#myth stuff

[dwollsadventures]

A jaculus token I made for a future Tomb of Annihilation game. The design is applicable to the legendary variety as well, so I'll also use it for that. Trying to turn the face into a piercing weapon presented a little challenge. I knew I wanted to make it into a spear-like shape, but figured that horns or ear-like flaps on the skull seemed counterintuitive. After all, the jaculus doesn't want to get stuck in its prey. After some sketching I noticed the similarity between older spearheads and the pattern of scales on snake heads.

For this jaculus, the scales on the head have been reduced in number and enlarged in size and strength. It smacks into prey like a true javelin, passing straight through unarmored bits. The elasticity of snake skulls allows it to open up, exposing the eyes and mouth. When flying, these are protected beneath the scales for the impact. The colors are mostly the same as my first pass, but with the spots.

[dwollfieldnotes]

Manticore

Indica by Ctesias (5th Century BC)

Lives in India

Has the face and ears of a man, is cinnabar-red all over, and has light blue eyes

Three rows of teeth

Tail is like that of a land scorpion, with a cubit-long sting at the end

It has other stings on either side of its tail and one on top of its head

A sting-made wound is always fatal, except to elephants

If attacked from a distance it can discharge its sting as if from a bow, if from behind it will straighten its tail [so the tail seems to have some sensory system, like the hairs of an insect, to detect motion near it]

Called the man-eater in the languages of the Persians and Greeks

Though it consumes animals as well, the greater portion of its diet is made up of human beings

Stings grow again after being discharged

Natural History by Pliny the Elder (77)

Cites Ctesias

Lives in Æthiopia [sub-Saharan Africa]

Triple rows of teeth, which fit together like the teeth of a comb

The face and ears of a man, azure eyes, the body of a lion colored blood red, and a tail ending with a sting like a scorpion [so, not just a straight-up scorpion tail, but similar in effect]

Too swift to be caught by men

Has a voice like the union of a flute and trumpet

Craves human flesh above all else [may be a specialist predator of humans, using its face and voice to lure people in]

"On Animals" by Aelian (2nd century)

Cites Ctesias

Lives in India, and is called the man-slayer by Persians

As large as the largest lion, with red cinnabar fur and a shaggy coat like a dog's

Has the head of a man and human-like ears, but larger and shaggy. Eyes are blue-grey

Three sets of teeth on the upper and lower jaw, larger than the fangs of a hound

At the end of the tail is a sting like a scorpion, a cubit in length, with stings in intervals at each side

The prick of the tip is fatal to anyone, and death is immediate

Can discharge its stings like a bow. When it shoots ahead of it, it must bend its tail above itself, like a scorpion. If behind, the tail must be straightened. [Seems to be momentum-based]

Stings are as thick as a bulrush

In the places where those stings have been let fly others spring up, so that this evil produces a crop [so… the stings are able to grow like a plant when detached from the manticore. Are the stings a separate organism, that symbiotically attaches to the manticore's tail? A creature that grows like a plant and produces poison, but is otherwise sessile, requiring the manticore to disperse them. The manticore gets a poisonous weapon for its tail and the stings grow/regenerate in the tail]

Hunted by Indians when they're young, still without spines. They crush the tip of the tail with a rock so that they can never grow. [Again, suggesting a sort of symbiosis. Young manticores have to seek out these spine-organisms and accept their eggs onto their tails for them to grow]

Their voice is remarkably like a trumpet

Some were spotted in Persia, and Ctesias brought this up with the Persian king to discuss the issue [spreading their range?]

[gigizetz]

Everyone’s Tiresias designs now be like:

twinkfication: ACTIVATE

already brainstorming ab this

[generouskittentidalwave]

I will never understand how Odysseus has all the braincells while also having none of them at the same exact time. He is an amazing war general and is insanely smart but has the attention span of a rat fuelled by the need to cause chaos simply because he is bored. He can't listen to one thing while getting distracted by the thing he was specifically told not to touch.

[danshive]

If you look at a cloud and see a giraffe, you're not right-brained.

If you look at a cloud and see a hippo, you're not left-brained.

