WOTC: Mistress of Pain submissons, who's trying?

[Zappo]

Well, well, well! I applaud this initiative of WotC. Myself, I have never written fiction, and I'm perfectly conscious that it's not something you get right at the first attempt, so I won't even try. But it's a good thing nonetheless.

 

[barsoomcore]

She was in the original Deities & Demigolds. Finnish mythos, I think.

Ah yes, it's all coming back to me. A pretty entrancing picture, as I recall.

As a side note (HIJACK!), has anybody else heard that the Finnish "mythology" -- their big Kalevala saga that is supposedly the traditional stories of Finn culture -- was actually just made up out of whole cloth by some guy like a hundred years ago? And when this was found out, the whole country just kind of shrugged and said, "That's okay. We like the stories, so we'll just pretend it's our traditional mythology. Yay us!"?

Does anyone know if that's true?

 

[NiTessine]

Ah yes, it's all coming back to me. A pretty entrancing picture, as I recall.

As a side note (HIJACK!), has anybody else heard that the Finnish "mythology" -- their big Kalevala saga that is supposedly the traditional stories of Finn culture -- was actually just made up out of whole cloth by some guy like a hundred years ago? And when this was found out, the whole country just kind of shrugged and said, "That's okay. We like the stories, so we'll just pretend it's our traditional mythology. Yay us!"?

Does anyone know if that's true?

*Cough* It's not quite that simple, actually... The fellow, Elias Lönnrot, walked around the regions of Karelia and Häme, plying the trade of a doctor. While visiting villages and patching up the local folk, he also gathered the old stories, passed down in oral tradition from generation to another, and wrote them down. When he had enough of them, he started joining them into larger stories. Naturally, he had to edit the stuff rather heavily, and often wrote long pieces to bridge the gaps. But in essence, it is the Finnish mythology.

As for the deities, like Loviatar, Mielikki, Nyrkes, Äkräs, Tapio, Hiisi, and the rest... they were venerated in Finland long ago, back in the iron age, and before (And for some time after; Finns did not take well to conversion by sword and had a habit of beating up and occasionally murdering Christian missionaries. One of the more famous ones was the English bishop Henry, who was slain by the farmer Lalli on the ice of the Lake Köyliö. Henry was later canonized and became St. Henry, the guardian saint of Finland.) Swedish crusaders 'conquered' Finland.

The earliest mention of the deities in written word was either from a Roman historian, back in the days of ancient Rome, or a text by Michael Agricola somewhere in the late 13th or early 14th century, I forget which. The Roman chap concentrated on describing the culture, which back then was rather... primitive, while Agricola was a devout Christian, and basically lumped up the myriad deities of Finland as different guises of the Devil.

Oh, and by the way, on the original subject of the thread... Of course I will.

 

[Corinth]

I am so going for this opportunity to break into this market.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Can anyone find this release anywhere on the WotC Website?

 

[Sniktch]

Can anyone find this release anywhere on the WotC Website?

Nope, sure can't, but if I recall correctly the setting search was announced here before it was announced on their site also...

 

[Ace]

Is anyone out there going to be sending a story in? I'm sure that there are a lot of people that will try, but I'm doubting there will be as many proposals as the new world but you never know. Also, did anyone see if you could enter more than one proposal or not? I sometimes tend to skip over things like that, but after reviewing I don't see it mentioned.

I am.

I have written two novels (neither good enough to publish really) and know that if I won I could handle the deadline and write in a structured manner

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Interesting ...

 

[Krug]

Guidelines:

* Avoid the following character archetypes: alchemists, any other author's signature characters (Drizzt, Elminster, etc.), anyone who fights with two swords, apprentice/inexperienced wizards, drow of any kind for any reason, even in "cameos," dwarves or gnomes for comedic effect, sorcerers, Asian/Oriental Adventures/Kara-Turan characters. NOTE: If you use one of the "iconic" characters that have game stats in the FRCS, they cannot be killed or permanently altered.
* Please don't use any of these overused or banned themes/plots: an ancient evil has been awakened after centuries of sleep/death/undeath, kid/reluctant hero/Bilbo Baggins gets caught up in an adventure against his will, space travel, "the artifact hunt," time travel, or a monster (especially non-humanoids) as the principal POV character.

Dwarves or Gnomes for comedic effect.... you hear that people?

 

[Terraism]

If it was a short story submission bit, I'd be in for it, but an entire novel... much as I'd love to, I just don't have the time.