Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Dec 2003 to 29 Dec 2003 (#2003-300) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 30/12/2003, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 6 messages totalling 259 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. The Olympian Conspiracy (3 of 4) is MISSING 2. Extended Northmen Pantheon (4) 3. Dwarves ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 00:53:39 -0800 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: The Olympian Conspiracy (3 of 4) is MISSING I don't know for you guys, but i did not received the part 3... please, Francisco... send it back... thib ===== Thibault SARLAT a.k.a Clenarius www.mystara.fr.st ICQ 16622177 MSN Messenger: clenarius@hotmail.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:44:31 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Extended Northmen Pantheon Francisco V. Navarro V wrote: > Hail Mystarans! > > Yuletide greetings to all! It's the season of winter, snow and mistletoe. > And all this reminds me of the Northern Realms, so here's something to > enjoy, curled up by a warm blazing hearth. Hi, Kit! very interesting article! I've some comments. > The Norns are three eldritch and fearful Immortal crones that mysteriously > appear to a mortal at the time of birth and death, though Northmen myth tell > of heroes and even Immortals, who seek out the Norns in the remotest of > mountain crags for their wisdom, their power, and their prophecies. By > tradition, the Norns are known as Skuld (Khoronus), Keeper of the Unchanging > Past, Urd (Ordana), Mistress of the Manifold Paths, and Verthandi, She Who > Sees the Unforeseeable. I especially like Ordana as Urd. I would think that worship of Ordana spreaded among the neathar/antalians after the arrival of Elves in Taymora, where she was known as Urtni. Also, Verthandi is the older member of the triad. I believe he/she was one of the original Immortal patrons of the Neathar people, with Odin and Valerias. I've written a short article on the topic, which at some point I'll post. Meanwhile, let's say that my hypothesis is that, before the GRoF, the Neathar pantheon included Verthandi as a patron of law and ruleship, Odin as a patron of warfare, and Valerias as a patroness of fertility. Later, Odin took over most of Verthandi's portfolio, as the other Immortal retired into his search for Old One status, and brought in Thor to help him. > But the godi of Baldur have demonstrated > their Patron's will with miraculous powers of restoration, renewal, and even > resurrection. I think resurrection is not considered as a good idea in the Northern Reaches. > 4 Verthandi: He has always been a mysterious Immortal from the Sphere of > Time, and his name clearly comes from one of the Norns of the Norse Patheon. > So why not add two more Hierarchs of Time, do a little Immortal sex change > (like Nyx) and you have the Norns! (Note: Which D&D adventure preludes with > three mysterious hags high in the mountains? Could these be the Norns? Or at > least avatars/mortal identities?) They certainly have some traits from the Norns, and perhaps others from other literary witches/hags. > 5 Odur/Ixion: I believe that Ixion's worship must be universal throughout > Mystara, and the Sun-Prince figures in cultures even when he is not the > chief patron (i.e. as Horon in Nithia, Solarios in Thyatis). I think Ixion starts as the main patron of the Oltec Man, possibly with Ka. His presence in Neathar pantheons should be related to the interaction with Oltec cultures (common in the KW due to Nithia). Also, Ixion seems very aggressive in expanding his power base -- he is worshipped even by the goblinoids. > 6 Frigga/Valerias: As with Ixion, Valerias must have her finger in every > pie, especially with her recent rise in popularity in Thyatis and Glantri. > The problem is which Norse goddess would should be identified with? The > wonderful thing about Valerias is that her portfolio (compared to the > original entry in DotE) has expanded from a patroness of love/war (like > Ishtar or Inanna) to a patroness of fertility and womanhood. Chaotic and > ambitious as Valerias is, why not take on the role as Odin's peer and equal > (especially with that little Freyja in the way)? This matches quite well with my idea of Valerias as the third "elder neathar immortal". Her worship as Frigga might have dwindled in the Northern Reaches, but thrived in Thyatis under a new name. I also believe that her original portfolio is more related to the fertility/womanhood part, and that the love/war part was an original development of the Thyatian (or perhaps Milenian) religion. > 