Grigori Rides Again

Question: "We're always willing to talk about more Slavic creatures! If there are specific ones you're interested in, hit us anytime." Quoting what you just said, I'd like to know your take on to these critters (I know, it's a 3x1 question!): Baba Yaga, Koschei the Deathless,and Rasputin. I can find very little about Koschei, but some decent stories which involve Baba Yaga. As for Rasputin, most people know him and his story. What do you think they are in the Scionverse?

Well, good news! Two of those fine figures already have writeups from us floating around on the internet, though since they aren't consolidated it's no wonder you didn't find them on first look. Baba Yaga appears in our Slavic pantheon supplement as a goddess antagonist, with a full writeup on page 30 and a description of her home, Domkura, on page 19. Koschei the Deathless does not appear in the supplement proper, but since you're not the first to ask about him, there's actually a writeup of him in an old blog post over here.

As for Rasputin, he doesn't really fit in the same category as the other two; he's an extremely modern figure compared to the old folklore of Baba Yaga and Koschei the Deathless, and his legends, such as they are, are very minor. The most popular of these, the idea that he cursed or otherwise contributed to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in Russia, is a mostly western story that doesn't match up to the generally benevolent view of him in Russia as a holy man or a mystic (blame Don Bluth for that one - Anastasia is a fun movie for kids, but it's about as accurately Russian as my sock drawer).

If you're interested in using Rasputin as a personage in Scion, I'd suggest that his powers of sight and healing suggest that he was probably a Scion, though it's unlikely that he was higher than Legend 4 at the most since most of his fabled powers (identifying thieves, healing wounds, being immune to poison, etc.) are distinctly low-level. If he was a Scion, his origin is a very interesting question to ponder, considering that the Slavic gods' ban on any interaction with humanity, including creating Scions, would have been in effect at this time; why someone would have flouted the rule and how much of it they got away with is an intriguing question. It's also possible that he could have been a lesser immortal with a vested interest in the Russian rulership, possibly a small spirit or demon of the land that escaped the Bogovi's notice. In either case, one wonders about his strong espousement of the Russian Orthodox Church - hardly something someone with Piety would be doing, you'd think.

He's quite dead, of course, so unless you have a really great reason for someone to have resurrected him for your plot, he's more of a curious footnote than someone I'd seriously consider in play. But hey, depending on your plot, he certainly could still be around if his death was faked or a death god took a liking to him. My favorite idea for Rasputin involves using him as a ghostly guide for a Slavic Scion - all the fun of his murky urban legends and questionable background in one convenient place!