Tuesday 7 April 2015

Selkie will seal the deal.



  In codifying the selkie, seal people, for Horn of the Kraken I drew heavily on the original myths out of Scotland Ireland and Faroese. It came as a happy coincidence that the myth was especially common on the Orkney Islands where Fjorn was born and raised. The myths for the most part are variants on the theme of the fairy bride where the fey wife lives for a span of years with her human husband than because of a circumstance, in the case of the Selkie the regaining of her seal skin, returns to life in her other realm.
    Looking at the world of Horn of the Kraken I felt the Selkie would have distinct advantages in their seal form that could be played to good effect and the game frame work for the Ulfhednar, wolf warrior, could be copied to make a playable character.
    In the myth when the selkie recovers it’s seal skin it vanishes into the sea never to return, although sometimes they come back to check on their children, thus to be true to the myth I put in the clause regarding level division that I think is unique to the denizens in the Fate of the Norns system.
     As the story developed I added the Okra call and worked Okra in as the physical embodiment of the transition to the afterlife. This came about by looking at early human cultures. Often the creature that posed a threat or prowled the graveyard was made the guide to the dead. For example in the Egyptian system Anubis, a jackal headed god, is the guide to the dead, and travels of all kinds.
    I made the section of taking a dead silkie’s hide out of whole cloth, but I felt it added to the nobility of the creatures that they would use the dead to grant full life to the living. I’ve signed my organ donor card and told my loved ones of my wishes, have you? Thus the modern day parallels a historic fantasy.

Crowd sourcing:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/horn-of-the-kraken/x/10328491
 

PENDELHAVEN
http://twitter.com/avalkauskas
FATE OF THE NORNS
http://www.fateofthenorns.com
http://www.facebook.com/fateofthenorns
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3107

Sunday 5 April 2015

Horn of the Kraken blog 1



In writing Horn of the Kraken I wanted to explore the miscommunication of cultures. Much has been made of the Viking raids over the centuries, but few know that those raids came in response to the Christian practice of padding the bill in all business dealings for non-Christians. To an honest Norseman this practice was viewed as an insult to his honour inviting retribution in the form of a raid. Thus a practice that the intruding culture viewed as an act of devotion was viewed by the existent culture as a grave insult. Things like this happen when ever two cultures meet. We tend to forget this in our media saturated world. Back in the day you couldn’t jut Google and see that the other guy didn’t mean it the way you’re taking it.
On the other hand, I also wanted to touch on the fact that the crusader’s supposed virtue was more a result of the winners writing the history than any actual fact. The crusaders in our real world were far more about controlling the trade routes for profit than any concerns of faith. Fighting men are and always have been fighting men. War brings out the worst in people. Even the schism I hint at between Hakon’s royal guards and the crusaders is mirrored in the rivalry between the various branches of today’s militaries.

Horn of the Kraken is a new novel from the keyboard of Stephen B. Pearl. It is set in the universe of the Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok Role Playing Game and will be crowd sourced for its production expenses at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/horn-of-the-kraken/x/10328491


PENDELHAVEN
http://twitter.com/avalkauskas
FATE OF THE NORNS
http://www.fateofthenorns.com
http://www.facebook.com/fateofthenorns
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3107