#formorians

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the left, the Red Slaad, the most basic of the 8 ft (2.4 m) chaos toads of the chaos dimension. Nothing going on other than what you see, and these ones give you a whole 3 months to get to a clinic if you accidentally get scratched, so much less danger of getting toad pregnant.

On the right, the formorian is a 13 ft (4 m) fae giant who got hit by a curse. Basically hit the "randomize" button on all thier features, so they might have thier nose on the side of thier head or something. Punishment for going all power hungry and evil. But if you like pushing character creators to their limits, there may still be appeal!

[epphfervescent]

Sketch ideas:

Pool party (any OCs, I just think this is fun)

Most unusual D&D race/class combo?

Werewolf transformation/animorphs forms of your were OCs

@daddybellies *sideeyes the genasi warlock in my wips* HOWEVER, could not resist a good doggy. Here’s some of my latest creature conjectures, ft René having a normal one

[oneknightstand-if]

Bro Formorian War would be the most unhinged 🔥🔥🔥🔥 crossover ever (it's also kinda arthurian if you squint from all the big brain writing)

Cloudcuckoolander MC would have a blast, while Adrian wouldn't just get another migraine but a whole ass aneurysm

*squints* Hey, there's Camelot!

Adrian: .........why are we in France?

Cuckoolander MC: Oui, oui, pourquoi ne serions-nous pas en France? Omelette du Fromage!

Merlin: (┛✧Д✧))┛彡┻━┻ FRANKISH SLANDER!

[blackcrowing]

Ok.... hear me out...

So the Fir Bolg right, Some scholars like T. F. O'Rahilly think maybe they were a mythological tale about a real group of people (sometimes they're conflated with a group that left Ireland and went to Greece, but I'm honestly not really sure where this specifically came from?). And the Fir Bolg SEEM to have some kind of tight knit relationship with the (much more mythological) Formorians.

Ok so what if the Fir Bolg were a real peoples who maybe tried to live in Ireland, or even DID live in Ireland but in small numbers while still in contract with their original culture of origin (because we KNOW folks were actually traversing water ways WAY more/earlier than we truly give them credit for) and when the culture of the Tuatha Dé Danann group shows up they have a cultural (and maybe actual) war for the land and eventually come to a peace (possibly the Tuatha Dé Danann culture winning out on Ireland and the Formorians/Fir Bolg culture still being predominant on the British Island some time around the late Bronze age/early Iron age?

Still with me? ok, now what if the Formorians/Fir Bolg group are the Scandinavians (pre-known Scandinavian culture) and this same story is (somewhat) reflected in THEIR mythology too. Reflected in the form of the war between the Aesir and Vanir, and the mingling of groups in both mythologies is a reflection of a mingling of real cultures and adopting of aspects of each others pantheons?

Now is it just as likely (maybe even more likely) that the parallels just come from shared Indo-European roots, absolutely, but do I personally enjoy this theory? Yes, yes I do.

[sidhedust]

Random ramblings under the cut-felt like going on a weird reflection on Luana's other form's design

The funny thing about Luana’s other form is that for a while I struggled with what it would look like, since it was only really recently (two years ago?) that I decided to make her straight up not human. Tovera’s magic system is heavily based on irl lit on how magic/religion was seen by our ancestors, and so I definitely wanted to go with a black cat motif above all else to hammer in some of the themes of the story. It's the most recognizable animal for magic stuff in the west next to goats and SOMETIMES foxes, and it fits her abilities around hopping between liminal spaces.

But her final form ended up being a mixture of animals that are given importance in Western European (and some African) countries, which ironically makes her look more like a Formorian than a fairy/elfin being after transforming, only looking fairy like when calm/feeling neutral:

It doesn’t help that when I saw Zelda’s Zonai, I was immediately inspired and sketched out a design based mostly on Rauru (LOOSELY) because they had a perfect mixture of human and furry to me, and I wanted to nail that chimeric blend to make her look kinda more cat-like but still "off" in a way…but the Zonai have a weird rabbit/goat motifs slapped into their designs, so it rubbed off on Luana a lot when I intended to omit rabbits from her design altogether.

