Hi all,

This is something I posted in the Christmas runs, but I thought I would revive it as a seperate thread:

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The Draco Foundation is looking to hire a group of magic oriented runners to travel to the Free State of Thuringia in central Germany.

It has come to the attention of the Draco Foundation of a group terrorizing Thuringian villages since Christmas Day. They arrive under cover of heavy fog and go through each household of the village. Local authorities have found coins of silver stamped with unknown symbols among the survivors possessions, while the victims have had their internal organs removed and replaced with straw or pebbles. As the organs have not been found it is assumed that the group takes the internal organs with them. So far they have attacked one village a day. A child has been abducted by the group and two children were identified among them.

The Vatican has dispatched investigators to the region.

An eyewitness has described the group as being:
"...the hunters were black and large and terrifying, and their hounds were all black and broad-eyed and terrifying, and they rode on black horses and black goats... They were led by an elven woman wearing all white."

The Draco Foundation suspects the group may be located in or near Hörselberg. Strong magical and investigative skills needed.

Keywords: Krampus, Perchta, Weisse frauen, Frau Holle, Wild Hunt

Edit: I think this would make a solid adventure, but wanted other input. Do you think mythology awakened be a good choice for a magically themed adventure in Shadowrun?

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After reading quite a bit of teutonic mythology I was thinking it would be really neat on having mythological wild spirits come back into the world.
http://www.nordic-life.org/nmh/frauholle.htm

Frau Holle is described as being the goddess of dead children. Suppose that it was also the protector, especially of young girls as well. Someone who spirits away good children from wicked parents, killing the parents by removing their organs and filling them with straw. These are then taken into a secret cave where they all become awakened or then change into elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls. Those who work industriously for a year are allowed to leave, while those who do not are cast out.

Frau Holle would be a wild spirit in the double digits I suspect.

Any thoughts on the matter?

in Worlds without Ends, one or two of the Immoral Elves actually summoned the wild hunt(either Aina alone, or with the help of Har Lea Quinn). to get to one of those magical faerie castles where other immoral elves held court . .
and since when has Frau Holle something to do with dead children?
I only ever heard about her being the one who made it snow O.o

Absolutely, I agree that Awakened Mythology is a rich source of adventure for Shadowrun. One could characterize the myths and stories from ancient times as 'racial memories' of things from even farther past. Alternatively, the ubiquitous, subconscious themes that appear all over the world could be representative of psychological forces that shape the raw mana into entities that correspond to those themes. Either way, the mythical characters and conflicts are rich and understandable story elements that would ring true for most players.

There is a reason those stories have hung around so long.

Peter

In the Hesse and the Thuringia, Frau Holle, Holde or Hulda, is described as a beautiful white shining woman with long golden hair of whom it is said, when it snows hard: "Frau Holle is shaking out the feathers of her bed". As the mother of all small creatures, or of the incarnated souls of dead non-baptized, but remembered, children, called "Heimchen" (small home) in Franconia, together with those souls, she takes care of the fertility of the fields that she plows with a golden plow, and she asks the "Heimchen" to irrigate those fields. It is still tradition that hand full of grain is saved from each field and is left at the corner and is called "Hollas share".

It is said that she had her old home in the Saalthal, between Bucha and Wilhemsdorf, but that she left this land due to the lack of gratitude of the citizens of Gosdorf? and Rödern. On a dark evening of the Kings day, she went to a river with her little people and asked for a ride. The driver was afraid at first of the high veiled shape that was surrounded by so many wailing children, but he did as he was asked at last. After three crossings, he found Frau Holla or Perchtha on the beach, busy at repairing her plough that the Heimchen were supposed to carry further. He was then told that his reward would be the shavings left behind. He took this with bad will, unhappy of a such a miserable reward. At home, he threw three pieces of shavings on the windowsill. In the morning he found three lumps of gold in place of the shavings. This is how Frau Perchtha rewarded all the help she received, and often she can still be seen, with her plow, on Three Kings' day, or Perchtenabend (Perchta's evening).

most interesting. eerie, but interesting none the less O.o
thank you very much.

I was thinking on expanding Holla into being the protector of young children and especially girls from adults. This would in part kind of sync with the reason why Holla is described as being both terrible and just. The idea that she takes them away from undeserving parents would continue to solidify this impression.

The problem is you have at least a millennium of mythology to choose from - most of it written by men who have had the agenda to undermine and ridicule matriarchal gods - as well as heathen gods.

Holla in its oldest form is that of a white woman who brings with her snow. The clouds being the dust cloud of the wild hunt as she chases a boar across the sky.

Slight correction: Weise Frauen (wise women). Weisse Frauen would be women who are white. Also, it's the more politically correct German term for witches and refers to the heathen healers of old.

There's loads of stuff there, though. The Elbe river, for instance, once was considered the border to the kingdom of elves (hence it's name, Elbe refers to a female elf). You wouldn't think so if you'd known it in the bad old commie days though. Unless it'd be really, really toxic elves. I once dropped into that river and was sick for a couple days.

More teutonic fae:

The Rattenkönig (rat king) and the Klabautermann are notable teutonic creatures of legend. The Klabautermann is statted out in the old Germany book (at least in the German version), and the Rattenkönig is described here. The Rattenkönig also plays a role in the fairly famous ballet The Nutcracher, by Pjotr Tschaikowski, as the adversary (this ballet is based on a fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffman, a German romantic writer).

The Katzenveit is a saxonian legend. He is a fairly traditional fae who inhabits the Kohlberg in Saxony and makes all kinds of stuff happen, such as turning merchants' wares into ropes and wire, making all the honey produce a greedy peasant who stole wild bees from the woods gathered over a year turn into shit and dump the peasant into it, or teach a bunch of drunkards who built a shed to get wasted in without the spirits' approval by making them fall for his daughters (succubus-like she-devils) and them ... treat them in questionable ways, so they wouldn't ever return to that shed and disturb the forest again by binge drinking and puking into rivlets.

The Rattenkönig's adversary is the Rat Catcher, who himself is a spirit and, if cheated of his payment for disposing of a rat problem, steals everyones children and disappears into the ground with them (not paying for services delivered and getting into dire trouble that way has a long and proud tradition in teutonic legend, starting with the norse gods). The Katzenveit occasionally seems to work as rat catcher, btw.

Then there's Rübezahl (literally beetroot counter), a legend from Silesia. Ruler of the Riesengebirge (now called Karkonosze and located on the Czech/Polish border) who has a mixed relationship with humanity. Some, he teaches good stuff, others, he kills with extreme prejudice (much like the Grendel does with Vikings). In the most well-known story about that figure, he regularily abducts local women in search for company. One day, oen of these women demands he count his beetroots before she surrenders herself to him and present the correct number, and while he's counting steals a root, so the giant is obsessively recounting and she can run away.

The Moorhexe (bog witch) also was statted out in the Germany book. It's a bog spirit in northern Germany.

The Erlkönig (Elf king, usually considered the dark elf king and propably an interpretation of either a welsh legend or Lilith by poet von Goethe) also could play a role, as would the Schimmelreiter (A man condemned to eternal restlessness because he build a dike at the North Sea coast without a fitting sacrifice - in the version I know, that'd be a dog, though a kid also is mentioned sometimes).

Also, on a side note, it's still customary in rather remote parts of southern Germany to sacrifice a young chicken before you set up a truss (usually, it's buried under the main entrance's beam, but that varies). That custom's supposedly derived from old celtic/germanic days where a construction worker used to be sacrificed, a friend once told me. It's been replaced by the much more chicken-friendly Richtfest in most of the country, though, which is a happy celebration with food and loads of drink when you set up a trust and nothing bad has happened.


She cares for the souls of children born unbaptised, yes. I actually was told that story Cyhrsalis wrote down above myself, as a kid. I wasn't aware that they're called Heimchen, though. I know that term for a type of cricket.

