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.
During the sword age of Ragnarok, a group of unlikely heroes
must steal the Horn of the Kraken from Hakon, the bastard pretender to the
throne of Norveig, who is using it to force kraken to sink the ships of Jarl
Eric Bloodaxe, in a bid to win the war between them and destroy the Norse way
of life towards enslaving all the peoples of Midgard.
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