In the end I don’t mind what I designed though. The fact that she looks like a goat in some ways actually works to her favor, since her primary caregiver in the fairy realm was a Formorian and y’know. Goats and magic go hand in hand in western occultism (AND Formorians are often interpreted as goat-like giant people, no doubt a Christian influence on Irish myth and their role as antagonists to the Tuathe De). The rabbit like look links her to the moon and can kinda come off as being lucky/evading disaster, which balances her black cat motif that pops up in her behavior and how she’s perceived.

But now that I see a fullbody of her...she looks kinda like a bear. Maybe it's just the way she's drawn here? Lol

[argothiathedreamer]

Obviously if I'm gonna be redesigning the Avian Formorians Byron's going to get the treatment first. He was basically the first Formorian after all.

Something important that I'm talking about to remind myself of it is that Formorians are SUPPOSED to look goofy. So the goofiness of the old designs were as intentional as the goofiness of the current one. As bird people they're just kinda inherently a little goofy.

[my-forgotten-notepad]

"What about when it is as blue as the sea?"

"Place a worn shoe, a flower in full bloom, a bowl of porridge. a shot of rum and a slice of bread upon your doorstep; Then wall yourself into your home. The Formorians have decided to rise from their cold depths and come ashore." She said.

"Why do I need to put out the old shoe and the selection of food items?"

My grandmother smiled. "You're a sharp tact. The offerings are to the Luchorpán; who shall indulge themselves before calling to the Tuatha Dé Danann. Who shall come on great winds and battle the Formorians. The Luchorpán will not perform tasks without an exchange beforehand."

Night For Ghosts

“The full moon always has something to tell you,” my grandmother taught me. “On nights when it’s blood red, stay indoors. Put a rose of garlic in each window. Vampires are about.”

“What about when the moon is yellow?”

“Yellow as a wolf’s eye. The lycantrhopes prowl. Not as bad as vampires, but carry wolfsbane just in case.”

“And snow white, like it is now?”

“A night for ghosts. They’ll be drifting by like falling snowflakes,” she said. “They won’t bother you. Might groan a bit.”

[simplysparrow14]

Okay okay okay but if it’s true that Ingrid was made by Freyr, then why the hell does his Sheith for Ingrid have the fucking Celtic Triskelion on its medallion????

And the fact that Ingrid— a literal sword of light—seems to look nothing like any sword that we've seen (not even freya's sword) be similar to the “sword of light” of Celtic mythology????

As well as the fact that throughout Ragnarok, there were so many references to Celtic/Irish/Scottish/British Isle specific mythology and stories:

Kelpies

mentions of Arthurian Legend of The Lady of the Lake, Nimue

The Scottish play which shall not be named (Shakespeare)

mentions of Oberon and Tatiannia

Mimir being opening called “Puck” from a Mid-Summers Nights Dream by The Norns (Shakespeare)

Mimir’s story about the Laird (The scottish name for a lord) and The Girl

The fact that the British isles is geographically closer to Scandinavia than any other mythological location

the fact that the biggest mystery as to what happened to the remaining giants of Jotunheim is still ongoing and Atreus is now on his quest to find what happened to them and where did they go

And the fact that the Ragnarok ending heavily hinted at the fact that Atreus could have his own spin-off game in the future

Also the fact that the formorians of celtic mythology are often linked to being giants/vikings that came from scandinavia (AKA home of Norse Mythology)

Santa Monica Studios: The math is not mathing, the mythology is not mythology-ing.

[aureentuluva70]

I've been looking more into the myths and legends that inspired Tolkien, specifically into Irish Mythology, and there are actually a lot of very interesting similarities, particularly in Tir na nÓg and the Tuatha dé Danann.

Tir na nÓg means 'the land of the young', and is an enchanted isle off the west coast of Ireland where all were happy and suffered no illness or unhappiness. It is also called the Otherworld, and just like with Valinor, was often mistaken for a kind of heaven or afterlife when it was an actual, earthly place that could be reached by sailing across the sea(or through magic).

It was from Tir na nÓg that the Tuath Dé came, sailing eastwards in a fleet of 300 ships. Tuatha dé Danann means "people of the Goddess Danu". The Tuath Dé are immortal beings who are immune to aging and illness who came from across the sea and inhabited the lands of Ireland before Men ever came there.

Upon landing on Ireland's shores the Tuath dé immediately took the ships they had used and burned them to prevent anyone from returning to their homeland. The smoke from the fires could be seen for miles and the dark cloud lasted for three days straight.

