off chance that she's still alive. She tells Fhionna what little she can remember. After the fall of Highvale and the birth of Arthur (Morrigan's grandson) he decides to see what truth there is to his grandmother's tales of sunken treasure and ventures to the southern coast looking for the shipwreck that took her memory.
Derived from the Gaelic name Muirgen meaning "born of the sea" and/or the Irish Morrighan meaning "great queen". Muirgen is said to have been a mermaid for 300 years and reborn on land as a human. Morrighan was a goddess of war and death who could take the form of a crow.
Her true birth name is unknown, even to her. She suffered amnesia after her vessel was attacked and burned by pirates.
When she was just a small girl her fisherman father called her Blackbird because her glossy hair reminded him of ravens' wings. Many other sailors in their small island village refused to set foot in the same boat with them because they saw carrion birds, like ravens and crows, as bad luck. Thus she and her father usually fished alone from their small boat.
One day, tales began to spread through the fishing fleet than a shipwreck of treasure had been found in the area of the Shattered Shoals. Much of the valuable cargo was still intact because it was made from nigh indestructible dwarven adamantite. However, it could not be collected because the incredibly clear water was much deeper than it appeared. Little Morrigan was a strong swimmer and her father devised a way that she could fill a hide air bladder and breathe through a small tube, allowing her to dive deeper than even grown men. Suddenly every sailor wanted her aboard their ship so she could haul in treasure for them. So great was their greed that they failed to guard their tongues and soon the tales had spread to many other islands.
The fishermen turned treasure hunters figured they'd be safer in numbers and could recover more treasure all at once with a single larger ship, rather than the smaller fishing boats. However this also attracted more suspicion than a fleet of smaller ships would and presented a larger target.
Morrigan began diving for treasure early in the red dawn of morning, and continued to haul in armloads of wealth all day. As the sun was setting, the crew egged her into one last dive. While she was down, scrabbling for treasure in the darkening water, a pirate shipped sailed out of the sun and attacked her boat. Even if the crew hadn't been greedily peering over the rail and picking through their horde, they never would have seen the sea-rats coming with the sun behind them.
As an exhausted Morrigan kicked for the surface, she could see a flickering light above the waves. It was the remnants of the burning hull, picked clean and drifting. All the crew were dead. The pirates pulled the weary girl from the sea and stole the last of what she'd recovered. They threatened to kill her if she didn't reveal the location of her village, which held even more loot. Desperate and shocked by the violence, she told them. They then struck her a heavy blow on the head and dumped her overboard, believing she'd die in the dark water. Instead she washed ashore while the pirates turned north to plunder her home.
The fishermen that found her named her Morrigan because she was "born from the sea". Now an adult she only remembers flashes of her childhood: the cry of gulls, visions of blackbirds in flight over a village, a shipwreck in southern islands, glittering treasure beneath the waves, and rising through dark water towards fire. The last thing she can recall before washing up on the beach is a red sunrise and red sunset.
Now grown with a family of her own, she longs to find where she came from. She wants her daughter to know her grandmother on the off chance that she's still alive. She tells Fhionna what little she can remember. After the fall of Highvale and the birth of Arthur (Morrigan's grandson) he decides to see what truth there is to his grandmother's tales of sunken treasure and ventures to the southern coast looking for the shipwreck that took her memory.
More Savings from Banners on the Cheap
Yet another promotional deal from Banners on the Cheap.
This time you get 15% off ALL items until June 3rd.
I think I'm going to get me another battle mat. Since I now have a 2x2 maybe I'll spring for a 3x5 or a 3x6.
This time you get 15% off ALL items until June 3rd.
I think I'm going to get me another battle mat. Since I now have a 2x2 maybe I'll spring for a 3x5 or a 3x6.
May to Z: L
The lovely Lady Lucia is the wife of Perceval and Queen of the kingdom of Highvale.
She is known as the Lady of Light because she is very devoted in her worship of the sun. It is she who names the nearby lake after the sun, calling it Lake Solara.
