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I had this idea that for when I figure out how to make homebrew magic items. When we reach are 100th page I will make some mythology themed magic items!

E.g. Mjolnir, Gungnir, Zeus' lightning bolts, Poseidon's trident, the helm of Hades.

 Oooooooooh nice

 That’s a great idea!

 but first I need to find out how to make magic item right!

 Yea

Anyway, Otter, how much do you know about mythology.

Oh I have to go offline!

Quite a bit.

Quote from DaOtterPrince >>

Quite a bit.

 Mythology is really cool. Which is why I’m on this thread lol.

Otter, I'm thinking if we should let you join the council.

Today, since I just finished creating a variant of it for my setting, I thought i would share one of many, many possible myths for the origin of Chess.

It is said that many hundreds of years ago, before Alexander ever walked beside his father on his path to becoming Great, there was a sultan in India who was incredibly bored.He had all the beautiful women he could stand in his harem, he had all the fine steeds he could want. His heirs were all noble and just, and there was no one to go to war with and the only problem in the land was hunger.

He promised their weight in gold and gems to whomever could bring him a game that would be entertaining and enjoyable for him, and, well, when you put it like that, who wouldn't try, right?

For the entire cycle of the moon, people from all over brought him examples of games they played and had crafted, but he had already played them all, and as the days passed, he began to become despondent.

Finally, on the final day of the moon's great cycle, an emaciated, starved laborer came to the Sultan, and he laid down a board and 16 pieces. Each piece was carved beautifully, and the king was enchanted by the artistry of it, but he wondered what this game was, and so the old laborer showed him.

The Sultan was amazed, and for three days and for three nights the two played, and the old laborer got to eat the food of the sultan and assuage his hunger, but he always looked to the rice that was served as they played.

Finally, the Sultan said that he would give the old man what he had promised, but the old man shook his head and asked for a different boon.

The man asked the sultan if he would grant him a grain of rice doubled for each square of the board. The sultan was affronted! Such a measley amount! But the old man shook his haed and said now, like the game, there was more to the ask than met the eye, and he would reveal to the sultan the depth of the ask if the Sultan would agree to his ask.

The Sultan was intrigued now, of course -- not only did he have a game like no other, but it was a work of art and cunning in the creating of it.

So he agreed. The Laborer asked them to begin bringing in rice, and not to stop until he was done showing the Sultan. The sultan agreed and it was begun. Into the first square, the old man place a single grain of rice, Into the second square two, the third four, the fourth square got eight, the fifth square got sixteen...

By the end of it, the old man had all the rice of the kingdom.

Cooool

Quote from KoboldNerd >>

Otter, I'm thinking if we should let you join the council.

 Ooooooooo

https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D506176855/

I made a Zeus Midas Lich hybrid!

Here is a short summary of a weird dragon story that I think was the inspiration for the tarresque. 

It is called Saint Martha Tames the Tarasque.

The story stars Martha, the character from the Bible, though obviously none of this is true and if you read the original tale the author added a lot of fake stuff never included in the Bible. In the story, Martha and a few companions were put on a ship by a bunch of infidels, with no supplies, oars, sails, or rudders. She landed in Marseilles and she then traveled to Aix. In a forest called Nerluc (the black place), which was along the banks of the Rhone between Arles and Avignon, a half-fish, half-beast dragon with long teeth, impenetrable flanks and that was larger than an ox and longer than a horse dwelt in the river. It attacked and killed all travelers that passed by and sank their boats. It had come to the place by sea from Galatia in Asia. The Leviathan was one parent, the other was the Onachus. (The description of the Onachus describes it killing its enemies by flinging scorching hot dung at its targets, burning its enemies like it was fire. Sounds similar to the Bonnacon.) Martha was begged by the people to save them from this beast, so she set off into the forest and came across the dragon in the middle of it devouring a man. She threw holy water at it and held up a cross, defeating the beast. She then tied it up with her girdle and the people stoned it to death and stabbed it with spears. The place was named Tarascon after the dragon. Then the story goes into how Martha spent the rest of her life as a vegan nun but that has no biblical foundation.

Because of that story, I feel like the taresque should be a sea monster, it should be counted as a dragon, and it should take damage from holy water (though since it is supposed to be a high level monster, it can't be killed by a low level piece of equipment.)

The linkage to Martha is accurate for the legend of the turtle backed serpent dragon of Provence.

The Golden Legend by Voraigne is the most cited tale and likely the one that D&D's original source was. 1200 -- though the beastie was raised to prominence and became fixed in folklore in the 1400's. 

Voraigne drew from oral tales (much like the Grimms did) so ultimately it harkens back to some form of older tale, but the principle retelling (and the one favored in france) uses the older dragon motif (serpentine, wingless) with six legs capped bear like claws, a long, sinuous tail and a turtle shell around it's center. Later retellings added the wings to meet the more "traditional" (and goidelic) vision of a winged dragon -- and often the use of a turtle shell was applied to suggest extremely difficult to get through skin (elephants were once described as giant turtles because of their thick hides).

Quote from AEDorsay >>

The linkage to Martha is accurate for the legend of the turtle backed serpent dragon of Provence.

The Golden Legend by Voraigne is the most cited tale and likely the one that D&D's original source was. 1200 -- though the beastie was raised to prominence and became fixed in folklore in the 1400's. 

