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| Thread: Galaad's Dwarven Fortress |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted November 29, 2014 11:31 PM |
 bonus applied by kiryu133 on 18 Mar 2016. |
Edited by Galaad at 01:57, 31 Dec 2014.
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Theme : Norse Mythology
Alignement : Neutral
Medieval thulur (poems that are proper names enumerations) give us a hundred dwarfs names, many of which speak for themselves.
In the first analysis, the dwarves seem to have been dead, as suggested by the word for them ("twisted"); indeed, the dead were buried in a fetal position and not, as nowadays, horizontal. Some of their names as Daïnn (Death), Blâinn (Blue, that is to say black in this universe) or Nar (Corpse) are consistent with this interpretation. As such, they are fundamental because it is not excluded that the first stage of this religion has been to venerate the spirits of the dead. As the dead, they live underground, preferably in the rocks and mountains.
They are also great magicians (as such, Fjôlkunnigir , "who know many things") and the holders of knowledge primordial occult realities - witness names like Fjôlsvidr ("At learn multiple") Râdsvidr ("Savant advisor") or Alvfss ("Very clever"). They contribute to the development of poetic nectar by mixing honey, the blood of a supremely skillful in the field called Kvasir. They contribute to the development of poetic nectar by mixing honey, the blood of a supremely skillful in the field called Kvasir. They also play a cosmic role : the vault of heaven, made the skull of primitive giant Ymir, is supported by four dwarfs those having the names of the cardinal points : Nordri, Sudri, Austri and Vestri.
These are also goldsmiths or first class artisans, blacksmiths and treasures guards. Popular literature will make a fortune in this theme. They are responsible for producing wonderful items like the hammer of Thor (Mjöllnir), the golden hair of Sif (the wife of Thor), the ring Draupnir, the great necklace Brfsingar that covets the goddess Freyja in Sôrla thàttr, the divine boat Skfdbladnir which has the property to fall back to be carried in the pocket of the god who has it, or "chain" magic Gleipnir with which manage to tie the wolf Fenrir, or the wonderful boar Hildisvfn.
The notion of Walkyrie, directly linked to the death and destiny, suffered a significant evolution over time, and his face Odin, held by Richard Wagner, is only its latest avatar. There may be causing the idea of Mother Goddess, one of them - Skadi - assuming the mother-death function, that gives life being able to take it again. In this sense, the Valkyrie was originally to be the guardian spirit of a man, preferably a hero or, in any case, a warrior, whom she brought in the other world. It could also be the priestess of some unknown god of war : the operations of the cult in the old North appeared to be willingly led by women, and a representation like the historical plaque of Gundestrup cauldron attest that such a priestess could celebrate human sacrifices.
In the Saga of Njcill the burned one (Darradarljôd 157), they are spinners sisters, ride horseback and wielding weapons (they are said Skjaldmcer).
Behind the image of the Walkyrie, there is always a sense of violent death, and desired death by Fate. This is what their many names show, for the most recent without doubt - Hildr, Gudr, Gunnr (Battle), Herfjôtur - which refer to magical operations. One of them bears the name of one of the three Norns, Skuld.
The Gigantomachia, or struggle of giants and gods, is a favorite theme of the plastic, especially designed to decorate the pediments of temples : the bodies of monsters, completed in snakes, lent themselves admirably to fill the corners and finish a composition.
Few supernatural creatures enjoy such favor. We can try to explain it in the rather unusual nature of the North, which offers satiety monstruous forms - rocks formations due to cold (including Hrlmthursar, or "ice giants", demonstrate enough), raging water, etc. The ancient Norse religion could start with a deification of the great natural forces, as evidenced deities names such Jord (Earth), Aegir (Ocean), Sol ( Sun), or Snjôr (Snow), Thor (Thunder) etc.
The Giants are often hostile to men who have relegated them to Ùtgardr. Gradually, the idea of their evil power seems to be imposed, and that's why Thor spends most of his time traveling "East" to confront them. The Giants play an important role in many myths such as the construction of Ásgarðr, that of the "invention" of the poetic nectar, the initiation of Thor in battle (Hrungnir), etc.
Thor is the son of Odin and the incarnation of the earth, Jord. He is married and the father of Sif Modi (Fury) and Thrud (Vigor). He is the father of Magni (strength) with the giant Jarnsaxa (equivalent Sif according Snorri). Thor is a very powerful warrior of colossal strength. His magic belt (Megingjörð) further increases its strength : the more he tightens it, the more powerful he becomes. He has a war hammer called Mjöllnir, manufactured by two named dwarves Brokk and Eitri under Loki orders. To handle his burning heat, he uses special iron gloves (Járngreip). He crosses the sky with his chariot drawn by two goats named magical Tanngnjóst (squeaky teeth) and Tanngrísnir (sparkling teeth). Thor is the god of the storm, but unlike Tyr, the god of justice, it is also the god of combat melee and martial arts. Odin completes warrior Trinity as a god of war and victory.
Norse mythology offers us various figures of wolves (possibly dogs) that could all go back to an archetype named Fenrir. The notion of wolves (or Vargr Ulfr) refers to the key idea of "evil", of impermissibly things in human society, etc. Fenrir is the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda and therefore brother of the Great Serpent Midgardr (Midgardsormr) and the goddess Hel, almost the only monstrous creatures that knows this universe. It is said that this is Fenrir who will swallow Odin at Ragnarok and as such, it must be identical to Garmr of Voluspa in the Poetic Edda. While all of these representations are made the relatively modern elaborations and even whether to Snorri credit for attempting to form a coherent whole from different traditions, the figure of Fenrir is surely fundamental.