In their first battle against their enemies and former inhabitants of Ireland the Formorians, the King of the Tuath Dé, Nuada, had his arm sliced clean off. Because he was no longer "unblemished", he thus lost his kingship, although a new hand was made for him that was made of silver. Nuada thus gained the epithet of Airgetlam, meaning 'silver hand/arm'.

They were powerful magic users, and during the years they spent there conquered most of Ireland, though at the cost of much blood.

But just like the Elves, so do the Tuath Dé and their power eventually fade at the coming of Men, the Milesians, the ancestors of the Irish people. In some tales the Tuath dé fight back and are driven underground by the Milesians, but in others versions the Tuath Dé foresee and accept their fate, and flee beneath the earth where they later become the sidhe, the fairy folk, or Little People, living in barrows and cairns. In other versions, the Goddess Danu sent many of the Tuath Dé to live in Tir na nÓg, and made homes beneath the earth for those who wished to stay.

Overall, very alike to Tolkien's Elves, specifically the Noldor!

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

13 ft (4 m) fae giants who got hit by a curse. Basically hit the "randomize" button on all thier features, so they might have thier nose on the side of thier head or something. Punishment for going all power hungry and evil. But if you like pushing character creators to their limits, there may still be appeal!

[nogetron]

Fomorians, a race of dark demons that came from the sea. Many descriptions of this race have been circulated throughout history, Christian authors state that they were the human survivors of the great flood, while traditional Irish stories state that they had the heads of beasts and dealt with death and plague. They consistently menaced humanity and the Tuatha dé, enslaving them both during their reign. In the beginning, when the Dagda had accidentally slayed his father Donn, his mother Danu wept a great amount of tears in her grief washing away their children: the Tuatha dé dannan. Her tears became the mighty ocean while Donn’s body became the land. Within the depths of the ocean Danu’s grief and rage coalesced to form the Formorians, the disasters and strife that plague the earth given form. From the earth of the mighty Donn rose a mighty tree whose fruit was the human race.

The origin myth above is my own interpretation of the reconstructed cosmogony of the pagan Irish religion. It’s gathered from the origin of humanity, of which the Irish state to be descended from the death god Donn, I interpreted the fomorians as Danu’s own race descended from her, as the fomorians are repeatedly said to be the children of Domnu a god also associated with the sea along with similar etymologies to Danu. (this is just my interpretation and I encourage those interested to do their own research). The Fomorians themselves weren’t all considered to be evil as some of them married and were apart of the Tuatha dé, such is the case for Lugh who was half Fomorian. The Fomorians were depicted as raiders due to the recent Viking attacks on Ireland. In modern scholarship the Fomorians are compared to the Nordic Vanir as races who once battled the gods.

[allmythologies]

a-z myths: fand; irish mythology

fand, a faery queen, was once married to the sea god manann. after he left her, she was preyed upon by three formorian warriors in the battle for control of the irish sea. her only hope in winning this battle was to send for the hero cuchulain who would only agree to come if she would marry him. she reluctantly acquiesced to his wishes, though when she met him, she fell as deeply in love with him as he was with her.

[dairedara]

The Morrígan

“Thou hast no power against me," said Cúchulainn. "I have power indeed," said the woman; "it is at the guarding of thy death that I am; and I shall be," said she. The Cattle-Raid of Regamna, from the Yellow Book of Lecan

The Morrígan is depicted in the Irish cycles as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the wife* of the Dagda, and a goddess ruling over the spheres of fate, death, war, and land. She is often associated with ravens, crows, and heifers, whose forms she takes.

Name & Epithets: Morrígan, Morrígu, Mórrígan (Middle Irish— “Great Queen”), Mór-Ríoghain (Modern Irish)

Role as a Goddess of War

The Morrígan is seen in the Cycles as bringing victory in war, or foretelling death in battle. In the Cath Mage Tuired, which describes how the Tuatha Dé Danann overthrew the tyrannical Fomorians, she proclaims the victory of the gods over their enemy and foretells the end of the world. In the Ulster Cycle, she is the sometimes-patron, sometimes-enemy of the hero Cúchulainn, whose death she prophesies after he offends her, and then reminded of his fate by taking the form of an old woman washing his bloodied clothes in a creek.

