Tag: setting

setting

Humbaba the Terrible

The iconography of the apotropaic severed head of Humbaba, with staring eyes, flowing beard and wild hair, is well documented from the First Babylonian dynasty, continuing into Neo-Assyrian art and dying away during the Achaemenid rule. The severed head of the monstrous Humbaba found a Greek parallel in the myth of Perseus[10] and the similarly employed head of Medusa, which Perseus placed in his leather sack.[11] Archaic Greek depictions of the gorgoneion render it bearded, an anomaly in … Continue reading Humbaba the Terrible

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The Open Field System

The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in parts of western Europe, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Under the open-field system, each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acres each, which were divided into many narrow strips of land. The strips or selions were cultivated by individuals or peasant families, often called tenants or serfs. The holdings of a manor also included … Continue reading The Open Field System

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The Anunnaki

The Anunnaki (also transcribed as Anunaki, Anunna, Ananaki, and other variations) are a group of deities that appear in the mythological traditions of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.[4] Descriptions of how many Anunnaki there were and what role they fulfilled are inconsistent and often contradictory. In the earliest Sumerian writings about them, which come from the Post-Akkadian period, the Anunnaki are the most … Continue reading The Anunnaki

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The Kingdom of Gwynedd

Welsh tradition credited the founding of Gwynedd to the Brittonic polity of Gododdin (Old Welsh Guotodin, earlier Brittonic form Votadini) from Lothian invading the lands of the Brittonic polities of the Deceangli, Ordovices, and Gangani in the 5th century. The sons of their leader, Cunedda, were said to have possessed the land between the rivers Dee and Teifi. The true borders of the realm varied … Continue reading The Kingdom of Gwynedd

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Kobolds

On the one hand, maybe I drop them with the chaos-bred of Kusarikku. On the other hand, maybe they are specifically snake/lizard/dragon-kin enough that they should go somewhere else (like the previously mentioned lizardfolk). Last campaign (all five sessions of it before the TPK), I was definitely playing up the later version D&D interpretation of scaled folk, rather than the early dog-faced version (which if … Continue reading Kobolds

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Rabisu

In Akkadian mythology the Rabisu (“the vagabond”) or possibly Rabasa are evil vampiric spirits or demons that are always menacing the entrance to the houses and hiding in dark corners, lurking to attack people. It is said that pure sea salt can ban them as the salt represents incorruptible life (salt preserves, and life was first born from the sea). In Hell, they live in the Desert of Anguish, attacking newly arrived souls as they travel down the Road of Bone to the City of the Dead. Continue reading Rabisu

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Mukīl rēš lemutti

Mukīl rēš lemutti, meaning “he who holds the head of evil”, was an ancient Mesopotamian winged leonine demon, a harbinger of misfortune associated with benign headaches and wild swings in mood, where the afflicted “continually behaves like an animal caught in a trap.” It was one of the two demons that followed people around, an “evil accomplice” also referred to as rabis lemutti (“he who … Continue reading Mukīl rēš lemutti

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Urudimmu

He appears in later iconography paired with Kusarikku, “Bull-Man”, a similar anthropomorphic character, as attendants to the god Šamaš. As one of the eleven spawn of Tiamat in the Enûma Eliš vanquished by Marduk, he was displayed as a trophy on doorways to ward off evil and later became an apotropaic figurine buried in buildings for a similar purpose. Continue reading Urudimmu

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