Epics, Sagas, Fantasies, Mythos, Legends, Nations.

[HoneyBadger]

This is a post with the purpose of collecting and discussing the mythology behind Dominions 3, and the mythic influences we'd like to see in the game, that don't already have a clear, strong representation.

The rules for this thread-to keep it from going OFFTOPIC (OFT)-are simple.
1: Only post about, and discuss, things that are already in the game, where they come from, their nature, etc., and things that you think belong, or deserve to be in, Dominions 3.
2: Those things discussed should only pertain to (as per the title of the thread): Epics, Sagas, Fantasies, Mythos, Legends, real-world Nations, novels, series, comic books, movies, etc. that you seriously believe either relate to the current version of Dominions, or think would add to it, and have been overlooked, set aside, or ignored.
3: The purpose of the thread is to share knowledge, to discuss; and to expose the uninitiated to, areas of mythology, history, literature, etc. that they may not be familiar with. So if you have a favorite, but obscure hero, legend, god, author, graphic novel, or corner of the map that you think would make good Dominions fodder, then please feel free to share, so we all can enjoy!

[Endoperez]

White Man Hill
- provides 100 Supply
- creates 1 Nature gem/turn
- increases Growth

The Legend of the White People
(http://www.enjoyturkey.com/info/sights/adiyaman.htm)

It is remarkable that simular to the Manifestation of the Great Gods in Kommagenian times, the local people have worshipped the manifestation of the so-called white people.
On a hot summers evening of July 1987, an old woman named Firat from the village of Eski Kâhta, told me following :

"Long ago, before the Prophet , there was a group of soldiers on their way to the town of Malatya. They were passing through the Taurus mountain range. At sunset they wearied. They had very little food. One of the soldiers saw in the distance a light. They went towards the light and came upon a house. The house was inhabited by an old man with white hair together with his daughter and a boy. The soldiers were given food.

After they had finished their meal they saw to their astonishment that there was as much food left as when they began. They did not understand this. They left the house and reached the town of Malatya without any further events. On their return from Malatya they decided to visit the house again. They refound the house and received hospitality again. The commander of the soldiers took a fancy to the daughter of the old man. After the meal, the commander then asked the old man for the hand of his daughter in marriage. The old man did not want, but he was afraid that the soldiers would take his daughter by force. That's why he granted the request and the soldiers left with his daughter.

When they arrived at Eski Kâhta, at the same place where the holy house now stands , the girl asked them to stop for a moment. She descended into the dry streambed of a water course. She passed her hand lightly over the dry soil and magically a spring of water bubbled up. That spring still exists. She drank the water and washed herself. Then she asked the earth to open and bury her. Before the soldiers knew what was happening, the earth opened and she disappeared. Since that time it is a holy place and the people built a house on her grave. The girl, together with some friends appeared after some time to the people at this place and at three other places in the region. In spring at Eski Kâhta, in summer on a mountain nearby Malatya, in autumn at Gerger and in winter somewhere in the Taurus mountain range. At Eski Kâhta, the annual appearance took place at the holy house ."

The old woman said that when she was a child, each wednesday and friday in spring, the villagers gathered at the end of the day in front of the holy house. They lit candles in the holy house and prayed. After sunset the people had to return to their houses. Nobody should disturb the girl and her friends who came at night to pray in the holy house.
Only a few people were allowed to stay. The old woman told me that her parents have witnessed the appearance of the girl and her friends. She said that they were smaller than normal people and had white hair.

Originally from Silhouette in You have been playing to much dominons when..., October 07.




It seems the Aurgelmer/Aurgelmir (Sword of A, the artifact) is the same as Ymir/Ymer, father of all giants in the Scnadinavian mythology. I always wondered, but never bothered to find out, what that was all about.

[Omnirizon]

I've beeen wondinering about some modern folklor, like lousiania creole inspired nation. would be3 pretty damn cool. hell i'm drunk.

hey kids, dio't do drugs.

[veto]

May be some kind of nomads?
arabic-inspired nation?
Mesopotamian?
Primitive cultures of far-north (they worth looking for)

Some kind of fairy-tales inspired nation)
and possibly animal kingdom&)

[LDiCesare]

European mythologies ae quite well represented:
Celts (Irish - Tir na'n Og, Eriu, Welsh/Bretons - Man, Gauls - Marverni)
Norse (Jotunheim, Vanheim)
Latins (Rome - Ermor, Pythiumn)
Greeks (Pythium, Arcoscephale, Pangaea)
Slavs (Russia - Bogarus)
Generic Medieval Europe (Ulm, Marignon, Oceania)

Africans get a small share:
Egypt is hinted at with some animal headed pretenders and eater of the dead if I'm right, among others (C'tis).
Zulus (Machaka)

Near East gets several:
Sumerians (Agarthan names, C'tis)
Isrealis (Gath)
Many angels from this region.
Persia's Shedu are there too.

