From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@sartar.toppoint.de)
Date: Sun 04 Sep 1994 - 01:03:11 EEST
Tim Minas in X-RQ-ID: 6012
> A couple of random thoughts first. Do the Humakti of Ygg's Isles
> have tales of Sword Maidens descending to the battlefields to take
> the slain noble warriors up to Humakt's Einherjar? Whether riding
> winged beasts or just flying, it sounds like a good tale!
Certainly does. However, I am not so sure they'd worship Humakt; I'd expect a different name at least, more likely a similar cult, but with a totally different structure. Something along the lines of the Tyr cult from Vikings, with a different name of course, and a couple of radical changes in the myth. No wolf to bite off the hand, fights against other deities (aldryami, uzhim deities) rather than Vanir and giants. Ygg himself can't really be described as one of the main Viking deities (Thor, Odin) directly, IMO.
> Elk/Moose/Whatever
> Could everyone who has a real strong opinion on this just outline
> the following details. I don't want any Latin, or "common" names
> that will set off arguments again, but "Just the Facts, Ma'am"
> (To quote another older US TV show!)
Ok, here comes what I thought of when describing the presence and role of Hsunchen in my comments on Ygg's Isles. I restrict the focus of my interpretation on northern Fronela.
> Name of Hsunchen tribe (Eg Aleci, Pralori etc)
Pralori (might become Aleci, or something very different)
> Description (in terms of size, habits, eating habits, etc, not
> RW analogues) of the Totemic beast
RW-analogues nevertherless:
The swamp-dwelling large herbivore with the elongated, horse-like head
known from the "Alaska" TV show (with Dr. Fleischman from New York), the
beast inhabiting Scandinavia.
An excellent swimmer, solitary, extremely hard to see in the wild, tasty dark meat reminiscing of beef, _large_ spoon-shaped antlers (to be found in the coat of arms for East Prussia, and the brand of the Trakehner horses), the heaviest (or second-heaviest) land-dwelling mammal of Europe (the Wisent, or European Bison, might be a contender, the brown bear to my knowledge isn't). Diet is mosses, birch leaves, lichen, woolly grass, and berries (blueberry and several other species common on the fjells of Ygg's Islands). Within the fringes of Winterwood add rowan, hazel and the occasional acorn or beech analogues of the scarce but existing non-conifers of that forest.
> Area(s) where these guys can be found
Northern Fronela: inland fjords of Ygg's isles, the fringes of Winterwood, Tastolar, Porent, Upriver, Rathorela (rare because of pressure by the Rathori), northern Erigia.
> How many of them there are in each of these areas
I haven't got my Genertela Book at hand, but IMO the number given for Fronelan Pralori gives a fair estimate for the total number of this sort of "Pralori" in Genertela west of the Thunder Delta and north of the Nidan Mountains.
Aleci in northern and eastern Seshnela (the outskirts of Erontree Forest, also in Oranor in Fronela) and Ralios (border areas of Guhan, Lalia and Lankst towards Ballid forest, Ormsland and East Wilds) have a similar, possibly identical species as their totemic beasts, but they don't live in the harsh arctic regions their northern cousins (both men and beasts) do, and may (for all I care, although Jonas might feel differently) be regarded as Bullwinklings.
The "Pralori" of Fronela cohabitate with the more numerous Uncolings. They prefer the river, swamp and coastal areas where they and their amphibic totem beasts have the advantage of terrain, but they are willing to share. They are excellent boat builders (in order to be able to keep up with their totemic beasts) and live in small family groups. They hunt their totemic beasts mainly for rituals, but they prey on all the other beasts of their habitat. The "Pralori" provide a lot of beaver and otter furs, they hunt the water fowl as well as stray reindeer happening to enter their territory.
Their strength as warriors is independent action in difficult terrain. They make excellent scouts, and their guerilla warfare is a terror even to warbands of the Kingdom of War - think of the trappers in the US independence wars, which could reduce a warband (well, regiment) on the march into a bunch of headlessly fleeing lost men. The "Pralori" always strike with missiles first: horn bows (made of the antlers of their totemic beasts), javelins (actually harpoons) and thrown axes (yes, tomahawks), then they might rush in, slay a couple of unaware foes, and rush off again, melting into the landscape once they are 30 metres away. For people of their size, they hide and sneak extremely well. They swim excellently.
> Name of Hsunchen tribe (Eg Aleci, Pralori etc)
"Pralori" as per Genertela Book (again), this time the Wapiti-folk
> Description (in terms of size, habits, eating habits, etc, not
> RW analogues) of the Totemic beast
This beast, while quite tall and heavy, doesn't really compete in size with the heavy horses of the Loskalmi knights and clibanarii. It behaves like an oversized deer, which means it lives in family groups rather than solitary, has roaming solitary stags, feeds on the undergrowth of the forests in the more pleasant areas of the taiga, and wouldn't survive an autumn, let alone winter, on Ygg's Isles or in the Porent tundra.
Only the stags have antlers.
> Area(s) where these guys can be found
Tastolar, Gharkor, Easval in Loskalm (and neighbouring Winterwood, being unwanted guests in either), Dona, Mortasor, southern fringes of Rathorela, and possibly Charg.
There might be such Hsunchen anywhere in Seshnela, Ralios or west Maniria where there is forested wilderness left.
> How many of them there are in each of these areas
Once again, use the population numbers of Genertela Book, Fronela chapter, with a pinch of salt (multiply by 0.8, and allow for a mistake in the order of 80%).
These Hsunchen are tall, but far from towering, and less powerfully built than either the Rathori or the northern moose-people mentioned above. They hunt and collect the fruits of the woods, relying more heavily on nuts, acorns etc than the moose people. They use no barbed harpoons since they rarely hunt on lakes, and have no special skill in boat-building. Instead, they are renowned as runners in difficult terrain.
They prefer dry, fairly open woodland as a habitat. Mixed pine - beech forests are their (and their totemic beasts') favorite habitat.
> Name of Hsunchen tribe (Eg Aleci, Pralori etc)
Uncolings
> Description (in terms of size, habits, eating habits, etc, not
> RW analogues) of the Totemic beast
The Reindeer, the wild European variant, not the sad excuses found along the E6 tied to tent-posts. (Sandy, or other biologists, is this identical to the Caribou?)
It is about deer-sized (too small to ride upon), both sexes have very hard antlers suitable to make spear-points which can survive penetrating even a bear's hide (as opposed to deers' antlers, which are too soft for this application). Its main diet are the mosses and lichen of the fjells and the tundra.
> Area(s) where these guys can be found
All along the edge of Valind's Glacier: northern fringes of Winterwood (including the interior of the larger among Ygg's Isles), Porent, Tastolar, north Rathorela, northern Erigia, and (split off during the gray Age, when the Ice receded from Peloria) in north Pent. There might be an odd pocket of peak-dwelling reindeer people somewhere at the foot of a glacier or snow-field in the Rockwoods, but this would be likely to have suffered severely from inbreeding for the last 2-3000 years.
> How many of them there are in each of these areas
As per Genertela Book for Fronela, uncounted for northern Erigia or North Pent (likely to be as many in either region).
They domesticate a few of their totem beasts to act as beasts of burden and as decoy for the hunt. Their life-style is closer to (hypothetical) Praxian foot nomads than to Hsunchen, in that they live mainly on their totemic beasts plus the yield of gathering efforts. This includes the hunt for small animals and occasional fishing.
They use ski and simple reindeer-drawn sleighs (largely bundles fixed on a pair of skis and drawn by two long poles tied to the antlers of their beasts).
For their life-style, read "The Reindeer People" and "Wolf's Brother" by Magan Lindholm. Their religious life will be somewhat different, but the overall impression will catch their essence.
--
-- Joerg Baumgartner joe@sartar.toppoint.de
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