| From: | Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Trolls and Vikings (Re: Sv: Scandinavia 2050). |
| Date: | Wed, 29 Apr 1998 04:34:02 +0000 |
> > I have been thinking that people in Skandinavia have an higher chance=
of
> > being physical adepts.
I assume you're referring to berserkers. They were in part 'holy
men', and depending on the recounting they were very eager to fight,
or else ate certain mushrooms as a 'combat drug'. (Gnawing the edge
of their shields in impatience to fight, and fighting on despite
massive damage). They were also supposed to be shapeshifters, able to
change their Fell (shape, fur) to that of a bear or a wolf. They were
fairly few.
> Could one of you provide us with some information on the "true" nordic t=
rolls,
> as I recall them being far different than the trolls mentioned in SR.
Here goes... there's three kinds of 'trolls' in history. Which
depends on who you ask... the (really) old books, fairly recent
books, and folklore stories. (H.C. Andersen, E.G.).
The first kind is 'jotner', trolls, of legend.. also called
Ice Giants. They were a lot closer to dark gods than 'just big
people'. They fought the gods, competed with them, sometimes in a
friendly manner, sometimes not so. Loke (eng. Loki) was son of a
goddess and a jotun. (Don't remember their names, I'm not *that* into
it.). They are the gods main antagonists in Ragnarokk, as well as the
Midgaard serpent (another name, which hints at its size, would be
'Equator'.) and Fenris. Those legends in particular has cropped up in
more than a few comics, most of which is *FAR* off the original
story, but close enough you probably know the basics. Some of them
are really dark and terrible figures, some are comically stupid -
usually in the lighter tales where one is tricked by Tor or whoever.
Some know potent sorcery. They live in or near mountains or the sea..
The first of the Ice giants, Ymir, was the most powerful.. extremely
so, in fact.
Then there's the Mountainking of Ibsen (Peer Gynt). There, trolls are
varying in size from small, furry, tailed cretins, to extra large
giants. They are the ebodiment of human greed, with (roughly
translated) 'troll, be all unto thyself' as a very descriptive
saying. These are also most like those in Pini's Elfquest series..
'Dovregubben' (Old mountain man, the Mountainking) is synonymous with
Satan in the play Peer Gynt.
Of popular folklore, trolls are big rocky things that gets turned to
stone in sunlight, which is what all these hills are. These trolls
are the dumb big guys of Tolkienesque fame, which is especially eager
to eat christian kids.
> > And the Viking period was coused by a Mana surge.
>
> The Viking period, IMHO, was casued by hormones and greed.
No. It had all manners of causes, chief among which was
poverty, overcrowding, trade, ambition, wanderlust and .. well..
hormones and greed. ;)
If you run a campaign in these areas, remember this: this is ancient
history. Very, very ancient history. It's not part of the culture,
and only a few has much interest in it beyond, "Oy! Vikings were
cool!". There's a few 'clubs' which reenact the old ways, but it's
just basically a bunch of big guys throwing odd parties. The rest is
mostly souvenir shop stuff .There's a few references to vikings here
and there - Braathens SAFE, the major airline company, uses old
kings' names as names for their planes, things like that, but
otherwise, nothing. There WON'T be a 'return to the old ways' or
whatever. Winternight's stretching it, to put it mildly - the old
norse religion is utterly dead as a religion. (Okay, there's .. hmm..
less than ten actively religious, and mostly for fun, I suspect.).
As for viking raiders... it was fairly common of the times. They
settled many areas as well - Britain is full of old viking
cities, so is France (Normandy) and Germany. As I also mentioned in
the other post, they were primarily traders. A phenomenon called
Danegeld, (Danish Gold) became a custom - a tax english kings paid
*NOT* to get raided. It reached exorbiant amounts.
Most of the raids were 800-1000 A.D.
The Viking period had its share of brutality - if you read Snorre's
Kingssaga (recommended) the understatements, one-liners and good
descriptions paint a vivid picture of the times. The minimalistic
style lends itself to accurate history, although it's colored by the
author being christian. (The book was written about a hundred years
after the last of the recounted events.). The author also has a fancy
for action - while Harald Goodrule gets perhaps ten pages, even
though his reign lasted sixty years and had no wars nor conflict, the
story of Olav Trygvasson, which was what is best described as a Mean
Motherf***er, gets more than a hundred pages. Loyalty, honesty,
integrity, defiance is considered very high virtues. If you're
curious about morality of the times, read "Håvamål", written down by
the same author, Snorre Sturlasson. (If your mailer takes nordic
letters, else "Haavamaal". Translated, it's "The High's speech", or
Odin's speech, a long poem with advice on how to behave, what to do,
and so on. Lots of it is still valid. How to treat friends and
enemies. Treating an enemy's friend as a friend is unsuitable, the
road to a good friend is short, no matter how far, while that to a
lesser friend is far, no matter how short. Drunkenness is dangerous.
Wisdom is precious, if you lack it, disguise that by keeping quiet.
If you receive a gift, return one of equal or better value. If you
receive praise from a foe, ignore it as empty words, 'repaying lies
with lies'. And, perhaps, one of the cornerstones of that society..
"Friends die, cattle die, you die as well. One thing that never dies
is (widewords good).". That last means 'a good reputation' but not
exactly. It's often quoted.
Well, that's about it for now.
--
Fade
And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost
