#scandinavian references
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Imagine a travel episode where it's the Scandinavian Trio travelling through Italy or Spain but they're all just collectively ganging up on Sweden (who this trip is for) and messing with him, and both Denmark and Norway are basically just Conan O'Brien with Jordan on their trip to Italy I think that would be so funny 💀
#hetalia#soap is talking#hws sweden#hws denmark#hws norway#scandinavian trio#headcanons#headcanon#aph sweden#aph denmark#aph norway#I love Conan this trip just screams “brothers mocking Sweden” to me 😂😂😂#it's like they specifically booked this trip for Swe because he loved visiting so they think they've earned additional rights to tease him#I love Conan the golden god of Finland#<- an old Conan O'Brien reference 👀👀#hetalia sweden#hetalia denmark#hetalia norway#seriously guys look up “Conan and Jordan Italy trip” on youtube y'all will not be disappointed!!#there's a lot more I can edit in but it was 2 AM when I made this so I'm lazy n sleepy now sleep tight xoxo
17 notes
·
View notes
Text
#because kendall is stewys sunk cost. and his suck cock. yknow.#trust me bro. i can cite my references (the scandinavian defense ao3)#kenstewy#succession
95 notes
·
View notes
Note
Your hamster sounds so cute!! 🥺 do you have any pictures? 👉👈
I did a photoshoot just for you 🥰 This is Astrid!
kukkuu
#it's an old Scandinavian name that means 'divinely beautiful' because she's from Sweden and very pretty at least in my eyes 🥺#it's also a reference to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and How to Train Your Dragon#asks
28 notes
·
View notes
Text
love elder scrolls horse lore
#thinking about oblivion horse speeds. and skyrim wild horses creation club. naming horses.#the wild horses randomized names r just like actual scandinavian names. i randomized it and got loki and went OH FUCK NO and rerandomized it#there shall be no lore-unfriendly norse mythology references in my skyrim
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
i am misuse case and I have never felt so seen in my entire tumblr life.
ur government assigned gender for the day is the first thing u get when u click this link to a randomised wikipedia article. NO REROLLS . i am the trollsteineggje mountain in norway
#another Norwegian reference too#im sensing a pattern wiki#and I’m not complaining#this Scandinavian is a scandalous-knave-ian#be gay#literally do crime
125K notes
·
View notes
Text
has anyone figured out whom "the econoclards" are meant to be a reference to
#all i can think of is lenin's critique of economism but i feel like it's something else#like. what about spreadsheets obsession#what about the beans#also chavism maybe? but the questions above remain#i don't think it's a reference to scandinavian social democracies as they already have them at home (in elysium)
0 notes
Text
October 2023 Set (2) - Scandinavian Sleepover
With this set that comes with many swatches, you can create Scandinavian living room for your sims in many different styles. The sofa can transform into a sofa bed (by manually going into buy mode😸) Now it is time to call your sims' friends to have a sleepover! All items are base-game compatible.
PATREON
Reference
#sims4#sims4cc#sims4ccfinds#ts4#ts4cc#ts4ccfinds#thesims4#thesims4cc#thesims4ccfinds#sims#simscc#simsccfinds#cowbuild#cc#模拟人生4cc#模拟人生4#シムズ4cc#シムズ4#심즈4cc#심즈4#scandinavian
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
for nimblr#payment for shakespearean sins#*carefully set out bait*
YES, darling, it's been giddy torture coming across astronicht's posts and wanting to find All the Norse bits but carefully excise all of the Tolkein. And this is yet worse because either the state library doesn't have the book referenced, or Neil Price has committed the cardinal sin of titling a book without useful key words because people are terrible at naming their sons. Be scornful as you like about the Æs#leighys of the world but at least if they write a book called The we'll still be able to find it.
(To some degree it's moot because my library queue is already filled to the end of August with Locus finalists - which, side note, I'm irritated about people naming their sons because of a man named Tim Powers writing a book called My Brother's Keeper as if he wants it to vanish into the stacks forever - but at astronicht's recommendation I've put Clive Oppenheimer on for 27 August.)
In sum, we need more trans people naming themselves Akaþorr and a new wave in conservatism to bring back names like Æthelred and Godric so I can find the books I want to read. And astronicht is very welcome to fill my library queue for September.
Look! Look I yell, fully caught up in my own themes and echoes! That are possibly my fevered imagination after too much time exposed to 600-1100 AD! Bombadil and then Gandalf (and fascinatingly not Galadriel) have set up the strength of “Beware of his voice!” Words have already stopped Riders in their tracks; voices have broken open the ancient walls of tombs, protected Bill The Pony, halted a balrog…! It’s built up and made this moment as tense as it is! And now we inch ever closer to Saruman… and ever closer to… me having to pop open the giant textbook The Viking Way by Neil Price to the chapters on seiðr magic, because I never learned it like I learned galdor/galdr and now Tolkien has caught me slipping… he rlly said where is your holistic approach to the early medieval North Sea cultural landscape… “I didn’t name the book Two Towers for u to forget about seiðr” as I gently weep…
#replies#it's fine I can always ACTUALLY GO TO THE LIBRARY#and I mean to ask the bookstore to order me a copy of Children of Ash and Elm anyway#so if the library truly fails me I will continue in my quest#to develop the medieval Scandinavian reference library of the county
129 notes
·
View notes
Text
You’re walking down a long quiet road. It’s winter, snow covers the ground, the sky fades gray. All around you are trees that have long since dropped their leaves, cold and dead, waiting for spring. You stop beneath one, eye caught by a striking sight. Amid the bare branches you see a round bundle of stunning green leaves. Hanging down above you are dozens of beautiful little pearly white berries. The fruit tempts you, but you don’t dare touch. Instead you simply admire them. Life among the dead of winter. Mistletoe.
@slocotion Hi, here is my design for slocotion's patreon dyo doll contest. Her name is Haustoria of the Pale. I was very excited to put this together once it struck me. I thought of all my favorite fruits I could have used but then inspiration hit me as I was considering less common fruits and fungi. Mistletoe is used medicinally by some but the entire plant, including its cute white berries, is toxic. Since this is a longer post, I’ll include more notes on my design under a cut but to point out the most important thing, I’ve combined the nature of the toxic berries with some historical+mythological inspiration that I think echoes it nicely.
In Norse mythology, a well known story is that of the death of Baldr. Baldr was the most loved god of the Aesir, so when a vision of his death reached his parents Odin and Frigga, they did all they could to protect him. Frigga sent her servants all over the world to make every creature and thing vow to never harm a hair on Baldr’s head. All but mistletoe promised, too insignificant or too young to make the vow. After it was done, Bladr seemed invincible. Since nothing was willing to hurt him, the gods would sometimes gather around and throw things at him, watching everything bounce off without injuring him. Loki, jealous of the love and affection that was always paid to Baldr, came up with a plan to get rid of him. He had an arrow made of mistletoe and brought it to Baldr’s blind brother Hodr. He gave it to him to throw at Baldr as all the gods pelted him with objects and weapons. Hodr threw the arrow and, since mistletoe had never promised not to harm him, it pierced his chest, killing him instantly... And so Baldr was delivered to the depths of the land of the dead, looked over by Hel.
specific design notes under the cut thank you for looking!
Mistletoe is a very interesting plant to me. It’s not a tree or vine or bush, but instead its an evergreen parasite. The sticky seeds attach themselves to the branches and grow into it with a haustorium, which is a structure that lets them sap nutrients from the host plant. Haustoria’s name is a reference to this structure. “of the Pale” is a reference to not only the color of the berries but the pale gray and white landscape of winter.
Mistletoe berries are heavily toxic but also exist in winter, when other plants may be barren and “dead.” Because of that and their parasitic nature I see them as a sweet little balance of life and death. In addition to that, I use the split colors of the face/mask of Haustoria to reference the goddess of the land of the dead, Hel, who is described as having a body that is half black as death, split down the middle.
The structure of the outfit is inspired by Scandinavian and specifically Norwegian folk dresses, since I’m borrowing old Norse history for more inspiration, it seemed fitting. I also felt the style would be good to accompany the botanical and berry designs attractively.
The twin peaked hood is to further split the design down the middle, with little charms to show life and death.
I included white beads all over the outfit to represent the mistletoe berries themselves so they could stand out.
The dark side of her face is adorned with thorns and has three mournful black tears leaking down from her eye, as well as a hollow half of the center heart.
The light side is blushed and lively with shiny eyes, leaves shaped like the mistletoe leaves, red petals like the mistletoe blooms, three white dots to be the mistletoe fruit, and the center heart is full.
Her cape is white on the inside to represent the white of the berries and also the white of snow.
To cap it off, I do believe mistletoe is fitting for a plague doctor as they are still used medicinally to this day. :)
Thank you for reading everything and looking at my design! I’m very proud of her and I hope she doesn’t stretch the theme. And definitely more than anything else I hope you enjoy looking at her!
#I hope you like her#I suddenly was struck with a vision of this design so I had to drop everything to work on her for a few days#sorry for the long post though I had a lot of thoughts#<3333#good luck to all the entrants I have been having fun looking at the other cute designs#I take immense interest in both botany and Norse mythology#kleptodoesart
445 notes
·
View notes
Text
A brand new species of ceratops, or horned dinosaur, was recently discovered in northern Montana. This discovery was published in the journal PeerJ last week. The dinosaur is called Lokiceratops rangiformis, after the Norse god Loki, and is believed to have lived roughly eighty million years ago. Researchers named it so for two reasons: 1. Like all ceratops, it has horns on his head — and in this case, they remind researchers of the blades on Loki's helmet. 2. The recovered skull currently resides in the Museum of Evolution in Denmark, one of the Scandinavian countries responsible for the story of Loki. The second part of the name, rangiformis, refers to the horns not being symmetrical, like caribou.
Continue Reading.
214 notes
·
View notes
Text
Book Review: Freya: Meeting the Norse Goddess of Magic by Morgan Daimler
I just finished a reread of this book and realized I've never talked about it on this blog, even though it ties into a lot of my content.
I've talked about my relationship with Freyja here before. She is the deity I have worked with most consistently in my personal practice, and she's been a strong presence in my life since I was a child. Even before I was interested in witchcraft or paganism, I was drawn to stories and images of Freyja.
Unfortunately, quality books about Freyja are hard to find in English. A lot of the wonderful work being done by Scandinavian scholars and heathens is only available in their native languages. A lot of English-language resources are either very academic and prohibitively expensive, or they are books about goddess worship more generally that only mention Freyja on a few pages. Freyja, Lady, Vanadis: An Introduction to the Goddess by Patricia M. Lafayllve is a pretty good beginner's resource, but it's only available in paperback, which can be a barrier for some readers.
All of this is to say, I was very excited when Morgan Daimler put out this book. I've talked about how much I love Daimler's work before on this blog -- I think they do really great research AND do a really good job of making all that information accessible for a beginner. I have several of Daimler's books on Norse and Irish deities, and all of them are resources I reference often in my practice.
This book follows a similar formula to Daimler's other books on deities, like Odin or the Morrigan. Daimler presents Freyja's mythology, folklore, associations, and relationships. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to Freyja's connection to seiðr, which explains what seiðr is and why it is important in a very straightforward way. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to connecting with Freyja as a modern worshiper.
I like that Daimler includes a section at the end of each chapter about their own experiences with Freyja. I also like that they talk about the importance of actually experiencing the gods and trusting our experiences. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that anything that doesn't match up with primary sources is wrong, and I like that Daimler takes time to shoot down that idea.
I also really like that Daimler does not tell you how to interpret the lore. Daimler presents a story, explains the different ways it could be interpreted, and leaves readers to make their own conclusions. This is a style of teaching I try to use in my own work, and I love seeing it done well here.
If you know next to nothing about Freyja, I think this book is an excellent place to start. Everything you need to make that initial connection is here.
Even as someone who has worked with Freyja for years and done lots of my own research, I found a few things I didn't know here. This book also gave me a new perspective on certain aspects of Freyja's lore. This is why it's always great to compare notes with other people.
If you're interested in connecting with Freyja or just learning more about her, I highly, highly recommend this book!
#insert [finally some good fucking food] meme here#book review#book rec#book recommendations#books#freyja#freyja deity#freya#freya deity#inclusive heathenry#norse heathen#norse paganism#heathenry#norse mythology#norse#paganism#deity work#morgan daimler#witch#witchblr#pagan#history#my writing#mine
108 notes
·
View notes
Text
eating salmon: an explanation
lox: thin cuts of salmon (traditionally the fatty belly meat) dry cured with salt, but not smoked. this results in a delicate texture and a very salty taste. lox originated in Scandinavia as a method of preserving fish prior to refrigeration, but the American English word is derived from Yiddish because Jewish delis in New York first popularized it as a bagel topping. since lox is a type of uncooked fish, it is not recommended for pregnant people, immunocompromised people, or seniors, due to the risk of contamination with listeria.
cold-smoked salmon: thin cuts of salmon brined (with less salt than lox) and then smoked below 90 degrees Fahrenheit. results in the same silky texture but a milder, more palatable taste. often called "Nova lox", referring to Nova Scotia but denoting a method of preparation rather than the fish's origin. this is usually what modern Americans are referring to when they use the term "lox". cold-smoking reduces but does not eliminate the risk of listeria.
hot-smoked salmon: salmon brined quickly and then smoked above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. results in a flaky, jerky-liked texture, a hard shiny surface, and a smoky flavor. (as a West-coaster, this is my preferred style!) hot-smoking eliminates listeria during the cooking process, but salmon can be recontaminated during the processing/packaging process if the facility is not sanitary. (really, this is true of all foods- vegetables, dairy products, etc).
salmon candy: a traditional Pacific Northwest hot-smoked salmon recipe where the brine is sweetened with brown sugar, and the smoked fish is glazed with a sauce containing birch or maple syrup.
salmon jerky: cured salmon hot-smoked for longer than usual or processed in a dehydrator until it is tough and chewy.
gravlax: a traditional Scandinavian raw salmon recipe where the brine contains sugar and dill. historically buried in the ground and lightly fermented. sometimes it is still pressed to give it a dense texture.
kippered salmon: thicker cuts of brined salmon hot-smoked above 150 degrees Fahrenheit. results in a texture similar to baked salmon.
salmon sushi/sashimi: completely raw fresh salmon. this didn't exist in traditional Japanese cuisine, where salmon was always cooked, possibly because the local wild salmon had a high burden of parasitic worms (anasakis nematodes). Norwegian fish sellers convinced them to try farmed Atlantic salmon raw in the 80s, and it really took off.
poached salmon: salmon cooked on the stove while submerged in liquid (often white wine with lemon). results in a moist, soft, cooked fish with a pale color. can be bland without sauce.
baked salmon: salmon cooked in an oven, often wrapped in aluminum foil with seasonings to retain moisture and flavor. can result in perfect, flaky fish (as long as you don't overcook it).
dishwasher salmon: look, sometimes white people wrap salmon in aluminum foil like they're going to bake it and then poach it in their dishwasher instead. this can work but is stupid because the temperature dishwashers run at isn't standardized, so you have no control over the process and it's easy to over or undercook.
pan-fried salmon: salmon cooked in oil on a stovetop. I've never done this and frankly it sounds wrong, but I bet it makes the skin crunchy.
broiled salmon: salmon cooked under a broiler. as with all broiled foods, you will have to stare at it the whole time or it will burn to a crisp while your back is turned. results in a caramelized exterior.
grilled salmon: to grill salmon people often put it on a Western redcedar plank pre-soaked in water, which supposedly infuses the salmon with a smoky, aromatic flavor while it cooks. I've seen the technique variously credited to the Haida, the Salish, and the Chinook. it seems to be a modern variation of the traditional "salmon on a stick" style of slow-cooking salmon by spearing it on branches and leaning it over the coals of an above-ground pit fire.
deep-fried salmon: this sounds absolutely awful but I simply cannot stop thinking about it
461 notes
·
View notes
Text
Second day of Christmas : the Yule Goat
In Scandinavian countries, the Yule Goat or Julbock is an emblematic Christmas figure taken straight from Norse and Germanic mythologies. Inspired from the goats who accompanied Thor and turned malevolent and satanic at the moment of Christianism's coming, he became good again in the 19th century and it was then said he was the one bringing presents to children, before being rewritten agai as just the Julenisse's mate/steed, the elf who is said to be the one bringing gifts more recently. The reason why I drew him crisp burnt is referring to the Gävle Goat, Sweden. It's super funny, but too long tocbe explained here, there are lots of articles and videos on the subject and this year is a new step in its history
#Christmas#twelve days of christmas#folklore#lol#i made it myself#moi#julbock#gävle goat#gävle#sweden#norse#germanic#mythology#burned#fire#explosion#25th winter street christmas city
270 notes
·
View notes
Text
What is Norse Heathenry?
Norse Heathenry is a contemporary pagan spirituality derived from the beliefs, customs, superstitions, and folklore of the pre-Christian Norse people. It is one of a few different kinds of Heathenries, which include Slavic Heathenry and Teutonic (Germanic) Heathenry.
The word "heathen" means "of the heaths." However, it's not a word the Old norse people themselves used. They didn't have a word for their spiritual belief system, as they didn't distinguish this from all other aspects of their lives. Rather, "Heathen" was coined by Christian writers to refer to Scandinavian pagans (this is also why it's sometimes used interchangeably with the word "heretic").
Nowadays, Norse Heathenry is referred to by many names, which reflects different developing iterations of it. Amongst these names are Norse Paganism, Asatru, and Forn Sidr / Forn Sed.
Where does Norse Heathenry come from?
Norse Heathenry comes from the Nordic countries of Europe: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. These places are also known as the homelands of the vikings. But despite their shared origins, Norse Heathenry is not the religion of the vikings. This very large misconception has a very long, complex history behind it, owed to a combination of commercialization and fascist tampering. The Heathenry we see in America is extremely muddied from these influences. Fortunately, we now have the means to disambiguate it, thanks to increasingly accessible cultural exchange.
The following explanation is a product of ongoing anthropological, theological, and cultural research, in combination with what we know about the historical.
Norse Heathen Beliefs
Unlike organized religions, Norse Heathenry is (and has always been) a decentralized belief system. This means it has no universal doctrines, no orthopraxy or orthodoxy, no holy texts, and no religious figurehead governing it. When you hear people say "There's no 'right' way to practice Heathenry," this is generally what they're referring to.
However, Norse Heathenry does have a distinct way of thinking about and viewing the world, and it's very different from what we usually see here in the US. If you're feeling stuck trying to figure out how to "do Heathenry," this would be why.
Animism
A staple of Norse Heathen epistemology is Animism.
Usually, Animism is defined as the belief that all things have a spirit or vital essence to them. But this is only one definition of many, and not the definition that applies here.
The Norse concept of Animism is "the awareness that all things are part of an interdependent ecosystem." This changes how we engage with everything around us. We understand that when we interact with the forces of this world, they will interact back on their own merit. Our relationship with all things is a social one, and we're not spectators in our environment, but active participants at all times.
This stands is stark contrast to the way the USAmericans typically view the world: As a landscape to either test or be tested by, with the forces of the world acting as the means through which this is done.
Additionally, there's no separation between the sacred and the profane.
Immanence
Faiths that focus on spiritual ascension, enlightenment, or attaining a good afterlife are known as transcendent faiths.
While Norse Heathenry has some transcendent elements, it's ultimately an immanent belief system, which means its focus is on living life for the sake of living, as opposed to living life to receive a good afterlife. A good afterlife is already guaranteed.
(Some Heathens may strive for a specific kind of afterlife, however, which do have certain conditions for accessing. But these are elective rather than required, and different as opposed to superior. It's all a matter of preference, at the end of the day.)
The Norse Gods
Many people are already familiar with the Norse gods, such as Thor, Odin, Loki, and Freyja, but not many people are familiar with how they operate as gods.
In Hellenism and Religio Romano, the gods are divine lords who preside over different domains of society. It's a reflection of what the ancient Greeks and Romans highly valued in their civilizations: Law and political/civic involvement.
In Norse Heathenry, however, gods don't operate in a lordship capacity. Instead, they're more like celebrities in that they're celebrated figures everyone knows about.
While they don't rule over one thing or another, the Norse gods often act as allegorical representations of worldly phenomena. Thor is to thunderstorms as Loki is to "random-chance odds." SIf is to wheat-fields as Odin is to the old wandering beggar. Frey and Freyja represent masculine and feminine principles, Skadi the driven snow and foggy winter, and so on. The gods exist as worldly experiences inasmuch as they exist as ideas.
Lastly, but importantly, the Norse gods don't distribute rewards or punishments in accordance with on one's actions or deeds, nor do they tell us how we ought to live our lives. The way they interact with us depends on our individual relationships with them, which can be just as diverse as the ones we have with each other.
Myths & Folklore
What people often refer to as the "Norse Myths" are stories found in two old Icelandic texts called the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda. These texts are special because they're the oldest and largest collection of tales featuring the Norse deities.
However, these texts represent just one region's period-specific interpretation of Norse folklore. They also only represent a fraction of the tales that still circulate within Nordic oral traditions, so not only are they not "canon" in the usual sense of the word, they're also just a sample.
This is all to say that Norse Heathenry doesn't have a hard body of mythology. It certainly has a defined one, but its definition is built from local legends, fairy tale humor, songs, customs, superstitions, and family folklore in addition to what survives on runestones and parchment. The corpus of Heathenry is very much a living, breathing thing.
Spirits
Norse Heathenry recognizes a wide variety of different beings, the likes of which can be found all around us. Some of these beings are like how we typically imagine spirits, in that they're incorporeal or otherwordly, while others are physical but may play tricks on you so you can't see them.
Like many things pertaining to Heathenry, there isn't a universally-shared classification system for Norse beings. But generally-speaking, beings are defined by their natures and the manner in which they relate to the rest of the world, rather than their morphology. For example, Trolls can take the appearance of rocks, trees, and also living people, but they can also be incorporeal spirits. This is all, however, the same kind of Troll, rather than being different types of trolls.
This is also why the lines between "spirit", "god," and "ancestor" can become very blurry at times. In English use, these are all typically labeled under the category "vaetter." Sometimes "wight" is used to refer to spirits of various types, but isn't often used to refer to gods.
Typically, the way people interact with spirits entirely depends on what kind of spirit they're dealing with, as well as their disposition towards human beings. Some spirits may enjoy a personal relationship, while others are best when left unbothered.
Values & Morality
Because Norse Heathenry has no doctrine and is immanent in nature, it has no fixed value system. Just like the stories were decentralized, so were the Norse people's values.
This is a feature as opposed to a flaw, and a fact as opposed to a theory. But it also has a habit of making Americans very uncomfortable.
For this reason, Heathens sometimes choose to construct their own value system to observe as part of their practice. But what those values are is up to each individual, and individual community, if applicable.
Anyone claiming Norse Heathenry has a universal value system is either new to Heathenry, or selling something.
Veneration
Heathen veneration is not just limited to gods, but also includes ancestors and even certain kinds of spirits, such as nisse/tomte.
Like most things in Norse Heathenry, what, who, and how a Heathen chooses to venerate is their choice to make. One popular observance across the globe is to craft altars, shrines, or similar sacred spaces for the entities one venerates. If a Heathen lives in a house that has a nisse (similar to a gnome), they might leave porridge (with butter) by the hearth for him, and he'll in turn bless the house with good luck and fortune.
Oftentimes, relationships with entities are very interpersonal. Heathenry's animistic and immanent nature means entities are rarely cold and distant, including the gods.
Misconceptions!
A list of misconceptions off the top of my head:
The practice known as 'Odinism' is an invention of the Germanic Volkish movement, which was the social precursor to Nazi Germany. This is also, unfortunately, the first kind of "heathenry" to be brought to the US, back in the 1970's. It was spread through the country via one of the fastest-moving networks at the time: The US prison system.
The Black Sun is a Nazi symbol, not a Heathen one.
No, Norse Heathenry is not a closed practice.
No, you don't have to have Scandinavian heritage to practice Norse Heathenry. Blood quantum is not a thing.
The rune alphabets are old, but the method of runecasting is new.
So is the use of magical bindrunes.
Bindrunes are also different from Galdrastafir. The latter is actually a form of Jewish-Christian-Norse syncretism and needs to be taught orally since it's a mystery tradition. You can still slap the Helm of Awe on things and look cool about it though.
Norse Heathenry is not the same as being a viking, and Norse Heathens are not vikings. However, some Heathens partake in viking reenactment as an extension of their practice.
There's no good or bad gods in Norse Heathenry. All the gods are capable of great good and great bad, just like people. They're fallible, and that's what makes them relatable.
Odin and Loki aren't at odds with one another.
You don't need to wait for a god to pick you to start venerating them.
If you're interested in learning more about any of these in-depth, check out the website I've built on Norse Heathenry, located in my pinned post!
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
Norwegian Bunad Mermaid!
I received a ton of recommendations on mermaids to illustrate with historical fashion inspiration and I'm excited about it. A few of the requests were for a Scandinavian/Norwegian/Bunad mermaid and off I went. I found a really cute little article about bunads with some great reference specific to a coastal Norwegian area. I combined said reference with even more shell and sea details... and a fork for reasons... It was really fun and I think she turned out really cute!
I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram.com/ellenartistic or tiktok: @ellenartistic
#historical mermaid#historical mermay#collection of mermaids#historically inspired#digital illustration#ellenart#lnart#historical costuming#historical fashion#Bunad
722 notes
·
View notes
Text
200 13th-Century Names
I've made a thing and thought others might be able to get some use out of it. If you just want the d100 tables, scroll down to the cut and skip my rambling as to what this list is. Short version, it's a d100 table of male names and a d100 table of female names, taken from 13th-century English records and trimmed to minimize names that were used within the last 140-odd years.
While working on my Dungeon23 project (updates collected here, by the way), I was looking for names for my NPCs, and stumbled upon the Henry III Fine Rolls as a source. This is a digitization and indexing of records from 13th-century England that include a lot of personal names. It contains references to a database they made that sorts these names by popularity and other factors, but the database apparently hasn't been maintained, because it's gone. For a while, I was just picking names from articles about that database, but I started to worry I was going to run out (due to my tendency to name any corpses of dead adventurers in the dungeon just in case someone likes to cast speak with dead). So I went to their index of names, which is great if you're looking for a specific person, but not useful if you just want a list of personal names, and decided to use their data to make a couple d100 tables for myself.
I went through the index and typed all the names into a spreadsheet. Then, to give the list a more medieval feel, I sorted them by how often they appeared in the Social Security Administration's data on baby names. (I know that's a bit US-centric, but to my knowledge there is no global database to use for this purpose.) Then I removed all the ones that appeared most often on the baby names list -- I figured if you were rolling on a table of medieval names, you'd be a bit disappointed if you got "John" or "Mary". (Incidentally, the following names appear both in the Fine Rolls and on the SSA's list of the top 10 (male and female, so 20 actually) baby names for 2021: Emma, Oliver, James, Ava, William, Isabella, and Henry.) I used the data going back to 1880 for thoroughness.
In the case of male names, this meant I was able to remove all the names that appeared in the SSA records. So the names in that table were (probably) not used at all in the U.S. between 1880 and 2021. (The SSA apparently doesn't keep records on names that appear less than five times in a given year, so it's possible there were a few of these guys around, but not many.) This is because, as you may expect from medieval records, there were more than twice as many male names in the records as female names, so there were more left over after cutting the ones that appeared in the SSA data. So twenty of the female names on the table were also used in the US since 1880, but not often.
