Orcs, Elves, and the One Cliché to Rule Them All

[Edi]

I'm not touching Wikipedia, Morkilus. Besides, I'd need to get that book from the library again, I didn't write much more than keywords and went from those. Most of the presentatin was about the phenomenon of why people believed in these creatures and what mechanisms were to blame for it. Hallucinations, imagination, illusion (as a psychological/physical phenomenon) and a couple of others come to mind.

As for names, maahinen would be gnome, the fire spirit I've mentioned above would be just haltia, which is literal for elf. Liekkiö is one fire spirit from western central Finland near the city of Vaasa and those surrounds. Liekki is the Finnish word for "flame", so it's pretty damned obvious. Ahti is a water spirit of the lake, or the sea. It can be used as a generic name, but almost always refers to the pagan god of lakes and the sea, a major power instead of a lesser spirit.

Sorry, can't remember anymore right now, and I need to go to bed. G'night...

Edi