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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dogbrain" data-source="post: 1589686" data-attributes="member: 14980">Okay, Maynard, I'll spell it out even more plain:  The specific things that you cite were known to the "Germanic Tribes" that became the English.  They IMPORTED THEM to the British Isles along with the rest of their culture."German" is not identical to "From the modern country of Germany".  Germanic tribes that were thoroughly distinct from the Norse were fought by Julius Caesar and mentioned by earlier Greeks.Ettins/Eotonas has been synonymous to "giants" for millenia.  Only after D&D did they become distinct creatures.They were, just not most of the ones attributed to them, which were Germanic in origin.Likewise you ARE aware that "Gaelic" is not identical to "Celtic" and that many aspects of Irish culture are not even Gaelic--actually Germanic, imported during "dark age"/early medieval times (from around AD1000, with the Vikings), right?  The so-called "Celtic knotwork" is actually of scandinavian origin.The Fomor may have been Chthonic deities, given that so little detail can be found of them besides them being the dread and sworn enemies of the Firbolg, but the Firbolg were likely a real people, eventually subjugated by the Danaan.  The Danaan were also real human beings subjugated by the Milesians, who were themselves subjugated by the Gaels.  However, they also lived 3000 or so years ago, which means that a lot of stuff-and-nonsense got added to the story over time.  Likewise, the deities of the region were easy to conflate with the earlier peoples.  Egypt saw a similar phenomenon in its claim that Ra and Osiris were Pharoahs of the land--not just symbolically.  Likewise, Japan holds that its first emperor was the literal son of Amaterasu Omikami, sun goddess.  That does not mean that there was no man who founded the first Japanese imperial dynasty, only that a lot of other information has been muddled.  The Firbolg, Danaan, and Milesians lived before literacy in Ireland.Now, it should be noted that Fomorians, Firbolg, Danaan, etc. ONLY appear in Ireland, and to call them "Celtic" betrays gross ignorance of what "Celtic" constitutes.  Where are all the Gaulish references?  Where is everything for the Galatians?  The Gauls were an independent and Celtic people in the ancient world.  Why pretend that they do not exist?  Simply presuming that their culture is identical to early medieval Ireland's would be as bad as putting Las Vegas in the middle of the setting.</blockquote>

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