I did not make any effort to sort names by etymology, so the list includes French, Welsh, Scandinavian, &c. names, not just names that have an English origin. Multicultural, for "pretty much just one quadrant of Europe" values of "multicultural". I don't think that should break anyone's immersion or anything; medieval people traveled around more than people tend to think.
Speaking of breaking immersion, I also cut the following names off of the list because I thought they might be distracting to your players if you randomly assigned them to an NPC -- or to your audience if you use this to name characters for a writing project. I'm not going to say there's something wrong with these names, just that they're the sort of thing you would want to only deploy on purpose:
From the male names:
Cok
Flourecoc
Hammecok
Marmaduke
Odo
Vivian
From the female names:
Cuntessa
Cuntus
Licorice
Also, to note, I've kept them separated into 100 male names and 100 female names because the source data was pretty firmly entrenched in the gender binary. Obviously you can do what you want with your characters' genders, though, and if you want to completely ignore the division, feel free to combine them into a single list and roll a d20+d10 for a d200 table.
Anyway, without further ado, the tables (or, well, lists numbered 1-100) are below the cut.
d100 Medieval Female Names
Acilia
Albrea
Alcis
Aleys
Alveva
Alvona
Amabilia
Amice
Amphelisa
Angaretta
Annora
Antigonia
Anura
Argia
Arniun
Ascelina
Aude
Avegaya
Avice
Barbata
Basilia
Belasez
Belina
Bertrada
Blitha
Bruncosta
Burgia
Celecestra
Claremunda
Clemencia
Comitessa
Constantina
Cundya
Custantia
Dervorguilla
Desiderata
Duva
Edelina
Egelina
Egidia
Emicina
Ermengard
Ermintrude
Escilia
Esterota
Eustachia
Fluoria
Frethesenta
Genta
Goda
Godelina
Godina
Goditha
Goldcorna
Goldina
Guinda
Gundreda
Gunilda
Gunnora
Hawise
Huwelina
Idonea
Imayne
Imenia
Isolda
Ivetta
Kamilia
Langusa
Laurencia
Lesianda
Letewaria
Liveva
Maciana
Mariota
Maszelina
Meisenta
Melcana
Nesta
Nichith
Olencia
Olenta
Oriolda
Osamunda
Pavia
Pelaga
Petronilla
Phillipa
Quenilda
Sanchia
Sapientia
Sarotha
Scolastica
Sigerida
Sinolda
Slima
Theophania
Wulveva
Wymarca
Ymanea
Yselia
d100 Medieval Male Names
Alard
Albric
Alfwyn
Algrym
Alnothus
Amauvin
Amfrid
Anessans
Arnewic
Arnulph
Ascelin
Asketillus
Astun
Avenel
Azus
Baldekin
Bonefey
Chernon
Costericus
Cradoc
Deodatus
Deulecresse
Deulobene
Eglinus
Ellemus
Elvered
Engelard
Engeram
Ernisius
Ernulf
Everwin
Ferrand
Fraricus
Fulk
Galerand
Gemmion
Gernegan
Godebrich
Godescallus
Gruffydd
Gundwin
Hagin
Halengrattus
Hasculph
Heinfrid
Heltonus
Herlewin
Hermer
Ilger
Imbert
Innorus
Isenbard
Joldwin
Jollan
Jukell
Jurninus
Ketelbert
Lefrich
Lefwin
Manasser
Mauger
Meredudd
Meuric
Mosse
Odard
Odinell
Orm
Ranulf
Ratiken
Reinfrid
Rochulf
Roscelin
Ruellus
Runcinus
Salekin
Samariellus
Savaric
Selvius
Serlo
Terricus
Thoreword
Tollanus
Turgot
Turkill
Ulf
Ulfketell
Urricus
Vivard
Waldethus
Walding
Waleran
Walkelin
Wandregisilius
Wicmannus
Wigan
Wischard
Wurmund
Wybert
Wymarc
Wynan
So yeah. There you go. For your TTRPG or writing project. Knock yourself out, let me know if you do anything cool with this.
#d100#ttrpg#dnd#d&d#dungeons and dragons#pathfinder#names#male names#masculine names#female names#feminine names#medieval
1K notes
·
View notes