Voraigne drew from oral tales (much like the Grimms did) so ultimately it harkens back to some form of older tale, but the principle retelling (and the one favored in france) uses the older dragon motif (serpentine, wingless) with six legs capped bear like claws, a long, sinuous tail and a turtle shell around it's center. Later retellings added the wings to meet the more "traditional" (and goidelic) vision of a winged dragon -- and often the use of a turtle shell was applied to suggest extremely difficult to get through skin (elephants were once described as giant turtles because of their thick hides).

 Interesting. The account of the story I read described it as having sword-like teeth as sharp as horns, and a flank as impenetrable as twin shields. It was larger than an ox and longer than a horse, but that was as much as it described. Elephants were practically mythical creatures in the olden days. There were so many strange stories about them and they were considered the mortal enemies of dragons. (It makes me want to make an elephant statblock that could kill a dragon)

What were you saying about the linkage of Martha to the story?

The Golden Legend  (Legenda aurea) was a super popular book in its time, second only to the Bible, and included stories about biblical characters, though I do want to point out none of them are true. The book was organized according to the liturgical calendar. A couple of the saints in the book confronted other dragons, and the dragons were usually symbolic of something. The story about Martha taming the tarasque stood for the arrival of Christianity in the valley of Rhone, and the removal of pagan belief.

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

The linkage to Martha is accurate for the legend of the turtle backed serpent dragon of Provence.

 

 

What were you saying about the linkage of Martha to the story?

That you were correct in it having one. The earliest stories of the Provence dragon are all linked to Martha. Earliest extant is a scarp from 1168. That is, in terms of earth folklore, there can be no Tarrasque without Martha.

I had a funny idea. So imagine you're the DM for a metagaming party and you tell them they're going to fight trolls. So they begin to stack up on fire and acid weapons. Then, when they're about to start the fight, you reveal the trolls are the mythological trolls and that fire and acid isn't strong against them.

What do you think would happen then?

Quote from KoboldNerd >>

I had a funny idea. So imagine you're the DM for a metagaming party and you tell them they're going to fight trolls. So they begin to stack up on fire and acid weapons. Then, when they're about to start the fight, you reveal the trolls are the mythological trolls and that fire and acid isn't strong against them.

What do you think would happen then?

 That’s an awesome idea! The party would be screwed if they didn’t have a backup plan lol. Would teach them not to meta game :).

TBH the ancient greeks were pretty great if you think about it

They were kind and even praising of intersex people

They accepted the fluidity of gender

And they were cool about gay relationships

They had their issues but so does everyone 

And ESPECIALLY for the time period, they were really great

Quote from DaOtterPrince >>

TBH the ancient greeks were pretty great if you think about it

They were kind and even praising of intersex people

They accepted the fluidity of gender

And they were cool about gay relationships

They had their issues but so does everyone 

And ESPECIALLY for the time period, they were really great

 That’s a really great point! Idk the ancient Greeks accepted the fluidity of gender.

Quote from WoodsGirl0402 >>

Quote from DaOtterPrince >>

TBH the ancient greeks were pretty great if you think about it

They were kind and even praising of intersex people

They accepted the fluidity of gender

And they were cool about gay relationships

They had their issues but so does everyone 

And ESPECIALLY for the time period, they were really great

 That’s a really great point! Idk the ancient Greeks accepted the fluidity of gender.

 Yea they had 3 official genders and if people wanted to make another they were like: cool

Quote from DaOtterPrince >>

Quote from WoodsGirl0402 >>

Quote from DaOtterPrince >>

TBH the ancient greeks were pretty great if you think about it

They were kind and even praising of intersex people

They accepted the fluidity of gender

And they were cool about gay relationships

They had their issues but so does everyone 

And ESPECIALLY for the time period, they were really great

 That’s a really great point! Idk the ancient Greeks accepted the fluidity of gender.

 Yea they had 3 official genders and if people wanted to make another they were like: cool

 That’s sick! I love that. I never knew they were so gender fluid.

Quote from KoboldNerd >>

I had a funny idea. So imagine you're the DM for a metagaming party and you tell them they're going to fight trolls. So they begin to stack up on fire and acid weapons. Then, when they're about to start the fight, you reveal the trolls are the mythological trolls and that fire and acid isn't strong against them.

What do you think would happen then?

 This would depend on *which* mythological trolls, lol....

Bridge trolls are different from Tunnel trolls from Forest trolls -- and that's just in one segment.

Then you have the assorted different variations of nordic trolls (five different types, lol, ranging from the ones like in Frozen to the giants of to the kind that turn to stone at the touch of the sun).

by some recollections, Fomorians (one of the ancient enemies of ireland) were trolls, driven out by the Tuatha.

But none of this changes the point, lol.

You see, it would depend on how much one's players know about the DM's knowledge of trolls. My folks (which include people I have been friends with for over 50 years and their kids and grandkids) would hear me say "trolls" and go "oh, crap."

Especially right now, since the trolls for my upcoming setting are based in part not only on the kind that turn to stone in the dawn sun, but also a mish mash of Man-thing and Swamp thing with shambling mounds and big foot and Yetis. They are one of the more common critters one can encounter on Wyrlde.

I am going to be sadly very busy today, but i will try to get some interesting mythical thing yanked out of my head. Housecleaning iis a sunday thing, especially after a game night.