Role as a Sovereignty Goddess

Sovereignty goddesses in Irish tradition represent the land itself, and thus marriage to one creates a legitimate rule or guardianship over that land. In Early Medieval Ireland (and perhaps before), a king’s coronation would include a symbolic marriage to the land, thereby granting himself power and legitimacy. The Morrígan is one such sovereignty goddess, or at least perceived as one by the 12th Century, as the Book of Invasions names her the sister of Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, personifications of Ireland married to each of her three kings.

Role as a Triplicate Goddess

The Morrígan is inconsistently referred to as one of three or a combination of three figures. In the Mythological cycle, she is named as the sister of Badb (’crow’), a war goddess, and Macha, a land goddess. Together, they are called the three Morrígna. Macha is also the name of several other figures, and Badb appears barely distinguishable from the Morrígan. Whatever the case, the names appear less like the archetypal ‘Maiden, Mother, Crone’, and more like simply different aspects of the goddess given different titles, as is common in Irish religion.

*Marriage with the Dagda

The fact of her “marriage” with the Dagda is contentious but well-supported by the texts we have access to. One of her best-known stories from the Cath Mage Tuired is the Dagda’s pact with her before the battle against the Formorians. This part of the text is often mistranslated as the Dagda meeting her [for the first time] at a certain point in the year, when really a perhaps more accurate translation would be “On this day [near Samhain] the Dagda met her yearly.” Additionally, the “union” described between her and the Dagda does not appear to be purely sexual. The word used, ‘oentaith’ is difficult to translate but probably also refers to a general agreement/pact [dil.ie/33541], not unlike a modern marriage. Additionally, as a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a ceremonial marriage to a sovereignty and agricultural goddess such as the Morrígan would be appropriate for the Dagda and make sense to an early Irish audience.

My UPG with the Morrígan

Recommended reading + Sources

Cath Mage Tuired [Translation] [Original]

Book of Invasions

The Cattle-Raid of Regamna

[blackcrowing]

Important Facts about Samhain from an Irish Celtic Reconstructionist

Pronunciation

SOW-in or SOW-een ~NOT~ Sam-han, Sam-win etc.

Dates

Most reconstructionists celebrate Samhain on Oct 31-Nov 1, however some may choose to celebrate on Gregorian Nov 13-14 as this would match the Julian dates of Oct 31-Nov 1. Some also believe that it was a three day festival spanning Oct 31- Nov 2 on which Nov 2 is specifically devoted to ancestral veneration, but there is no specific evidence of this, only possible extrapolation from more modern practices.

Following the Celtic method of days beginning at sunset, regardless of the specific dates you choose to celebrate on your festivities should begin at sunset and end at sunset.

Importance in the Mythos

Ná Morrighan has a strong connection to this time of year thanks to the story of Cath Dédenach Maige Tuired (The Last Battle of Mag Tuired) in which she is found depicted as the ‘Washing Woman’ (sometimes washing herself in the river and other times washing the bloodied armor of the soldiers that would die that day), on the eve of the battle which is also Samhain. The Dagda approaches her and couples with her (creating the ‘Bed of the Couples’ along the bank of river and granting Dagda her blessing in the battle to come). This encounter seems to over emphasize the liminality of the encounter by taking place during the changing of the year and with the couple each standing with ‘one foot on either bank’ of the river.

She and her sisters (Badb and Macha) then use various forms of magic to rain destruction on their enemies (in the form of fire and blood). After the day is won Morrighan speaks a prophecy that describes what is taken by some to be the end of days and others to be the events which will later lead to the Ulster Cycle.

Beneath the peaceful heavens lies the land. It rests beneath the bowl of the bright sky. The land lies, itself a dish, a cup of honeyed strength, there, for the taking, offering strength to each There it lies, the splendour of the land. The land is like a mead worth the brewing, worth the drinking. It stores for us the gifts of summer even in winter. It protects and armours us, a spear upon a shield Here we can make for ourselves strong places, the fist holding the shield Here we can build safe places, our spear-bristling enclosures. This is where we will turn the earth. This is where we will stay. And here will our children live to the third of three generations Here there will be a forest point of field fences The horn counting of many cows And the encircling of many fields There will be sheltering trees So fodderful of beech mast that the trees themselves will be weary with the weight. In this land will come abundance bringing: Wealth for our children Every boy a warrior, Every watch dog, warrior-fierce The wood of every tree, spear-worthy The fire from every stone a molten spear-stream Every stone a firm foundation Every field full of cows Every cow calf-fertile Our land shall be rich with banks in birdsong Grey deer before Spring And fruitful Autumns The plain shall be thronged from the hills to the shore. Full and fertile. And as time runs its sharp and shadowy journey, this shall be true. This shall be the story of the land and its people We shall have peace beneath the heavens. Forever