Because she is very beautiful, second only to the ageless elf maidens. And with beauty comes jealousy from others. As such, it is whispered that she is having an affair with the fierce and golden-haired knight, Leonhart. When the prince Lancel the White is born he favors his mother's fair hair, which only fuels the rumors that he is not Perceval's son. And that he's named for the lance, a favored weapon of knights - Leonhart in particular - helps not at all. It's worsened by the fact that Lancel longs to be the squire of Leonhart, whom he idolizes. Leonhart does not call Lancel "my prince" because such honor is not fitting for a mere squire. Instead Leonhart calls him "son." Tongues continue to wag throughout Lancel's life that he is not a full blood prince
Perceval's second son, Lucas, is unquestionably his. He looks like his father in every way, but instead of sharing his older brother's penchant for fighting, he is pious like his mother. Lucas spends much of his boyhood in quiet study with the priests in the temple of the sun. People are more willing to accept Lucas as the future king because he is noble and devout and doesn't seek glory through battle.
Because Lucas is well on his way to becoming the next high priest, he does not participate in the Battle of Blackburn where his father, brother, and over 80% of the knights are killed. He survives because he's is favored by the sun god. This blessing saves the temple from falling to the dark army because Lucas prays for light and valor to be shone on he who bears his father's sword, Dawnseeker. He meant this prayer to protect his father, but because Perceval is already dead when Lucas voices this, it passes to the next to carry the king's sword. But that story doesn't come until much later with the letter V.
She is known as the Lady of Light because she is very devoted in her worship of the sun. It is she who names the nearby lake after the sun, calling it Lake Solara.
Because she is very beautiful, second only to the ageless elf maidens. And with beauty comes jealousy from others. As such, it is whispered that she is having an affair with the fierce and golden-haired knight, Leonhart. When the prince Lancel the White is born he favors his mother's fair hair, which only fuels the rumors that he is not Perceval's son. And that he's named for the lance, a favored weapon of knights - Leonhart in particular - helps not at all. It's worsened by the fact that Lancel longs to be the squire of Leonhart, whom he idolizes. Leonhart does not call Lancel "my prince" because such honor is not fitting for a mere squire. Instead Leonhart calls him "son." Tongues continue to wag throughout Lancel's life that he is not a full blood prince
Perceval's second son, Lucas, is unquestionably his. He looks like his father in every way, but instead of sharing his older brother's penchant for fighting, he is pious like his mother. Lucas spends much of his boyhood in quiet study with the priests in the temple of the sun. People are more willing to accept Lucas as the future king because he is noble and devout and doesn't seek glory through battle.
Because Lucas is well on his way to becoming the next high priest, he does not participate in the Battle of Blackburn where his father, brother, and over 80% of the knights are killed. He survives because he's is favored by the sun god. This blessing saves the temple from falling to the dark army because Lucas prays for light and valor to be shone on he who bears his father's sword, Dawnseeker. He meant this prayer to protect his father, but because Perceval is already dead when Lucas voices this, it passes to the next to carry the king's sword. But that story doesn't come until much later with the letter V.
Monday, May 20, 2013
May to Z: K
Kalana, derived from Kalpana - Sanskrit for " imagining, fantasy." How could I pass on a name like that on a blog like this?!
I don't like the way the P breaks it up, so I dropped it for Kalana. I imagine she'd be the benevolent goddess of dreams and reveries. She is depicted as a free spirited maiden, dancing in the starlight. She sees the physical world as being full of work and strife, and not enough fun and merriment. Thus she grants the escapism of dreams. Her gifts are always joyous and delightful, never frightening or worrisome. Doubt, drudgery, and disquiet are what she always seeks to dispel.
Some believe dreams are dangerous because one can become so enamored, especially if the Dream Maiden herself is glimpsed in a nightly vision, that those who see her are said to never fully wake again. These people are simply known as Dreamers. While they make the best poets and storytellers, and even inventors, people regard such bards as being aloof and likely to stumble into problems because they are always wandering with their head in the clouds.
I think I'll have to create a dark brother or sister to act as her opposite and sew seeds of darkness and discontent.
I don't like the way the P breaks it up, so I dropped it for Kalana. I imagine she'd be the benevolent goddess of dreams and reveries. She is depicted as a free spirited maiden, dancing in the starlight. She sees the physical world as being full of work and strife, and not enough fun and merriment. Thus she grants the escapism of dreams. Her gifts are always joyous and delightful, never frightening or worrisome. Doubt, drudgery, and disquiet are what she always seeks to dispel.
Some believe dreams are dangerous because one can become so enamored, especially if the Dream Maiden herself is glimpsed in a nightly vision, that those who see her are said to never fully wake again. These people are simply known as Dreamers. While they make the best poets and storytellers, and even inventors, people regard such bards as being aloof and likely to stumble into problems because they are always wandering with their head in the clouds.
