Thanks!
According to the Rules Cyclopedia, the Heldann Freeholds (prior to the arrival of the Knights, I believe) is supposed to correspond to RW medieval Iceland. Since I know little about the pre-Knights Freeholds - and even much less about medieval Iceland, I was wondering whether anyone can clarify the connection between the two cultures.
Thanks!
To my knowledge, nothing much was ever printed about the Heldann Freholds before Bruce Heard introduced the Heldannic Knights.
It is true that the old blue Expert boxed set refers to the Heldann Freeholds as a culture similar to medieval Iceland but I think that was just to make them somewhat related to the Northern Reaches. Various modules have named both Landfall and Freiburg as "The City of Thieves" but I believe the Dawn of the Emperors boxed set established once and for all that it is Landfall which is ruled by a weak cousin of King Ericall called Lernal the Swill, who is under the influence of a powerful guild...
Various modules such as Crown of Ancient Glory describe the Heldanners (or at least some of them) as barbarians worshipping a minoutaur-headed immortal named Gylgarid or something (I am sure DM or others here remember his correct name) so there really is very little connection to the historical medieval Iceland.
Although Iceland was Danish once, Havard can probably tell you more about their culture than I can. I only know a bit about their sagas - famous for blood feuds between clans and families - and their democratic parliament, which in the Known World has inspired the Soderfjord gathering known as the Thinge.
A search of the internet might come up with a lot more information but I haven't got time to do one right now :D
Also, you might want to get in touch with Thibault Sarlat. He is one of the active members of the Heldann Gazetteer project in the Yahoo Groups. I am not sure whether his project is finished, but he let me review a test version once. Unfortunately, I lost it when I lost my harddisc last summer, but there was an amazing amount of info on the Heldannic Territories in it.
:-) Jesper
According to the Rules Cyclopedia, the Heldann Freeholds (prior to the arrival of the Knights, I believe) is supposed to correspond to RW medieval Iceland. Since I know little about the pre-Knights Freeholds - and even much less about medieval Iceland, I was wondering whether anyone can clarify the connection between the two cultures.
I was also puzzled by the reference to "Medieval Iceland" and wondered what the authors meant by those words. I am no expert on Icelandic History, but I know a few things: Iceland was settled by Vikings from Norway, who left their homelands of various reasons, many being bannished, while others were simply looking for new opportunities. Many brought wives from Ireland, but Icelandic culture was strongly connected to that of the Vikings, and eventually the Icelanders were able to preserve that culture longer than the rest of scandinavia. Iceland was also made Christian much later than the scandinavian countries.
Applying this to Mystara I'd say, as Jesper pointed out that the native Heldanners have a culture similar to the Antalian peoples of the Northern Reaches and Norwold. One explaination to the "Freeholds" name and the paralell drawn to iceland could be that the natives of Heldann were in fact people who had left the Northern Reaches, many perhaps fleeing persecution, criminals etc. By escaping into the hills they found a way to start a new life in Heldann.
When Bruce Heard introduced the Knights in VotPA, he redefined Heldann somewhat. The Icelandic-type Heldanners are still around, but are being ruled by an order of Knights from Hattia. Bruce Heard wrote a bunch of stuff on Heldann which is available on the Vaults, and worth checking out!
The Gylgarid issue is another interesting fact. It has come up in discussions before, where someone (Cthulhudrew?) suggested connecting him to Gilgamesh, lord of the Enduks (Winged Minotaurs). The Antalian Heldanners IMO worship the Immortals of the Northern Reaches, but pergaps Gylgarid is a local cult, making him a patron of Heldann. The Knights ofcourse are loyal followers of Vanya, so they probably have little tolerance for any local beliefs.
Håvard
The Gylgarid issue is another interesting fact. It has come up in discussions before, where someone (Cthulhudrew?) suggested connecting him to Gilgamesh, lord of the Enduks (Winged Minotaurs). The Antalian Heldanners IMO worship the Immortals of the Northern Reaches, but pergaps Gylgarid is a local cult, making him a patron of Heldann. The Knights ofcourse are loyal followers of Vanya, so they probably have little tolerance for any local beliefs.
Even in X13, the Gylgarid thing came across as sort of a small evil cult as opposed to an "overall" Heldann belief. It became a bit more difficult to factor them in with the addition of the Heldannic Knights (why didn't they clamp down on the cult?), but not impossible.
I'm not sure who suggested the Gilgamesh connection, though I do know we've discussed the Gylgarid thing here before on a minotaur thread. Should be available somewhere in the archive. I can't even really recall my own thoughts on Gylgarid at the time, oddly enough...
Even in X13, the Gylgarid thing came across as sort of a small evil cult as opposed to an "overall" Heldann belief. It became a bit more difficult to factor them in with the addition of the Heldannic Knights (why didn't they clamp down on the cult?), but not impossible.
Perhaps the Heldannic Knights keep the cult alive to discredit the Antalian faith somehow? Especially if the two are associated somehow? Ofcourse the X12-X13 depiction of the Northern Reaches and Heldann doesnt really fit very well with how the Known World developed. Still, it is always fun to find ways to make these things fit together.
I'm not sure who suggested the Gilgamesh connection, though I do know we've discussed the Gylgarid thing here before on a minotaur thread. Should be available somewhere in the archive. I can't even really recall my own thoughts on Gylgarid at the time, oddly enough...
What if there were two Enduk brothers, Gilgamesh and Gylgarid. One fell from Ixion's grace, becoming the champion of Minotaurs (Perhaps the same as Minos the Minotaur King from WotI), whereas the other became the patron of the Enduks under Ixion's sponsorship? Just an idea...
Håvard