Question: Have you found any monsters/fabulous creatures for the Yoruba (because I haven't)? If yes, where did you find them?
There are actually very few monsters in Yoruba folklore - or, at least, not in the sense of what we think of as monsters from some other cultures. There are no odd body part conglomeration creatures like sphinxes or griffins, nor creepy-crawlies like the many bakemono of Japan. Yoruba myths and folktales don't invent many fanciful monsters to terrorize the countryside, but that doesn't mean they don't have anything interesting for young Scions to do!
One of the reasons that Yoruba folklore doesn't bother much with monsters is that it draws upon the natural world as its source of magical and fantastical characters and antagonists. Instead of inventing monsters, Yoruba stories focus upon animals that already exist: rabbits, water buffaloes, monkeys, tortoises and other local creatures. They act as tricksters, antagonists that flummox humanity and comically skewer themselves, or else they are dangerous enemies that must be overcome for humans to survive. Crocodiles and sharks, in particular, take on the roles usually reserved for dragons and ogres in other cultures' stories, serving as mounts for terrifying evil forces or as scourges across the countryside that must be defeated. You'll see normal animals in pivotal roles even in the stories of the gods, such as when the chameleon tricked Olokun into accepting defeat or when Oko had to overcome a plague of crows to prevent his village from starving to death.
From the perspective of a Storyteller gearing up for a Scion game, the Yoruba myths are essentially mostly devoid of Titanspawn but absolutely lousy with Nemean beasts. And not your garden variety Nemean beasts, either, but ones with intelligence at least equal to humans if not higher, and possibly minor magical powers to boot. When you play with Yoruba myth, you're not working with a few mythological creatures; every animal in Africa is fair game as an antagonist, friend or mentor.
The major antagonistic force in Yoruba folklore - in fact, in the overall Yoruba religion as a whole, and continuing onward into the modern day - is not a race of weird creatures but instead the terrible and ever-present danger of witches. Witches, semi-supernatural people (men as well as women, despite the female connotation of the word to European cultures) who wield the ability to curse, sicken and tangle the very destinies of humans, are the unremitting scourge of traditional Yoruba life, and who are often referred to as aje. They lurk among normal humans, working their evil charms, stealing the good fortune of others and preventing the innocent from fulfilling their destinies unless they are appeased. Different tales treat witches differently; sometimes they're humans with a little magical power, while at other times they seem to be completely different and terrifyingly powerful creatures (such as in the myth wherein even the gods have to hide from cannibalistic aje or face being devoured).
Aje are the bogeymen of Yoruba myth, and they're the perfect choice for Storytellers looking for scourges great and small in Yorubaland. Human aje are perfect for low-level Scions' problems, while their dangers and powers can be scaled up to continue to challenge and frighten Scions all the way up through the upper reaches of Demigodhood. Shapeshifting is a familiar trait of Yoruba witches, so they can also be crossed with the importance of animals in Yoruba myth, and their most famous skill, the magical ability to alter destiny around them, can be a potent weapon when interacting with Fatebonds and spells.
So no, I don't know of a lot of fabulous Yoruba beasts, but I do know that the Yoruba folkloric landscape is just as ready to bother, challenge and drive Scions insane as any other.
so how do you make aje human without making them mortal? Also, I can see some major conflict between the Yoruba who have a phobia against witches even greater than the Catholic Church, and the Aeiser who hold "witches" and seers like Freya in the highest regard.
ReplyDeleteRun them as Titanspawn who just happen to *appear* human.
DeleteNow, in many cultures there is a distinction between "witches" and people with magic. Someone like Freya wouldn't be a "witch" to the Yoruba unless she was being nasty with her magic. The idea of lumping any supernaturally powerful people together is a pretty Abrahamic thing and even that's more Christian than Jewish.
From what little I recall of the Yoruba, I studied their art and culture a bit in college, they have both good and bad "witches" but apply the name "witch" only to the bad ones. The good ones are healers, seers, oracles and elders.
It could also be a human that's been augmented by some outside force - Jotunblut, Titan corruption, all that jazz. But Source is right, it's easier to just make them low-powered Titanspawn that masquerade as humans. Has the right flavor for the Yoruba style of witches.
DeleteYeah, the word "witch" never applies to positive religious or spiritual figures - those are priests, prophets, diviners and so on. If someone's called a witch, they're understood to be bad; no such thing as a good witch and all that. The problem with witches is that they have the power to alter ori (neatly ties in with the Magic powers to alter Fate, eh?), which is terrifying for a people who are all about trying to achieve their ori and its rewards.
So in the general sense of "magic", meaning just supernatural powers, not everybody is a witch and won't freak them out, but in the specific case of Magic in Scion, it's almost exactly what they're so worried about.
So Freya would probably be a witch to them, because she's messing about with Fate and that's not cool. But someone like Oshun isn't, because she has Magic as a fortune and good-luck goddess, and someone who has other powers besides Magic probably wouldn't be considered a witch unless they accidentally gave someone the wrong impression.
Questionasker here. I have already read about the aje and the problem is that they are not nearly antagonistic enough to be what I was hoping for. While they are clearly dangerous, they are not actively malevolent, they have just a strong sense of justice and a code of law that is partially just inconceivable to humans (says Judith Gleason). With their leaders being variably given as Oshun and/or Oya, they seem to be tied just as much to the gods as to the demonic forces of the Ajogun (although one could play Oshun and Oya more as mediators than leaders, though Oshun does express active power over them in the myth of her saving Orunmila from them recounted in Osun Seegesi by Dierde Badejo).
ReplyDeleteMeh, I'll probably really just have a closer look at West African fables and animal myths.
The beings I'm talking about are definitely actively malevolent, and most of a practicing Yoruba's misfortune is attributed to their involvement; if someone falls sick or is robbed, for example, it's likely that a witch would be blamed for causing both affairs, which would be seen as a souring of the individual's ori. There's a strong interplay between witches that damage or prevent mortals from achieving their ori and gods who help and protect them as they try; the two are not at all related.
DeleteI think we're pretty clearly talking about different things here, which is probably due to the generality of the term aje. Regardless, more west African myths certainly can't hurt!