Greetings

[Metarie]

Hi Thorian,

Welcome to Thar! I'm looking forward to reading your profile and your writing. Don't forget to read the setting. If you have questions about that or anything else, feel free to ask.

You will find a great group of people who enjoy writing (although some of us are a little more odd than others *cough* Jenica ). Did I mention reading and understanding the setting is important? No.. really... (*looks around, terrified*)

I hope you enjoy what you read and just as importantly find that writing outlet you need!

[Mercedes D'Amour]

Welcome Thorian. I am relatively new to Thar and WAS the only psionic. WAS. But I'm not possessive of that title or anything. Anyhou - welcome - sit back - enjoy the madness - and write!

[Thorian Dioscuri]

In the interest of understanding the setting (and not thoroughly embarrassing myself), I have another question or two. First, is there a list of names of the "other Changers" that may or may not have worshipers of their own?

Okay, to make this easier, this is what I'm getting at. Thorian's grandmother, who shares his psychokinetic abilities, told him all his life that they have their powers because their family are direct descendants of one of the Changers. Can I simply make up a name? It isn't necessarily true or anything, but Thorian believes that it is ('Dioscuri' literally means 'Children of the Gods'). This heritage says to Thorian that his family are actually (and secretly) superior to all others, including the Descendants of the First Settlers. It explains his 'superior intelligence' (or so he thinks), as well as his seemingly unique abilities.

This is basically for personality purposes... to explain his internal feelings of arrogance and disdain for the 'powers that be'. Is this something I can do? If so, can I go as far as ascribing a philosophy to the Changer he believes he is descended from?

Thanks for the help so far. It's taking me longer to write-up my character than I thought, but only because I keep changing my mind about certain details. I want to make sure my first character in over a year is going to be one I will really enjoy writing for.

[Frug]

North America - Ayana. Unknown physical manifestation. Female Earth goddess. (ie Gaia).

Central & South America - Piltzintlicoatl. Feathered Man Serpent.

Western Europe - Theogios. Human male.

Africa - Anok Farahu. Man Serpent. (maybe he's jealous he doesn't get feathers).

Those are the names set in stone. That leaves three that haven't yet been named because I have horribly limited knowledge of the nomenclature and mythology of these cultures.

East Asia - Dragon (they have lots, but it has to be an old one. I'm sure Ming can help though, right ming?)

Central & South Asia - Avatar of Shiva.

Northern Europe & Iceland - Norse mythology.

Cultures that don't have a changer based on their religion, and there are several such as the aboriginals of Australia, failed to produce a leader powerful enough to be remembered as one of the changers.

[Dorcas Tansy]

I'm the authority on these things on account of my slanty eyes.

So, one dragon that gets referred to a lot in Chinese mythology is Tianlong, the Celestial Dragon. It would probably make sense to go with that, seeing as "Tian Xia" (name for a large portion of Asia in this world) literally means "below heaven" in modern Mandarin, thus linking the two. Traditionally in China, dragons aren't exactly worshiped. They're used as a symbol to represent several different ideas, sort of like how lions were used in European heraldry without any real lion worshiping going on. But yeah, it makes sense to use the Celestial Dragon if you're going to use one.

Uhhh some other relevant dragons I know of are Jiaolong, who's like an aquatic serpent type; Feilong (flying dragon), who, um, flies around; and then Huanglong, who's just the symbol of the emperor.

[Thorian Dioscuri]

Very nice. If I am understanding correctly, I think Tianlong sounds perfect for East Asia. However, if I'm going to say he believes he is descended from one of them, the one from Northern Europe (Norse Mythology) seems like the best choice. First, he will need a name. How about some suggestions? (Thanks to Encyclopedia Mythica)

Borghild: She is the personification of the evening mist, or perhaps the moon, who kills the light of day.

Ganglere: Gånglere, meaning "tired of walking", was the name used by king Gylfe when he was visiting Valhalla in search of the truth of everything.

Gullveig: ("goldbranch") is the sorceress and seeress who had a great love and lust for gold. She talked of nothing else when she visited the Aesir. They listened with loathing and eventually thought the world would be better off without her so they hurled her into the fire. She was burned to death, but stepped from the flames unscathed. Three times she was burned, and three times she was reborn.

Jarl: On his third and last journey, the god Rig reached a beautiful mansion. The inhabitants were Fadir and Modir, Father and Mother. They offered Rig an excellent meal with plenty of food and wine, and used their finest tableware. At night, Rig slept between his hosts and nine months later Modir gave birth to a handsome, intelligent son. They named the boy Jarl ("earl"), and he was the first of the race of warriors.

Loki: He is connected with fire and magic, and can assume many different shapes (horse, falcon, fly). He is crafty and malicious, but is also heroic: in that aspect he can be compared with the trickster from North American myths. On the day of Ragnarok, Loki's chains will break and he will lead the giants into battle against the gods. Loki is often called the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer, and the Sky Traveler.

Nott: Nott is the personification of night, and the daughter of Narvi. Nott was married three times and with each husband she had one child. Her first husband was Naglfari, and their son was Aud. Her second husband was Annar, father of Earth. Her third husband was Delling, the personification of twilight, father of Dagur (Day).

Vidar: Vidar is the son of Odin and the giantess Grid (Gridr). He is the god of silence and revenge. He is one of the gods that will rule the new world when it is created.

My personal favorites are Loki (of course), Borghild, and Vidar. Thorian may or may not (probably not) be descended from this 'Changer', but I'd like him to be a secret worshiper of said changer and those three work best with my character concept (a self-serving rogue type). I can rework things to fit whatever choice is eventually made, though... so no worries there.

[Xyon_of_Calhoun]

So long as you don't offend the Norse Gods I worship.

[Frug]

Well the story behind the Norse changer so far is that he or she is associated with ice and attempted to spread that influence across the world, like another ice age only worse. The new and improved map shows the result that had on greenland (it's new and improved because I doubled the resolution and cleaned up some places. I did this last week, coincidentally)
http://www.tharshaddin.com/setting/map-tahrenor.html

Rail has suggested that the changers war be Ragnarök.
This story should also include the creation of the dwarves and possibly even the elves.

I can take a crack at writing a bit of the story, or at least the basics of the story, however given what I have heard of Norse myths, they're written (well, told) with a certain flavor which I would love to capture. If I try, it will take me a long time to read up and try to figure things out. And I'm not going to read Beowulf for this...

We could pick a name now, but the names of the changers are not the names of gods. They're not the gods themselves - Farahu is not Set - although that distinction can get lost with Ayana and the dragon. They're more mortals who appeared and gained powers, and then claimed "hey look at me I'm the son of Quetzalcoatl, and if you don't believe me I'll floss your eye sockets with your intestines."

So I'm thinking more about a myth in which Borghild makes out with Hod (blind god of winter according to one source, also called Hodur or H with some weird squiggles after) and creates a son or daughter who's nuts and tries to take over the world with ice and snow.

There is no need to make your character worship a changer just because you want to fit him with a Norse god. There are all kinds of cults and sects around Pal Tahrenor that do not put much stock in the Changers. For example, the changers are just pawns in the games of the gods, and nothing more than powerful men.

[Thorian Dioscuri]

Don't go all out trying to get something written up or anything drastic. It isn't all that important. I simply want my character to believe that he is descended from someone that makes him superior to everyone else... and that's only for personality purposes. I can work that without using an actual name.

That's enough bugging you with questions. I'll shut up now and write my character bio. If I have to make some tweaks after it's written, then I'll tweak it until it's right. Thanks. Next time I post, it will be my character application.