I say this with certainty because people being left or right brained is a myth.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

do you think they realized it was unfair and appreciated eachother's presence and yet still couldn't love eachother

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[authorisedgardian]

This made me think how it really is weird what we end up researching sometimes as writers. I definitely wouldn't want some random person looking through my search history without any given context. Just to gives a few examples of my own. I have necromancy in my world so I've ended up searching various things about bodies and skeletons that I'm sure would look rather suspicious to many people. Then on a completely different note I've also researched so many musical instruments during my time writing. I have a race in my world that partially uses music to communicate and I have learnt so much about organs (the instrument not the body organs) amongst many other instruments, including some more obscure ones.

Though I must say I think it is actually one of the many benefits of being a writer, if it wern't for me writing a book then I doubt I ever would even thought to research these things. Not only that, It has also reinforced some of my other interests that I've had previously such as mythology, it basically gives me an excuse to learn more.

[deadhaven]

One of my favorite kennings for Loki is "farmr Sigvinjar arma", which translates roughly to "the cargo of Sigyn's arms". Add a little Gustav Klimt to the equation, and you have an idea that's been plaguing me for months.

[pimsri]

I’ve been playing the Hades game lately

[dwollsadventures]

This page was drawn after I read A Study of Dragons of Eastern Europe by Ronesa Aveela. Here are some notes for context on the designs:

Lamya - Body is reptilian and huge with scarlet or yellow scales. Possesses webbed wings and dog-like heads (3/7/9) with horns and jaws wide enough to swallow a buffalo whole

Smok - Derived from ordinary snakes that, after incredibly long lives, grow to enormous sizes

Zmey - As they fly, sparks form from their scales

Balaur [which is Romanian, not Slavic] - Comes from a snake that fulfills a certain task (not being seen, not biting a human, not letting sun fall on it, etc.), Three types, living in the skies (come down to drink water, which is stored in the tail), land, or water

I really liked the design for the sky balaur, which stands out compared to the more generic land and water varieties. The water-filled tail acting as a pressure sprayer is also a super cool idea. The lamya design was refined into this drawing with Drake.

[dwollfieldnotes]

Paracelsus' Four Elemental Spirits

Now, you may have heard of Paracelsus or his four elemental spirits, but have you read the book they featured in? If not, here's some notes:

A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits by Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) (1566)

Spirits: -In Paracelsus' reckoning, human beings possess nature (in the body), spirit, and an angel [internal holiness? or like a literal guardian angel/personal genius?], present in the soul -Supernatural beings, called spirits or elementals, have neither a soul nor an angel, but only a body, like animals -And yet, he continually compares both their form and mannerisms to true spirits -Later says most people see them as spirits, or mirages, but he claims they are flesh and blood -Unlike true spirits [angels and demons, probably] they cannot move through all matter. They are flesh and blood, and must walk, eat, drink, and reproduce -When they die, they die without a soul, only returning their body to nature -Have no compulsion to serve God -Each type of elemental lives in its own abode, which humans can interact with -None of the elementals intermingle with each other [no inter-breeding] -[Shows a few interesting bits of folklore, but is bogged down by Paracelsus' own weird world-building and semi-science] Undine: -Frequently called nymphs -Spirits of the water. Reside in brooks and rivers -Eat from the mud, where earth and water mix -Look exceedingly similar to human beings [he says both men and women, but read below] -Grasp people that swim near them -Seek to woo and marry men to attain an eternal soul -Venus was a historical undine that ruled in a Venusberg (see below) -She gathered many kingdoms together, but they fell apart during her death, as none of her successors were as well-endowed as her Gnome: -Also called the mountain people -Spirits of the earth. Reside in earth as easily as we reside in air, moving through stone without issue -Because they live in a coarse material, they are made of subtle material to pass through it -Their food grows in water rather than in soil [get nourishment from the materials in aquifers? or underground lakes?] -Very small in appearance, only two spans tall [if we assume an English span, that would be 18 inches] -Never marry with humans, though may serve them -Have supernatural knowledge of the future and past -Guard the treasures of earth (jewels and precious minerals) Sylph: -Also called the forest people -Spirits of the air. Closest to humans, who also live in air and suffocate in water and earth, and burn in fire -Eat wild plants and herbs, nourished by rain from the heavens and the soil of earth -Cruder, coarser, longer, and stronger than human beings -Shy and quiet Salamander: -Spirits of the fire -Fed by the earth and air -Long, narrow, and lean in shape -Can be heard yelling and hammering in volcanic regions -Never marry humans, and rarely serve them -Have supernatural knowledge of the future and past -May appear as fiery lights in far distances or passing through homes -Commonly work with witches -Guardians of precious materials, a job they share with gnomes -Will-o'-the-wisps are the monsters of the fire people, like sirens below Siren: -Relatives of nymphs, or a sub-set of them -Live on the water rather than in it [like on islands?] -Monstrous in appearance -Born from undine parents, but are considered wicked and strange -Do not marry and bear human children -So few male sirens are born that the women form Venusbergs; large collections of nymphs/sirens Giant: -Monsters born from the forest people, like sirens -When giants come together it is like a thunderstorm or earthquake -Not impressed by the constellations of Heaven -Infertile. Because of this, they've died out Dwarf: -Monsters born from the mountain people, like sirens -Greater and stronger than human beings, despite being shorter than them -Infertile. Because of this, they've died out

