Tag: Mythology

The Rat

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Poem

The ominous poem composed for the dread and fear of Crassus Baal the Rat. A demon who gambles and seduces. He makes his victims destroy themselves, rather than by sheer force.

By the gods

The rat comes to scratch at the door again

He comes in red silk clothes

With feet of hooves

And head of vermin

To dance and deal

To wreck and cheat

His power is truest deceit

For it is not the bellowing and thundering storm

But the precise and silent chisel

That brings down towers and kingdoms

So hold fast the doorframe

And do not let him in

For once his whisper is eared

None can withstand

The seduction of the rat

Lest you hear the rat’s true name

Crassus Baal

The Sea Lord of Nazir

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Poem

Common shanty sung by the sailors of Tanaria, constantly on watch for pirates, most of all, the Sea Lord of Nazir

Be wary you sailor

Be wary you trader

Of the Sea Lord of Nazir

The cleverest pirate of here

He comes on the good wind

He comes on the bad wind

He comes all the same

On sails furled and whited

Like the pearls of the deep

With tongue of honey

And blade of sharp steel

He comes on the good wind

He comes on the bad wind

He comes all the same

Be wary you sailor

Be wary you trader

Of the Sea Lord of Nazir

Welund’s Blessing, Song of the Deangli

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Poem

A traditional drinking song of the Deangli, the folk from across the Sea of Stars. Invokes the name of their chief god, Welund the Smith, and his son their first king, Pwyll.

Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Call down your son!

Who sailed cross the Sea of Stars

Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! You came once before!

To the brave and fair one

The good maid Gweneth

Pwyll you did father

Us you did shelter

Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Now come once more!

Upon the Moonshore

You beat and you hammered

The foulest of demons, away from our hearths

Now brave hammer, bless us once more

Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Call down your son!

King Pwyll the Wisest of All!

The Black Elk, God of the Zelphine People

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Poem

Poem composed by King Rogbert when he and his hunting party were cast off their horses by a burning visage of a black elk.

What mortal man dare to stand

In the presence of the Black Elk?

What fire has he

That the Elk does not envelop?

With horns like darkened ivory

And eyes of burning suns

With hooves that singe against the dirt

And breath that turns to steam

Aye the man that stands would be mortal

For not long shall he stand in the presence

Of the Black Elk!

The Kingdom of Lorine

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Coat of Arms

Since Adalgott’s time, Lorine has ruled as an independent nation, under countless dynasties and kings. The southernmost of the kingdoms of the north, Lorine enjoys the benefits of a border with the elves of the Golden Court, and the Elnish men who trade in sweet wines and fine crafts. Lorine has its capital at Wulfstan, the ancient city where Adalgott once ruled the entire north. In this city, Adalgott carved his palace from a massive rock which jutted from the ground and prescribed the first written set of laws upon it.

Lorine has never been able to recapture the glory of their former king, and rather the nobility squabble over land and power, crippling the effectiveness and prestige of Lorine. The best hope for Lorine’s return to glory is vested in King Oswine, the aged ruler who has restored some sense of order and stability to the country. From Wulfstan, he commands a powerful host of knights, the Order of the Red Gyrfalcon.

Even with this newfound prosperity, the realm sits on stale and waiting wind, for foul omens fills both rural and urban lands. In the alleyways, languages thought cursed and dead are spoken. In the country rituals to powers long banished are uttered in profane blasphemy. Lorine must prepare for war.

The Drowned Knight, a Poem from the land of Ritter

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Poem

Composed by an unkown squire, sometime in the Age of Glory, since then, a staple of Ritter bards and performers.

