Re: Yggite society

From: jorganos <joe_at_kGxjhrvivXRmi6DY8JWOBoXEUfAHha6bSszr1Swy9FjlNKB9sMR9CB-esjJJpAp6jz0t7lVg>
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:53:42 -0000

> > > I have splitted my yggites into two bloodlines :

> > This is fairly similar to what I did for my own Vadrudi splinter
> > group finding refuge under the Glacier (unpublished...) - a male
> > hunter/monsterslayer culture, and a female shapechanger/gatherer
> > culture surviving on giant crabs, shellfish etc.

> > Not appropriate to my idea of the Yggites, though - which has a
> > strong dose of Erik the Red, Viking chief of Greenland.

> So my Glorantha will vary ! :)

As will mine.

> I like the idea of the splintered male and female bloodlines,
because

> 1) it reminds me on the struggle then the cooperation between the
> Aesir (norse gods of magic and war) and the Vanir (norse gods of
> fertilty, sex and cultivation).

Fine for the Yggites as a parallel. For "Vadrudi" I see the giants of Jotunheim as the better parallel. Perhaps not mighty and wily Utgardloki, but his followers.

> 2)I think my vadrudi Yggites need to be tamed by nasty attractive
> witch with some powers of soul-stealing. It's the price of
> civilization, unless they would the psychopath which Peter Metclafe
> describe.

Aldrya of Winterwood comes to mind...

> (I 've created a little legend explaining why Ygg marry Wendreas,
> the leading earth nymph of the "thousand hills" that have becomed
> the Ygg's islands.

Why does the nymph have to marry Ygg? Of course, she could become _a_ wife.

> 3) the vikings, AFAIK, frowned seas more than they worship sea
> gods. I didn't know any real sea god in the norse pantheon.

Njord, one of the three Vanir who was exchanged as a hostage for Vili and Ve, Odin's brothers.

> The giant Aegir is a friendly mythological figure which hosts great
> party (beer pours in his palace), but sacrifices were made to
> appease him before setting sail, as he was known to capture boats
> and sailors.

> And his wife, Ran, the goddess of storms, was known to collect the
> drowned in her net.

The closest parallel here would be Magasta and Brastalos. This doesn't explain the aid given to the Yggites by the local Ouori, though.

> So I think that my Yggites need some earth roots and allies to
> protect them from the seas : their wives.

I don't quite see the necessity for earth roots. Most earth cultures see Earth as a provider, and I don't see how that could be important in Yggite culture.

> I just think that Yggites will be more fascinating if they live on
> tiny bits of rock, assaulted each year by the sea gods who are
> longing to sink their islands,

That's one thing the storm gods are good at preventing, if they make up their mind.

> if they live surroundings by
> enemies (even the sea itself), if each navigation is a travel
> in enemy territory (wateritory ???)...

Beating the waves before (and while) embarking on a journey does have some charm, but I think that whaling or similarly hazardous fishing for sea monsters does this credit, too.

>> One group I wrote up for my Frozen Skies project (mentioned above) 
>> slowly got corrupted by taking their (unattractive, sea-related 
>> selkie) wives from the same sources over and over again.

> Do not hesitate to post something about them when you fancy it... ;)

I'd like to get the whole piece a bit more complete, but haven't got around to writing much about them lately. I might just put them on my website...

>> Ygg is the cultural deity. A huge motherfracking glacier doesn't >> give you ideas how to survive. Ygg does.

> Yes, Valind's cult is nearly useless in everyday's life. But I
think,
> Ygg's too unless there are some subcults : Ygg the sailor, Ygg the
> nasty king, Ygg the beer-drinker...

MAinly Ygg the chieftain who arrranges the pacts with the Ouori and the Winterwood Aldryami, and who keeps his ruffians in line.

> But Peter made a point. Valind can give them ways to survive on
> their frozen islands : resist frost, heal childblains... at the
> cost of sufficient sacrifices of course !

Resist: yes. Heal? Not really. Endure suffering... yes.

>>>>Valind's Winter Palace should represent paradise for the Yggites.

>> Why?

> Maybe because he's their distant tutelary deity... some kind of
> ancestor god : the father of Ygg Allfather. Maybe because HE has the
> power to preserve flesh from the effects of time (with his frost
> breath)...

> But dead Yggites can also join Ygg's hell fleet in death...

Some einheriar activity does seem appropriate, but I liked Sandy's ancestral blessings (and curses) with draugr rising from their mounds as their few descendants were threatened a lot.            

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