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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7404518" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>In Norse traditions, any nature spirit can adopt or marry any other nature spirit, including humans. So it makes sense to me if a player wants a character that combines two (or more) heritages.</p><p></p><p>Individuals exist who combine various two nature spirits: wilderness spirits (jǫtnar, risar, þursar, troll), elf sunlight spirits (alfar), dwarf land spirits (dvergar), civilization-sky spirits (æsir), fertility-wind spirits (vanir), or humans. Usually, it is one group adopting an other group by means of various customs, and children resulting from the immigration can and do happen.</p><p></p><p>These blends are uncommon, but there are many when you look for them.</p><p></p><p>The Norse traditions generally have examples of individuals from various two kinds of nature spirits. Iðunn who cultivates the apples of immortality is apparently the daughter of a dvergar father and an alfar mother, but she becomes an æsir by marrying one, thus becoming a member of the æsir nature spirits. There is a story of an individual who is half risar and half human, who spent his first forty or so years among humans as a mortal, but then abandoned human life, entered the spirit world of Jǫtunheimr, and lived the rest of his life as an immortal jǫtnar spirit. Because he protected humans from other jǫtnar, he gained the nickname æsir (even tho his heritage has no relation to the æsir). The three nornir are jǫtnar who are adopted into the æsir clan, and are now æsir. These kinds of immigrations often affect the nature of these individuals, not just their location.</p><p></p><p>But three or more heritages are possible. The thunder spirit is the child of an æsir and a jǫtnar − and because of the murky phenomenon of euhemerism − there are human children who descend from him, thus blending at least three heritages.</p><p></p><p>Strictly speaking, the ‘troll’ of later folkbelief are jǫtnar, and include both goodlooking risar and grotesque þursar. However, the way troll starts to get described from medieval to modern times tends to conflate these troll with every other kind nature spirit. They might be extremely charming like an alfar, or petrify in sunlight like a dvergar, and while mostly around the size of a human can be giant towering 10 meters or more. Under the British influence, some troll are even tiny. </p><p></p><p>Essentially, the word ‘troll’ means ‘magic’ and became the loan translation for the English word ‘faierie’ which also means ‘magic’. Thus like English, ‘troll’ came to mean any kind of magical creature, namely any kind of nature spirit. The troll that many think of that are somewhat giantsize and grotesque, are properly þursar (tusser). Beautiful members such as huldrar (huldrefolk) and nykar (fossegrimer) who take after the beautiful risar side of the family, are also called ‘troll’.</p><p></p><p>Arguably these troll of later folkbelief can be understood as the offspring of multiple Norse and British nature spirits. Indeed, there are stories about troll, where a grotesque giant has a beautiful humansize daughter. Stories where some brothers are humansize and other brothers giant. Stories about beautiful male troll. And so on. And some troll have children with humans.</p><p></p><p>So, if a player wants to combine several heritage feats, as long as there is a location in the setting where it makes narrative sense, I am fine with that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7404518, member: 58172"] In Norse traditions, any nature spirit can adopt or marry any other nature spirit, including humans. So it makes sense to me if a player wants a character that combines two (or more) heritages. Individuals exist who combine various two nature spirits: wilderness spirits (jǫtnar, risar, þursar, troll), elf sunlight spirits (alfar), dwarf land spirits (dvergar), civilization-sky spirits (æsir), fertility-wind spirits (vanir), or humans. Usually, it is one group adopting an other group by means of various customs, and children resulting from the immigration can and do happen. These blends are uncommon, but there are many when you look for them. The Norse traditions generally have examples of individuals from various two kinds of nature spirits. Iðunn who cultivates the apples of immortality is apparently the daughter of a dvergar father and an alfar mother, but she becomes an æsir by marrying one, thus becoming a member of the æsir nature spirits. There is a story of an individual who is half risar and half human, who spent his first forty or so years among humans as a mortal, but then abandoned human life, entered the spirit world of Jǫtunheimr, and lived the rest of his life as an immortal jǫtnar spirit. Because he protected humans from other jǫtnar, he gained the nickname æsir (even tho his heritage has no relation to the æsir). The three nornir are jǫtnar who are adopted into the æsir clan, and are now æsir. These kinds of immigrations often affect the nature of these individuals, not just their location. But three or more heritages are possible. The thunder spirit is the child of an æsir and a jǫtnar − and because of the murky phenomenon of euhemerism − there are human children who descend from him, thus blending at least three heritages. Strictly speaking, the ‘troll’ of later folkbelief are jǫtnar, and include both goodlooking risar and grotesque þursar. However, the way troll starts to get described from medieval to modern times tends to conflate these troll with every other kind nature spirit. They might be extremely charming like an alfar, or petrify in sunlight like a dvergar, and while mostly around the size of a human can be giant towering 10 meters or more. Under the British influence, some troll are even tiny. Essentially, the word ‘troll’ means ‘magic’ and became the loan translation for the English word ‘faierie’ which also means ‘magic’. Thus like English, ‘troll’ came to mean any kind of magical creature, namely any kind of nature spirit. The troll that many think of that are somewhat giantsize and grotesque, are properly þursar (tusser). Beautiful members such as huldrar (huldrefolk) and nykar (fossegrimer) who take after the beautiful risar side of the family, are also called ‘troll’. Arguably these troll of later folkbelief can be understood as the offspring of multiple Norse and British nature spirits. Indeed, there are stories about troll, where a grotesque giant has a beautiful humansize daughter. Stories where some brothers are humansize and other brothers giant. Stories about beautiful male troll. And so on. And some troll have children with humans. So, if a player wants to combine several heritage feats, as long as there is a location in the setting where it makes narrative sense, I am fine with that. [/QUOTE]
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