[sophieinwonderland]

The lack of ancient time travel stories is existentially terrifying

Through all the ancient myths and legend that exist, it's horrifying to think that none involved traveling to the past. There were some with sped up time or people sleeping a long time. But travel to the past just wasn't a thing that existed as a concept.

Today, it's everywhere. There's not a single person who hasn't heard of time travel. But in ancient stories, even the gods themselves are subject to the whims of time.

It seems like such an obvious thing to tell stories about too. Who hasn't made a mistake and wished they could go back and do it over again? It's so basic.

Yet it's like through all of human history, nobody even considered it until the couple hundred years. It's as if the idea was so incomprehensible that we couldn't think of it.

Until, that is, after we did.

That makes you wonder though, what possibilities are out there that might still be so obvious be we haven't thought of yet? And why couldn't we think of time travel before then?

We all think of imagination as unlimited, and yet something as simple as getting a do-over on a past mistake is unheard of over thousands of years of fictional stories we've recorded.

[wayward-banana]

babe wake up I remembered to do a new years Takumi after 4 years

[bucephaly]

It's kinda shocking to me how few people seem to know how prevalent the 'my great grandmother was cherokee' myth is and how it's almost never actually true, especially when it comes with things like 'never signed up' or 'fell off the trail' or 'courthouse burned down destorying the documentation' etc etc.

People just don't even seem to know the history like.. when the Trail happened. My great great great grandfather was 2 years old during Removal in 1838, so peoples 'my great grandmother hid in the mountains!' is so clearly wrong. And we have rolls. From before and after removal, rolls done by cherokee nation and others by the government, rolls that were not stored in one random flammable courthouse. It's not difficult to find the actual evidence of ancestry.

And just.. there are lots of ways those family stories get started. It was a practice during the confederacy to claim cherokee ancestry to show one's family had 'deep roots in the south' that they were there before the cherokee were removed. Many people pretended to be cherokee and applied for the Guion-Miller payout just to try to steal money meant for cherokees - 2/3rds of the applicants were denied for having 0 proof of actual cherokee ancestry. [We even see lawyers advertising signing up for the Miller roll just to try to get free money.] And the myth even started in some families in the cherokee land lotteries, where the land stolen from us was raffled off, including the house and everything that was left behind when the cherokees were removed. We have seen people whose families just take these things stolen from the cherokee family and adopt them into their own family story, saying that they were cherokee themselves.

If you had some family story about being cherokee and you wanna have proof one way or the other, check out this Facebook group run by expert cherokee genealogists that do research for free. Just please read the rules fully and respect the researchers. They run thousands of people's ancestries a year and their average is only around 0.7% of lines they run actually end up having true cherokee ancestry.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

gea and kronos overthrone uranus