RangerWickett
Legend
Could folks give me some information about magical traditions in Asia, Australia, and eastern Europe?
Eastern magic
- Thread starter RangerWickett
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Mean Eyed Cat
Explorer
kirinke said:
I agree. In addition, magic is pretty intermixed with religion in parts of Asia (and Australia). For example, you might check out Siberian Shamanism.
In addition, Chinese Folk religion incorporates the use of the 5 elements.
RangerWickett
Legend
Well, I'm curious of what sorts of magic actually happens in myths and folklore of various eastern cultures. I'm trying to create magical traditions for a modern game, and while I'm familiar with most Western stuff, I'm having a hard time doing research on eastern traditions without running across anime websites.
Though honestly, anime needs to be one of the traditions.
Back to the point, though, I'd like help. If you know of any memorable uses of magic in eastern traditions, whether in the real world or in folklore, let me know.
Though honestly, anime needs to be one of the traditions.
Back to the point, though, I'd like help. If you know of any memorable uses of magic in eastern traditions, whether in the real world or in folklore, let me know.
Ashanderai
Explorer
Well, there is a lot of ground to cover and most of it isn't really recorded much. The best sources for what you are looking for may well be anime or wuxia movies. My preferred research medium for this topic is mythology textbooks, though the type of information you are looking for can often be hard to weed out through the books.
Predominant spellcasting/superstitions/rotes/magic tropes/types of magic that I have come across are as follows:
- Many tales have shapeshifting sorcerers or monsters.
- Often, magic requires the use of a true name or a personal effect to lay a curse on someone.
- Paper talismans are common in the Chinese folklore stories of magicians, priests, and demon hunters; especially when fighting monsters, such as vampires and zombies. They often stick the paper to the creatures forehead chakra to immobilize it or if the talisman is a written spell it is consumed in fire as the spell takes effect. Talismans are also used to keep away evil spirits, ghosts, and such.
- There are folklore stories of famous Chinese heroes actually being the secret child of some deity or greater spirit and eventually becoming a god themselves.
- There are stories of special diets, like eating powdered jaded sprinkled over rice or eating asperegus exclusively to gain some special power like the ability to fly.
- There is a lot of magic that is explained in much the same way that shamanism in the west explains magical events.
- I know that the aborigines of Australia put a lot of stock in dreams and the spirits that come from the dreamtime.
- I am sure you are already familiar with the concept of martial artists learning a secret technique that grants them a magical power. This is not just a "Hollywood" convention, but is grounded in actual folklore from the region.
- Stories of Taoist hermits learning great powers of illusion are very entertaining as they use their powers to teach some hidden lesson to non-Taoists.
- The quest for immortality consumes many Taoist sorcerers.
- Buddhism is a font of mythical stories about powers granted to those who have advanced far on the path to enlightenment.
I hope that gives you a good start on what you are looking for. You could do a college term paper on this subject and still not cover it all. I didn't even touch on tales from India on their gods and yogi. Much of what you want to know just depends on the specific culture you happen to be discussing. Some of what I wrote above can actually be contradictory if you are talking about multiple cultures at once.
Predominant spellcasting/superstitions/rotes/magic tropes/types of magic that I have come across are as follows:
- Many tales have shapeshifting sorcerers or monsters.
- Often, magic requires the use of a true name or a personal effect to lay a curse on someone.
- Paper talismans are common in the Chinese folklore stories of magicians, priests, and demon hunters; especially when fighting monsters, such as vampires and zombies. They often stick the paper to the creatures forehead chakra to immobilize it or if the talisman is a written spell it is consumed in fire as the spell takes effect. Talismans are also used to keep away evil spirits, ghosts, and such.
- There are folklore stories of famous Chinese heroes actually being the secret child of some deity or greater spirit and eventually becoming a god themselves.
- There are stories of special diets, like eating powdered jaded sprinkled over rice or eating asperegus exclusively to gain some special power like the ability to fly.
- There is a lot of magic that is explained in much the same way that shamanism in the west explains magical events.
- I know that the aborigines of Australia put a lot of stock in dreams and the spirits that come from the dreamtime.
- I am sure you are already familiar with the concept of martial artists learning a secret technique that grants them a magical power. This is not just a "Hollywood" convention, but is grounded in actual folklore from the region.
- Stories of Taoist hermits learning great powers of illusion are very entertaining as they use their powers to teach some hidden lesson to non-Taoists.
- The quest for immortality consumes many Taoist sorcerers.