Upon the gleaming lands of Ritter

A knight clad in shining steel rode

His face and crown adorned in gold

With the clinking and jangling of his metal

Which did sound much like potted kettle

By the road

Set upon by bandits with broken blades and rotted teeth

The knight let out a great laugh and took out his blade from its sheath

With a great swing he made quick work of them

Leaving them upon the forest floor they were condemned

By the cave

Awoke a great bear

With a roar that did pierce the fair air

Slashed and claw it did

By the shining armor of the knight all harm it did forbid

When the knight swung his sword

And took the bear’s head to the local lord

By the river

The folk told of a beast

Hewn of scale which had swam from the east

Upon the sea the knight did wade

To pierce the sea dragon with his blade

By the rushing flow of water

The knight found his own slaughter

For now upon the bottom of the river

Clad in shining metal like that of silver

Sits the Drowned Knight

The Order of the Eternal Dawn

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Coat of Arms

The Order of the Eternal Dawn has stood watch over the various kingdoms of the north since the Age of Glory, when Adalgott, the first king, fought against the demon Azrael. The order was founded from former companions of Adalgott, who knew the battle between good and evil had only just begun. Their first knightly commanders prayed along the shore of Midland to Cinder, god of the sun and light. Upon hearing their call, Cinder bestowed the world with a dawn brighter than any fire or midday sun, golden and radiant beyond words. Upon this sight, the knights painted their shields with the image of the dawn upon the ocean’s horizon and formed the brotherhood.

From Castle Zweleran, a massive complex of towers and walls, the Order of the Eternal Dawn guards the realm against various foes, from lowly bandits to giants come to reave along the shore. In recent years, the rise of kingdoms in the north has taken away much of the power, crippling their reach and influence. Now the knights operate chiefly in Midland, though a few of their order quest through the rest of the world, seeking holy relics or lost knowledge.

The House Oderyr

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Coat of Arms

House Oderyr has stood, rather, sunk in the Red Marsh for thousands of years. Their capital and only walled castle, Green Rock, has stood the test of the wetlands, surviving both floods and frigid winters. House Oderyr is considered the weakest of the Midland houses, even more so than Moricar, with roughly a thousand or fewer levies in total. Oderyr’s contribution to Midland is their key chokepoint, as Green Rock is the only roadway through the Red Marsh, and into Midland.

Recently, Oderyr has declined even further, as their liege lord Theodric, and his wife, Elanna, have been driven mad from old age. The lands of Oderyr are now practically autonomous, with no real authority of law.

The Map of the North

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Book Stuff

Another great piece by Piere. This is the map inside the book. It started out as a rough sketch hanging in my room, and with Piere’s help it became a true work of art. If The Sword to Unite does well enough, I intend to do more stories with other parts of the world currently unmapped.

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Note: Image is copyrighted by Peter Hopkins, all rights reserved.

The Green Man

by Peter Hopkins, posted in Discussion

Throughout ancient European, and for that matter, world mythology, there is an unspoken character who dictates the laws of nature, who binds the seasons to his will, who has the power to bring the hero strife or glory. That character is the Green Man.

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The Green Man is quite literally nature made characterized. Often in fantasy, and mythology that influenced it, the Green Man is a figure of rebirth, life, death, decay, and the changing of the seasons. The color green is vital to his character, representing not only the lush green of summer and spring but also the otherworldly nature of his being. The best example of this type of power can be seen in Tolkien’s superb work, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which Galdwin is accompanied by the ghostly visage of a green knight.

In the natural aspect, the Green Man often appears in literature at the beginning with summer or fall, representing the fading of happy days, and the coming of strife for the character. One of the best examples of this, is from Geogre R.R. Martin’s widely popular Game of Thrones series, with the classic Stark words being, “Winter is Coming”, as the long summer comes to a close.

In my own work, the Green Man arrives in the middle of summer, when the days are longest in hottest. In the winter, the stakes are dire, and all hope seems lost in the soul-crushing effects of ice and snow, for life has faded and been corrupted. The book ends in the spring, heralding the Green Man’s return, and the renewal of life.

Please leave comments for any books you can think have a Green Man character, and be sure to like and subscribe!