To which I can reply:

But as Holda is spell-bound in the mountain, so it is preëminently to white women, white-robed maidens, (pp. 288. 412- that this notion of mountain banishment becomes applicable: divine or semi-divine beings of heathenism, who still at appointed times grow visible to mortal sight; they love best to appear in warm sunlight to poor shepherds and herd-boys. German legend everywhere is full of graceful stories on the subject, which are all substantially alike, and betray great depth of root.

From Jacob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (1835) chapter 23, page 2.

Jacob Grimm continues at length with various stories about sightings of white women at noon.

ah, yes, the good old world. the old german folklore is probably one of the richest around somehow. i was allways more partial to the Legends about our Gods.
I had a greek buddy once whom i teased with his god father zeus being only their interpretation of our Thor. Who is only a Son of our All-Father wotan ^^

Point for you, didn't think of them (and only know them passively anyway). The Grimms are propably the best source for German/Teutonic folklore there is.


Yeah. Also, the parallels between the two and hindu god Indra are quite interesting.

Zeus only is boss of the greek lot because in their pantheon, he murdered the all-father, Kronos.

The Hindu, Greek and Norse mythologies grew out of an older Indo-European tradition that spread across Asia and Europe. So, of course there are parallels.

Peter

Aina called a pair of hounds, and Harlequin poked his abnormally large nose in toward the end of it. Aina said "Noone can do that, don't be stupid." When Harlequin suggested that was what she was doing, calling the entire hunt alone.

Aina never realised how stupid she was. Well, until the end where she made that bridge for the horrors to cross at crater lake, that is.

the immoral elven bitch queen said she called the hunt and aina said that the elder horses are doable for her.

The bitch queen also said it'd take the help of half her court and was amazed/creeped out by Alachia and her self-inflicted blood magic calling forth two demon horsies.

well, there IS the age difference . . Aina is what? several thousand years old and the queen just merely some hundred?
or am i misremembering something here?
anyway, wild hunt was statted out somewhere in a book. i just don't know where <.<

The queen (Brane Deigh) actually isn't even three-digits old. Aina is the second oldest IE, with Alachia being (by far) the oldest.

The Wild Hunt was statted out in Paranormal Animals of Europe.

The real question is what kinds of adventures could be built up around such mythical beings. I prefer that they are ancient and not just modern takes on them. What does Paranormal Animals of Europe say about the wild hunt and what kinds of stats are given?

What is also the Roman Catholic Church view if people start turning away Christ back to the heathen gods? What happens if German farmers go back to their old ways and actually start planting crops? How can the corps muck it up even further?

They start at all-8 and go up from there. The Wild Hunt as a collective is the single most powerful entity ever statted in the SR universe.

PAoE basically says it's a mysterious, but incredibly lethal, type of fae that defy classification because so few ever live tos ee it, and that it's supposedly a force very powerful druids and elves can call upon if they feel like it, but more because the Hunt likes them than because they can actually summon it (this contrasts how the Hunt is shown in Worlds Without End). Also, the hunt of legend is a europe-wide affair, and the book acknowledges that, IIRC ... meaning, you can run across it in France or Poland too, if you're not nice to your local druids. It's a formidable force and independent from mortal influence.

As to the German setting ... well ...

German Canon:
- About 15% of Germans are outspoken pagans. Pagans in the German setting tend to be anarchist and pro-nature. They lean towards matriarchy, though some pagans, such as anyone who worships norse gods, is an instant Nazi.
- The corps at least don't mess with them unless they mess with their agendsas, but don't religiously discriminate for the most part. However, most pagans being anarchist black block kinda people, they don't get along too well. Street Witches and Weise Frauen (streret healers) are pretty common especially in poorer places.
- The German church went totally bonkers over that and cracked down on them really hard, including forming their own mercenary force and tracking them down and burning thenm on huge pyres in public places. when the pope told them off, they nominated their own pope and funded their own radical church (with blackjack, booze and hookers). They have ana bsolute rule on the state of Westphalia, which is half the size of the London metropolitan area but produces loads of biological and vat-grown foods from mysterious sources. They also have little corp influence because they don't mind toxics either.
- In general, most Germans seem oblivious to that influence, except for the southern state, whcih are, for the most part, roman Catholics, despite actually having been in league with Westphalia's radicals. And because al villains need to be kicking puppies, the church(es) in Germany also really, really hate metahumans.