I think I'll have to create a dark brother or sister to act as her opposite and sew seeds of darkness and discontent.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
May to Z: J
Johandra, meaning "strength of men", is the mannish and burly mother of two strong sons, Jhorn and Jhan (both pronounced with Ys).
Johandra is a simple dairy maid, but she is known far and wide for her great size and fearlessness. The story goes that she was helping a cow birth an extremely difficult calf and the herd's bull would not stop harassing the mother. Every time she'd lie down, the bull would circle, pestering and prodding her to get back up and move. After 3 times of this, Johandra became angry with the bull and pummeled him with a stone in each fist until he fled. This thunderous act of valor on behalf of a single milk cow made Johandra famous throughout the county.
From then on, would be suitors tried to court her to bear them strapping sons, but she wanted nothing to do with them. Her heart already belonged to the quite man that owned the hay farm in a neighboring village. Erwyn, meaning "green water", and his sister Idella, meaning "work or labor", mostly kept to themselves and tended their fields with a few hired hands. They were kind and comely, but spoke to outsiders very little except when trading their hay crop for other goods. Johandra had only ever spoken a few words to Erwyn, but it was Johandra that was desperately called for when Idella was in need of an "assisted birth."
Ultimately, Idella did not survive the crude surgery that brought her son into the world. Johandra was racked with guilt thinking it was her rough hands and "blundering" that had killed Idella. But Erwyn knew the truth of it was that both his sister and nephew would surely have died if Johandra had given up, or not come at all. Over time Erwyn is able to convince Johandra that he does not hate her for her heroism, in fact he'd like her to come be his wife and share his home. His nephew Hendarson was in need of a mother figure, even one so manly as she. Within a few short months Johandra was pregnant with a son of her own. Few were surprised when hearty Jhorn came into the world, bawling like a newborn calf. He and Hendarson were fast friends and inseparable from the time they could toddle the barnyard together. Another sturdy son, Jhan, was born to them in the following years. The three boys grow up as brothers and love the hard work of farming and raising cattle.
Tough and solid as they are, Erwyn and Johandra absolutely forbid the boys from joining the army of the dying king (Hendar) when his liver begins to fail and the lands are threatened by invaders looking to seize control.
Johandra is a simple dairy maid, but she is known far and wide for her great size and fearlessness. The story goes that she was helping a cow birth an extremely difficult calf and the herd's bull would not stop harassing the mother. Every time she'd lie down, the bull would circle, pestering and prodding her to get back up and move. After 3 times of this, Johandra became angry with the bull and pummeled him with a stone in each fist until he fled. This thunderous act of valor on behalf of a single milk cow made Johandra famous throughout the county.
From then on, would be suitors tried to court her to bear them strapping sons, but she wanted nothing to do with them. Her heart already belonged to the quite man that owned the hay farm in a neighboring village. Erwyn, meaning "green water", and his sister Idella, meaning "work or labor", mostly kept to themselves and tended their fields with a few hired hands. They were kind and comely, but spoke to outsiders very little except when trading their hay crop for other goods. Johandra had only ever spoken a few words to Erwyn, but it was Johandra that was desperately called for when Idella was in need of an "assisted birth."
Ultimately, Idella did not survive the crude surgery that brought her son into the world. Johandra was racked with guilt thinking it was her rough hands and "blundering" that had killed Idella. But Erwyn knew the truth of it was that both his sister and nephew would surely have died if Johandra had given up, or not come at all. Over time Erwyn is able to convince Johandra that he does not hate her for her heroism, in fact he'd like her to come be his wife and share his home. His nephew Hendarson was in need of a mother figure, even one so manly as she. Within a few short months Johandra was pregnant with a son of her own. Few were surprised when hearty Jhorn came into the world, bawling like a newborn calf. He and Hendarson were fast friends and inseparable from the time they could toddle the barnyard together. Another sturdy son, Jhan, was born to them in the following years. The three boys grow up as brothers and love the hard work of farming and raising cattle.
Tough and solid as they are, Erwyn and Johandra absolutely forbid the boys from joining the army of the dying king (Hendar) when his liver begins to fail and the lands are threatened by invaders looking to seize control.
