HYPERBOREA / Creature names of Folklore and Faerie tales

**Posted by BlackKnight** 5/29/2019 8:30 am

I'm finding that there are a bunch more names of monsters,

Just some Examples (Scandinavian):
Jötnar: Giants (General term for all Giants)
Eldjötnar: Are Fire Giants
Hrimpursar: Are Frost Giants
Sjórisar: Are Sea Giants
Trow or Troll: is actually the equal of a "hill" giant, Calling someone a Half-Troll (or Trow) is the equal of calling them a big clumsy oaf...
Draugr: are Huge Strong undead men, Black and bloated, that roam or guard places (like important Tombs, Ruins, etc).

There are many other examples are in other cultures.

As Hyperborea is kind of a Spawn of ancient earth, All of the peoples in it are from ancient earth (or fictional ancient earth at least). I'm digging through a lot of documentation of Myth and lore from different cultures (Mostly Scandinavian as I'm writing a module that is a focus on that culture). Some of the monsters in the main book have some names, has anyone tried to put together any more "alternate" names for the monsters? I know calling them alternate names in games could add a significant amount of flavor to a game. The unknown always adds anticipation on the player's side.

Last edited by BlackKnight (5/29/2019 8:36 am)

**Posted by gizmomathboy** 5/29/2019 9:15 am

I bet digging through Polynesian/Pacific cultures will come up with some great sea based names.

All of the cultures in Africa will have tons of names to use as well.

**Posted by mavfire** 5/30/2019 7:30 am

For Lost Cairns of the Savages I have done a ton of digging into Inuit, Tlingit, esquimaux, as well as Apache, Commanche and Cherokee folk lore. I have found quite a few that I am incorporating into that adventure too...

Not to mention all of the rituals and burial rites of those early stone age and native american tribes-people. Interesting stuff as well as great fodder for game!

**Posted by mabon5127** 5/30/2019 11:50 am

mavfire wrote:
For Lost Cairns of the Savages I have done a ton of digging into Inuit, Tlingit, esquimaux, as well as Apache, Commanche and Cherokee folk lore. I have found quite a few that I am incorporating into that adventure too...

Not to mention all of the rituals and burial rites of those early stone age and native american tribes-people. Interesting stuff as well as great fodder for game!

Nice!

**Posted by Caveman** 5/31/2019 6:16 am

BlackKnight wrote:
I'm finding that there are a bunch more names of monsters,

Just some Examples (Scandinavian):
Jötnar: Giants (General term for all Giants)
Eldjötnar: Are Fire Giants
Hrimpursar: Are Frost Giants
Sjórisar: Are Sea Giants
Trow or Troll: is actually the equal of a "hill" giant, Calling someone a Half-Troll (or Trow) is the equal of calling them a big clumsy oaf...
Draugr: are Huge Strong undead men, Black and bloated, that roam or guard places (like important Tombs, Ruins, etc).

There are many other examples are in other cultures.

As Hyperborea is kind of a Spawn of ancient earth, All of the peoples in it are from ancient earth (or fictional ancient earth at least). I'm digging through a lot of documentation of Myth and lore from different cultures (Mostly Scandinavian as I'm writing a module that is a focus on that culture). Some of the monsters in the main book have some names, has anyone tried to put together any more "alternate" names for the monsters? I know calling them alternate names in games could add a significant amount of flavor to a game. The unknown always adds anticipation on the player's side.

Very interesting stuff...

Not done much, but.. since I from Scotland, my interest may be for the Kelts, but also have been studying the various Tlingit, Lapps, Yakuts and Esquimaux cultures also, trying to get some word translations, but it a little vague at moment. Also Mongol which I use for a small group that has entered Hyperborea.

Athach (Keltic) = Giant.

Samh (Keltic): = Giant or god (I using this term for Helios), it can also mean warrior (think source word), savage, thug, but I not use the later terms for word, too many dialect changes from primitives changing a word to suit themselves.

**Posted by BlackKnight** 5/31/2019 11:12 am

And if we expand a little, there are Tons of references to other Men and Creatures that can easily be "brought in" to the Hyperborea setting. (Note, the ones below are are being brought up by an RPG book I found of DriveThrouRPG yesterday when looking for Mythical Beasts and Folklore, It's here... https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/244822/Faerie-Tales--Folklore-A-Roleplayers-Guide-to-the-Mythological-Earth, It looks very comprehensive, Even found the Giant Section had all my Norse names)

For "Men"
Akephaloi: (Greek) Men and women that have no heads. Their faces are on their chest.
Faun: (Greek) Small men that have the hindquarters and horns of a goat.
Mer-people: (Numerous Cultures) Mer-people are men and women from the waist up, but fish below, in some cases full figured men with Reptilian features, Webbed hands etc.
Ningyo: (Japan) These mer-folk look like fish-monkeys.
Kelpie: (Scottish) A kelpie is a union of horse and woman.
Aloja: (Catalan) The nocturnal water women can take the form of black birds

Just samples, Would be cool to get a "Monster Manual" from Myth and Faerie tales setup (ones that are missing from the book), and start importing them into Hyperborea. It could expand our monster/NPC pool and they would be guaranteed to be Copy-write free as Myths and Faerie Tales are truly open sources. Even if just using the book I found as a reference for the names and descriptions, we'd need to convert them into Jeff's Rules.