(based on the translation by Isolde Carmody)

It is also mentioned in Echtra Cormaic that on this festival every seven years the high king would host a feast, it was at this time new laws could be enacted. (but it seems that individual Tuathas or possibly kings of the individual providence may have done this for their territories at Lughnasadh).

It seems to be a time considered especially susceptible to (or of) great change as it is the time which the Tuatha de Danann win victory over the Formorians and take control of Ireland, the invasion of Ulster takes place at this time in Táin bo Cúailnge, in Aislinge Óengusa Óengus and his bride-to-be are changed from bird to human and eventually he claims kingship of Brú na Bóinne at this time of year.

Celebration Traditions

Samhain is the beginning of the “dark half” of the year and is widely regarded as the Insular Celtic equivalent of the New Year. The “dark half” of the year was a time for story telling, in fact in this half of the year after dark is considered the only acceptable time to tell stories from the mythological and Ulster cycle (the Fenian cycle being assumed to be no older than the 12th century based on linguistic dating). Traditionally anything that had not been harvested or gathered by the time of this festival was to be left, as it now belonged to the Fae (in some areas specifically the Púca).

This was also an important time for warding off ill luck in the coming year. Large bonfires would be built and as the cattle were driven back into the community from the pastures they would be walked between these bonfires as a method of purification (the reverse custom of Bealtaine where the livestock were walked between the fires on their way out to the summer pastures). Assumed ritualistic slaughter of some of the herd would follow (though this perhaps had the more practical purpose of thinning the herd before the winter and creating enough food for the feasting). In some areas the ashes from these fires would be worn, thrown or spread as a further way to ward off evil.

Homes would be ritualistically protected from the Aos Sí (Fae or ‘Spirits’) through methods such as offerings of food (generally leaving some of the feasting outside for them), carving turnips with scary faces to warn them off (we now tend to do this with gourds), and smoke cleansing the home (in Scottish saining) traditionally with juniper, but perhaps rowan or birch might be an acceptable alternative. It is likely these would be part of the components used in Samhain bonfires as well, for the same reason.

Lastly based on later traditions as well as links in the mythology this is a time where divination practices or those with the ‘second sight’ were regarded to be especially potent.

Art Credit @morpheus-ravenna

My Kofi

[krimsonkatt]

Dagda, Lord of the Dannan (Lost Anima)

The main antagonist of a future game I'm making called Lost Anima. It is an RPG heavily inspired by irish and scottish mythology with multiple endings and divided into 4 distinct "parts", the Prologue, Broken Earth Chapter, Shadow Realm Chapter, and Skybound Chapter. Dagda is the game's main antagonist, the brutal king of the Dannan who slaughtered the other gods of their world and their assossiated races, only sparing the last race, the formorians, to serve as the Dannan's slaves. He even went to the extent of pulling the Dannan cities up to the sky while bringing waste to the land below, turning the surface world into a trash-infested hellscape filled with demons from the Shadow Realm, which Dadga opened a portal to. Now the heroes Setana, Finn McCool, and others must team up to defeat Dagda and free the people of the surface from the Dannan's oppression.

[wee-chlo]

If the next major installment of GoW does go to Egypt, Atreus better be in his 30s because a cursory glance at Egyptian mythology tells me that it would rapidly become a crash course in weird sex stuff.

Like, I have this image of him going to the British Isles first, because Celtic lore has the Formorians, who are thought to be analogues of the vikings so it makes sense they'd be Jotnar. And he makes some friends who go with him to Rome, and he meets Bellona there, who's actually Calliope. And from there, they go to Egypt.

Which is how one day, Freya and Kratos come back to the stave to find a half dozen 20-somethings trying to recover from the psychic damage caused by being within a mile of That Time Horus Tricked His Uncle Into Eating a Jizz Salad.