- Buddhism is a font of mythical stories about powers granted to those who have advanced far on the path to enlightenment.
I hope that gives you a good start on what you are looking for. You could do a college term paper on this subject and still not cover it all. I didn't even touch on tales from India on their gods and yogi. Much of what you want to know just depends on the specific culture you happen to be discussing. Some of what I wrote above can actually be contradictory if you are talking about multiple cultures at once.
Stormborn
Explorer
Ryan,
Can you define "eastern Europe" for us? If you are talking Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. then if you know somethign about "European" magic in general you know about "magic" in that area. A few things to remember:
- The first golem was supposedly created in the Jewish getto of Prague. So golems as E. European.
- Kolshak (Sp?) the Deathless is a character in Russian folklore. A poweful wizard, he hid his heart in a nut so no one could kill him. Sounds like a lich to me. Some tales, however have him as a dragon or other mosterous spirit.
- Baba Yaga, of the chicken legged hut, is the prototypical child-eating witch of the woods. Think Hansel and Gretal.
- a lot of modern imagery of the undead is from eastern Europe. Nosferatu rather than the cool Dracula of Stoker, but it finds its origins there nonetheless.
Beliefs in folk lore, wood and earth spirits, etc. persisted in the east a long time, and are stronger today than in the west. Generally the people there seem more mystic or spiritual IME (I lived in Kiev for nearlly 2 years, so I know a little, very little, about it).
Can you define "eastern Europe" for us? If you are talking Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. then if you know somethign about "European" magic in general you know about "magic" in that area. A few things to remember:
- The first golem was supposedly created in the Jewish getto of Prague. So golems as E. European.
- Kolshak (Sp?) the Deathless is a character in Russian folklore. A poweful wizard, he hid his heart in a nut so no one could kill him. Sounds like a lich to me. Some tales, however have him as a dragon or other mosterous spirit.
- Baba Yaga, of the chicken legged hut, is the prototypical child-eating witch of the woods. Think Hansel and Gretal.
- a lot of modern imagery of the undead is from eastern Europe. Nosferatu rather than the cool Dracula of Stoker, but it finds its origins there nonetheless.
Beliefs in folk lore, wood and earth spirits, etc. persisted in the east a long time, and are stronger today than in the west. Generally the people there seem more mystic or spiritual IME (I lived in Kiev for nearlly 2 years, so I know a little, very little, about it).
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
You might try looking at some other RPGs. Weapons of the Gods isn't out yet, but I understand its magic system is phenomenal. You can pick up some information from the previews.
lukelightning
First Post
kirinke said:
Technically, the same applies to "Western" magic. Magic is always about "nature and spirits" because it's about manipulating the natural world through manipulating the invisible spirit world.
I know a bit about Chinese magical traditions (BA in Chinese Literature). The Chinese magic systems are actually surprisingly parallel to the Western ones in a lot of respects. Instead of 4 elements there are the 5 phases. Lots of numerology, magical glyphs, actions, stuff like that. Magical potions are very common in Chinese mythology, often in the form of a pill instead of a liquid.
One thing that wouldn't translate well in D&D terms is the fact that in Chinese mythology, legendary wizards are often consumate swordsmen/martial artists/warriors/etc.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
lukelightning said:
Actually since most Eastern traditions don't have a Divine/Arcane split the Chinese wizard may be better represented by the 'Cleric' ie consumate swordsmen/warriors who deal with spirits and use prayer-spells.
Anyway this pretty much covers eastern magic traditions - generally they are about rituals (burning written spells, dancing, intoning prayer-spells) for invoking and/or binding spirits in order to secure a particular result
eg if I need to summon a Storm of Vegeance it probably requires a ritual to invoke the Storm spirit, things like Invisibility involve calling on ancestor spirits to conceal the spellcaster from view. Offensive spells mean sending spirits to attack (directly or indorectly) or otherwise affect a target on a spiritual level (ie curse).
That being said certain heroes also manifest supernatural powers such as Flight or Shapechanging or the ability to shoot lightning from their hands. These powers and are however physical manifestations of the supernatural power of the indiviudal not spells per se often they are pretty unique although in some traditions these things can be learned such as when Kng Monkey learnt the secrets of Cloud Jumping (probably requires a spell system based on feats and skills rather than the Vancian system)
JackGiantkiller
First Post
Stormborn said:
Kostchie the Deathless. The only source in folklore I've *ever* found that approximates a lich. Has a weakness for beautiful women, and regenerates when given water to drink.