Friday, May 17, 2013
May to Z: H & I
Hendar "home ruler"
He is the rich and philandering ruler of Halmond and boasts descent from the great King Hammund that settled the rich farm county by driving the goat-herder dwarves from their mountain halls. His title was actually taken through marriage to the queen, Harietta (also meaning "home ruler"), a great-great-grand niece of the mighty king.
Hendar becomes bored with feasting in his high hall and hunting wild hare among the hills, so he decides to accompany his tax collectors on their annual passage through the farms of the lowly Hayden Valley. It is on this hunt of a different kind that Hendar's eye becomes fixed on the lovely farm worker Idella.
She wants nothing to do with the brash and oft drunken lord, but he threatens to seize her family hay farm, driving her brother Erwyn and all their laborers into starvation, if not having them thrown in his dungeons. To save everything she's ever known destroyed, Idella submits and allows Hendar to bed her. Because he is exceeding drunk when he finally comes to her, the boastful king's performance is lackluster at best. Afterwards, Idella cannot stop weeping and Hendar casts her out believing she is weeping at his failure to perform. He swears that if he ever lays eyes on her again, he'll have her tears silenced forever.
Even sadder still is that his brief passion was not as much a failure as one would hope. Idella soon finds herself with child. She is so ashamed of the one dreadful night with the king that she never leaves the farm once her pregnancy begins to show. Her brother Erwyn is terrified that rumor will spread back to the sot of a king and he'll kill Idella and the baby to hide his indiscretion from the queen. As such, Erwyn is forced to slander his sister and tell townsfolk that she has lain with several of the farm hands and does not know who the father of the child is. When Idella goes into labor and the baby has not turned, she must have an "assisted birth." The only one in the area that knows how to do such a thing is the cattle herder Johandra in the next village. Erwyn rides through a torrential rain to fetch the birthing woman and save his sister. Johandra is too large to ride a horse and thus runs the 15 miles from her ranch to Erwyn's door and saves the baby. Idella does not survive the procedure. Brokenhearted as Erwyn is, he believes it best that she not have to raise the child that she didn't wish for and who is so clearly the king's son. Johandra is not afraid of the stumbling despot and, amidst the screams of Idella's labor and peels of thunder, gives the boy his name: Hendarson.
He is the rich and philandering ruler of Halmond and boasts descent from the great King Hammund that settled the rich farm county by driving the goat-herder dwarves from their mountain halls. His title was actually taken through marriage to the queen, Harietta (also meaning "home ruler"), a great-great-grand niece of the mighty king.
Hendar becomes bored with feasting in his high hall and hunting wild hare among the hills, so he decides to accompany his tax collectors on their annual passage through the farms of the lowly Hayden Valley. It is on this hunt of a different kind that Hendar's eye becomes fixed on the lovely farm worker Idella.
She wants nothing to do with the brash and oft drunken lord, but he threatens to seize her family hay farm, driving her brother Erwyn and all their laborers into starvation, if not having them thrown in his dungeons. To save everything she's ever known destroyed, Idella submits and allows Hendar to bed her. Because he is exceeding drunk when he finally comes to her, the boastful king's performance is lackluster at best. Afterwards, Idella cannot stop weeping and Hendar casts her out believing she is weeping at his failure to perform. He swears that if he ever lays eyes on her again, he'll have her tears silenced forever.
Even sadder still is that his brief passion was not as much a failure as one would hope. Idella soon finds herself with child. She is so ashamed of the one dreadful night with the king that she never leaves the farm once her pregnancy begins to show. Her brother Erwyn is terrified that rumor will spread back to the sot of a king and he'll kill Idella and the baby to hide his indiscretion from the queen. As such, Erwyn is forced to slander his sister and tell townsfolk that she has lain with several of the farm hands and does not know who the father of the child is. When Idella goes into labor and the baby has not turned, she must have an "assisted birth." The only one in the area that knows how to do such a thing is the cattle herder Johandra in the next village. Erwyn rides through a torrential rain to fetch the birthing woman and save his sister. Johandra is too large to ride a horse and thus runs the 15 miles from her ranch to Erwyn's door and saves the baby. Idella does not survive the procedure. Brokenhearted as Erwyn is, he believes it best that she not have to raise the child that she didn't wish for and who is so clearly the king's son. Johandra is not afraid of the stumbling despot and, amidst the screams of Idella's labor and peels of thunder, gives the boy his name: Hendarson.
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