Question: Beowulf, Gilgamesh, & Cu Chulainn all die at the end of their stories, as far as mythology goes this is fact, but I have one question. in Scion: Ragnarok, Beowulf is a god, in your write up Gilgamesh is dead, but what about Cu Chulainn - what the hell happened to him? Is he dead like Gilgamesh, a god like Beowulf, an insanely old demigod bumming around the world? Please give me your opinion.
Cu Chulainn is dead, my friend. Thoroughly and totally dead. The fact of his death was impressively and unequivocably noted in his myths. I would imagine he is probably enjoying Mag Mell like most Irish heroes who decease in spectacularly courageous ways, though you could also make a fun plot out of him being stuck as the Morrigan's post-death plaything (she has Ghost Control, a bad attitude and nothing to lose by continuing her terrorism campaign against him).
They're all dead, in fact; being dead is an intrinsic part of those heroes' legends (for Beowulf, because he gives his life in a last act of heroism; for Gilgamesh, to illustrate the sad fruitlessness of his quest for immortality; and for Cu Chulainn, because annoying the Morrigan is how you buy a bus ticket straight to hell). While they can definitely be interesting NPCs in games - we've used a resurrected Beowulf ourselves, though he is now six feet under again and is probably going to stay that way - their deaths shouldn't be ignored or glossed over, because they're important parts of the very legends that make them so beloved.
It's okay for people, even really cool legendary people, to sometimes be dead in the setting; sometimes, that's the best part of the story. And in a game like Scion, wherein people can jaunt to the Underworld on rescue missions and gods are throwing around Death powers like it ain't no thing, it's not really much of an obstacle to any story you want to tell about them anyway.
In my game, Cuchulain is a fairly important NPC, presented as a lesser God of the Tuatha de. He got better after he died and went on to slay the Serpent of Saint Patrick, earning his place among the Pantheon.
ReplyDeleteHe's a good mentor to our ex-Scion of Lugh and taught our Murderous-Batman Scion of Chernobog the Warp Spasm.
After all, the Tuatha are mostly dead, according to their stories. Bres is dead, Lugh is dead, Nuada is dead, Ogma is dead. Death all over the place. Over in the Norse myths, Baldur is dead, and Loki is bound under the dripping venom of a giant snake. There's also Kvasir, the Vanir who was killed by dwarves so they could use his blood to create the Mead of Poetry, but he's never mentioned in Scion. I still use him as a Vanir God, though.
So, there's lots of dead Gods running around. A few dead Demigods won't muck things up too bad. The dead-ness of any character in mythology really oughta depend on your story. If they need to be around, kicking ass and taking names, then they are. If not, let them enjoy their deserved rest and/or torments in the Underworld/Overworld.
Oh, I agree - if there's a story-appropriate reason for them to be back up, go for it. We try to keep the revolving-door afterlifing to a minimum, but even so people are dying and getting back up with what almost seems like regularity around here.
DeleteYeah, we actually had a conversation at one point about whether or not we should cut the tuatha cuase they're all dead. Obviously we decided against it.
ReplyDeleteIm not sure baldur and loki have necessarily found their places yet in all games, unless your talking about your game specifically. In myth I thought that was in prophecy still? I should go reread.
No, I was talkin' myth. Wasn't the who deal that everyone wept and wept except for Loki-disguised-as-a-giantess and so Hel got to keep Baldur until Ragnarok? As punishment they bound Loki with the snake and whenever he was in too much pain, he writhed around and that's what earthquakes are.
ReplyDeletePretty sure that was presented as "has happened", but I could easily be wrong.
The eddas were inconclusive. In some parts baldr is dead, but then later in the same story is alive and fine(and loki free and mischief causing). In the others hes alive the entire time. I think I'm going with my first assumption, that since the only time they mention baldrs death is right after the dream, that is a prophecy described, not something that has happened yet, because after it baldr goes on to do other things. But I think it could easily be read either way.
DeleteEdda time periods are such a headache. Both stories are presented as happening right now, so it's hard to tell if this is foretold - i.e., Baldur has foreseen his death (which will trigger Ragnarok by getting Loki tied up) or he's already dead and we're all in the limbo between that and the Big Day. Scion understandably sets it as the first, because otherwise you don't have access to fun dudes like Baldur and Loki for Scion parenting, but I could see a game running it either way.
DeleteDern mythology, not being written for ease of understanding.
DeleteSo, at least with the Tuatha everyone is REALLY SURE that most of them are DEAD. There are stories about how they died and the aftermath, all very specifically set in the past tense. How do y'all handle that? Ultimate Stamina?