The Roman Catholics in wider Europe have difficult relations with pagans. They have arranged themselves with their existence and set up their own magical orders to keep them in check, but for now, they must go back to early middle ages coexistence. No doupt the holy see would love nothing more but to get rid of these new heathens alltogether, but as is, they're far too powerful. The pagans themselves, however, are far from being united, and while not overwhelmed, the church is their primary concern. That goes even for Tir na nOg, which is very wary of the Vatican, despite the magical prowess they command. Propably, the Vatican doesn't quite understand some of their old artifacts they have stashed away in a secret hiding place and could be far more of a magical force than they are now.

Hmmm.... sounds like a run on the Vatican's vaults is in order.

Peter

Good luck with that.

The main problem I have with that presented as an adventure hook it that seems to immediately invite a heavy combat response to the problem. A bunch of powerful free spirits (or whatever they are) can wipe you out in a few seconds if they get going. Your only choice then is to not give them warning and wipe them out in a few seconds. Since they are presented as a group that is going around kidnapping kids and murderizing villagers, you hardly want to give them a chance to murderize you too.

My first response to that hook is, "How can I smuggle a sufficient amount of heavy weapons into Germany to let me be able to deal with these jokers with minimal risk to myself?"

If forced to 'investigate', my second response would be "What the safest way to prove how bad these guys are so that I can resort to option one; since any lengthy interaction with high force free spirits who like to murderize villagers is not going to be good for my health. Even if it turns out that they only kill 'bad' people' I'm a shadow runner; that probably puts me in at, like, #3 on the naughty list; it's just a matter of time until they work their way down to me. I'd better have option #1 ready before it comes to that."

You talking about the Wild Hunt?

If so ... if it is looking for you, build a new character. Seriously. You're not gonna get away. Though, the Wild Hunt only kills whom it is ordered to kill (and those who dare stand in it's way). It doesn't care whether you're saintly or nasty at all.

And running against it? How? Raid the Metaplanes?

Or who do you refer to?

i think the running agsint was the vatican.
get some major mojo into your own hands to beat the wild hunt back with.
hopefully.
It is said that he who can outrun the wild hunt for one day and/or one night without getting caught will become immortal.
or maybe just untouchable to the wild hunt. but we don't know that, because nobody managed to do that just yet ^^

Then why Germany?

'cause westphalia is more or less a small vatican . . if you leave out the part where their church is basically at war with the other one *grins*
no idea? ^^

The Wild Hunt wasn't that terrifying; with the hideously powerful characters that popped up in 2E a solid team would have made short work of them.

Not if you played their powers right.

Now that I've had a chance to think about things, Here's the adventure hook I would use:

The Draco Foundation had hired a professor and several grad students to investigate reports of a free spirit (or several free spirits, or something like that, anyway) in the region. The Foundation has not received it's regular expected contact from the professor, and attempts to contact him directly has failed. Inquires with the local authorities have been responded to with a "Who? Never seen 'em before; Customs claims they never entered the country, etc." Thus, the Foundation has turned to your band of slope headed killers to go in and investigate.

So it answers why the runners are involved. The hook doesn't ask for the heavy weapons right away, and the expected foe is the local government, not some band of free spirits.

better hook, but still a bit over the top for most running groups don't you think? O.o
even a small town has considerably more police force at it's leisure than the runners
can really cope with most of the time . .
but yes, better and nothing a group with no magic backup will worry too much about.