Far east:
Japan (Yomi)
China (T'ien Ch'i)

India (Lanka, Kailasa)

Americas
Aztecs (Mictlan)
Inuit? (LA Atlantis)

So I'd say North America, Arabia, Africa have a quite small share. I'm not sure about Indonedia, since I believe the Ramayana is quite big there. Vietnam, Khmer, Korea maybe? I'm not very knowledgeable about these, although I have some Korean myth book somewhere.
Pacific islands are also lacking but I don't think their folklore or myths could provide much in terms of armies and monsters or spells.

I believe a North American inspired nation could do something with totems and animal spirits for instance.

[Endoperez]

Sri Lanka and India probably share the same myths, but if there's any difference then Lanka takes from Sri Lanka. No surprise there...

Greece: The Kokythiad, Naiad and water/death nymph summon are from Greece myth. Several pretenders. What's greek about Pythium? Do you mean the LA Pyth exlcusively?

Sauromatia is inspired by legends about Scythians.



The excellent Haida Gwaii mod makes a tribal nation that is pacific-inspired IIRC. It could be North-American as well. There was a DomII mod about American Indians, horses and walking tree summons and something.

[JimMorrison]

Pythium is Byzantium. That strange hybrid lovechild between Rome, Greece, and Turkey.

I'd be curious to see a nation themed around Aboriginal mythology, from Australia. I know very little about it, but it seems to have an interesting flavor.

Also, a Native American nation that perhaps had things like the bear tribe and deer tribe recruitable in their castles, with a late game that revolved around various totemic animal spirits, with Coyote being one of the most powerful, and needing high Astral, of course.



My favorite that I would like to see though, is something based off of the Sumerian Annunaki. Some believe that they were alien visitors, and the mystery shrouding the mythos makes it very compelling to me. The Annunaki were said to be giants (not huuuuge, but say 10ft tall), and had godlike powers with which they ruled the Sumerians. The stranger websites claim that they educated humans, and they were the reason that we developed civilization, in exchange for using us as slaves to mine gold that they needed to repair/fuel their spaceship and get off of this planet, or some such thing. It's pretty far out, but even just using the stuff that we can reason to be true, it's very interesting (and no reason not to include hints of alien visitation, it's fun!).

Anyway, the wiki has an interesting taste of it, unfortunately the only websites I have bookmarked, are kind of crazy. >.> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anunnaki

[VedalkenBear]

I'll point out that Caelum is very Iranian/Zoroastrian in its flavoring. Also the Mountain aspects of it are quite Himalayan.

As I've stated elsewhere, the Japanese nations (Yomi, Shinuyama, and Jomon (Hepburn romanization looks so weird to me now)) are based off of Japanese folklore, not their religion or their mythology. My Wakoku mod is almost ready for testing, and I hope that it reflects a more 'mythohistorical' view of Japan.

[MaxWilson]

Jim,

Isn't that the source for Hinnom/Ashdod/Gath? Huge alien beings with godlike powers that educated humans for mysterious reasons and spawned a race of giants?

-Max

[LDiCesare]

Endoperez said:
Sri Lanka and India probably share the same myths, but if there's any difference then Lanka takes from Sri Lanka. No surprise there...

Actually, Lanka is the name of the Rakshasa kingdom in the Hindu epic poem 'Ramayana'. It's not Sri Lanka, unless you accept the thesis which says that the Ramayana was written by vedic priests to fight against Asoka's buddhist faith, a faith which is still prevalent in Sri Lanka today. So Sri Lankans wouldn't consider themselves Lanka, although Hindus could consider them that way.
Kailasa is supposed to be located in the Himalayas btw.

About Mesopotamians, Voice of Apsu and Voice of Tiamat are obviously mesopotamian (I think the names are babylonian, not sure of the sumerian names, if any). The Annunaki were just 'the gods' in the same way Vanir were norse gods. Just don't get me started on what I think about people who would have them be aliens... Scorpion men are also sumerian (as found in Gilgamesh epic).