9 Tyras/Tiresias: Sounds like Tyr and Tiresias, and his portfolio fits > the Norse/Northmen pantheon, so why not? Note that there is another "Tyr", Ilsundal as Tiuz in Eusdria. I think Tyr is just a missing slot in the pantheon, and several Immortals might have tried, in different places/times to fill the vacancy. Bye, GP -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:31:38 -0500 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Extended Northmen Pantheon > > From: "Francisco V. Navarro V" > > Hail Mystarans! > > Yuletide greetings to all! It's the season of winter, snow and mistletoe. > And all this reminds me of the Northern Realms, so here's something to > enjoy, curled up by a warm blazing hearth. > I wish there was a nice warm blazing hearth to curl up next to, but it is 70 degrees F out here in sunny Florida! > (Note: Which D&D adventure preludes with > three mysterious hags high in the mountains? Could these be the Norns? Or at > least avatars/mortal identities?) CM1, there were 3 hags in the mountains. They were able to prophesize, and IMC, they were avatars that were able to divulge some information on questing for immortality. Great write up, now I have immortal identities to fit with my hag avatars! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:40:01 -0500 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Extended Northmen Pantheon > > From: Giampaolo Agosta > > > But the godi of Baldur have demonstrated > > their Patron's will with miraculous powers of restoration, renewal, and even > > resurrection. > > I think resurrection is not considered as a good idea in the Northern Reaches. > Resurrection is not a very good idea amung the Northman. Hel has influence on this part, as she decides the fate of evildoers and reincarnates them as humanoids. Even though the two concepts are far apart from eachother, the superstitious Northmen don't look kindly upon known dead people walking around. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 17:17:12 -0500 From: Dan Eustace Subject: Re: Extended Northmen Pantheon > >(Note: Which D&D adventure preludes with > > three mysterious hags high in the mountains? Could these be the Norns? Or at > > least avatars/mortal identities?) > CM1, there were 3 hags in the mountains. They were able to prophesize, and IMC, they were avatars that were able to divulge some information on questing for immortality. > > Great write up, now I have immortal identities to fit with my hag avatars! Yes, the Crones of Crystykk. They play a key role IMC as well, and having them as avatars of Immortals makes sense. They also appeared in other modules set in Norwold (CM3 Sabre River, maybe cameos in some more). They watch over Norwold and send dreams and portents to adventures and heroes who can play a key part in NW's future. They observe events thru a potent magical mirror embedded in the rock of their isolated mountain cave. They appear as incredibly ancient crones and in mortal form are high level clerics in possession of numerous powerful magic items. At various times, they have sent for the PCs or the PCs have sought them out in order to gain knowledge or set events in motion... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 20:53:52 -0800 From: Larry Subject: Re: Dwarves Are you going to describe the dwarvish lang. in more detal then whats in the publeshed materals thats out? If any one else uses other systems please do tell and how you use them... --- la Volpe wrote: > I have finished my history of the Denwarf. I just > have > to add some thing regarding the Modrigswerg, then > I'll > begin translating and posting it here. I have > written > the history from a Denwarf perspective, not "as the > Immortals know it". I plan to write the same history > from the Modrigswerg perspective and then add the > informations on the Savage Coast dwarves and on the > Filwarf (obviously from THEIR perspective). I am > also > currently writing a description of the dwarven > religion, and I plan to give a full description of > dwarven society based on the PHBR and on GAZ6 and > GAZ7. > > I hope to post something very soon! > > Iulius Sergius Scaevola > Captain of the XXth Cohort > Port Lucinius, Thyatis > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi > allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam > http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/ > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ===== "Happy Hunting!" My web site: http://www.geocities.com/boonedale/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Dec 2003 to 29 Dec 2003 (#2003-300) ****************************************************************