Witness the great myth where he played a key role and which tells how the god Tyr (whose name means "god") has provided the world order and survival : Fenrir representing the powers of chaos, the Aesir, to master him, constructs two wonderful strings one than the other, but without success. Then they resort to magic and forge a "chain", Gleipnir - "[...] made of six parts : sounds of cats footsteps, a woman 's beard, the roots of mountains, bear nerves, fish and birds breath spitting " (Gylfaginning 34) - making it look like a silk lace. They defy Fenrir of being tied by this "chain" citing concern that it must have good Scandinavian reputation. Fenrir accepted, but required that one of the Aesir put his right hand in his mouth as a pledge of non pretense. Tyre runs, and Fenrir lets himself being attached. So says Snorri, "the Aesir laughed, all but Tyre, he had just lost the hand." But the world's future is assured. The mutilation of Tyre made him the hero by excellence feint understood, there is the Law that transcends our moral categories, some can be dangerous as this assimilation. Finally, the skald Eyvindr in its Hcikonarmkl (. Sir 20), the gods put a sword into the mouth of Fenrir ; and, says Snorri, he vomited a torrent of slime that forms the Van River.
Sources
Régis Boyer – Héros et dieux du Nord - Ed Tout L’Art (1997)
Snorri Sturlusson – Poetic Edda
Maria Kvilhaug – Freyia Völundarh úsins
CORE
ELITE
CHAMPION
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Humanoid
Bad-mannered
Known Hero
Rest in Peace Juvia (48-499)
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posted December 01, 2014 02:25 PM |
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MattII
Legendary Hero
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posted December 01, 2014 08:35 PM |
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Edited by MattII at 20:36, 01 Dec 2014.
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I can haz English please? Otherwise, looking good.
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meroe
Supreme Hero
Basically Smurfette
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posted December 02, 2014 01:19 AM |
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Nice Galaad, but seeing as you are going Norse Mythology, think about changing the Greek Gods influence - i.e. Gaia, Cronos, etc.
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Meroe is definetely out, sweet
as she sounds sometimes, she'd
definetely castrate you with a
rusted razror and forcefeed
your genitals to you in a
blink of an eye - Kipshasz
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 02, 2014 01:41 AM |
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Edited by Galaad at 20:16, 29 Dec 2014.
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meroe said:
Nice Galaad, but seeing as you are going Norse Mythology, think about changing the Greek Gods influence - i.e. Gaia, Cronos, etc.
Of course not, else I would fail some important tradition 
Edit : You are right, that joke was probably silly.
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Steyn
Supreme Hero
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posted December 02, 2014 09:06 AM |
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Edited by Steyn at 09:07, 02 Dec 2014.
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Well, imho it looks like you have a lot of humanoids. Your line-up is like dwarf, boar, dwarf, female dwarf (riding pegasus), music dwarf, blue dwarf, chariot dwarf/wolf. I like that you give more mythological background for your unit choices, but basically it is not that different from H5 Fortress. Also, can you elaborate on the difference between Nibelung and Fjalar? They both seem like dwarfs with axes to me.
I also kinda dislike Thor's chariot, but that's more because of my dislike of chariots. And I have to admit, without chariot he would be a little too similar to the titan.
Sorry that it became such a negative post; I hope you don't mind me being a bit critical
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 02, 2014 09:51 AM |
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Well, they are three dwarves, the Dvergar, Eitri and Fjôlsvidr 
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Steyn
Supreme Hero
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posted December 02, 2014 10:04 AM |
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Edited by Steyn at 10:15, 02 Dec 2014.
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Yeah, I know. I was exaggerating a bit, just like those people who complain about H5 Fortress having 5 dwarves and a big dwarf  At least the Jotun are distinctly different as ice giants, but to me the Vingthorr feels just like a dwarf with a lightning hammer in a chariot and the Valkyija as a female dwarf riding a pegasus.
I know they are different races, but they're all humanoids, so they don't really feel as different races. It's like making a town with humans, elves and dwarfs. To me it would feel about equally boring as an all human town, even though you've got a diverse mix of races.
Edit:
Don't get me wrong; I don't really mind the occasional town consisting of mostly racial creatures. In fact, I quite liked H5 stronghold and your line-up seems also fairly interesting.
The reason I make this argument is that it's the reason most people seem to dislike H5 Stronghold and I honestly don't think changing the race of some of the units is really an improvement, unless you have some races that are/can be lore-wise connected to each other (without having to make up complete new races that nobody ever heard from before that suddenly have a strong connection with an existing race).
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 02, 2014 11:31 AM |
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Edited by Galaad at 11:37, 02 Dec 2014.
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Steyn said:
I don't really mind the occasional town consisting of mostly racial creatures.
Unlike our modern folklore, ancient Norse dwarves were not small but had our size. It is the Church that has debased their current status in accordance with its systematic devaluation policy of all pagan creatures. Still I am keeping Dvergar and Eitri as small ones but Fjôlsvidr would be human-sized to bring more visual variety on the battlefield, thanks for making me precise that.
Quote:
your line-up seems also fairly interesting.
Thank you.
Quote:
I honestly don't think changing the race of some of the units is really an improvement, unless you have some races that are/can be lore-wise connected to each other (without having to make up complete new races that nobody ever heard from before that suddenly have a strong connection with an existing race).
Well aside from my little joke spotted by Meroe, I tried to make a connection between these creatures by their theme rather than their race.
"Dwarven" Fortress might be misleading though
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Doomhammer
Known Hero
Smasher of pasties
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posted December 02, 2014 11:49 AM |
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Nice work Galaad 
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red_flag
Known Hero
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posted December 02, 2014 12:51 PM |
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Edited by red_flag at 13:26, 02 Dec 2014.
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 02, 2014 01:31 PM |
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Edited by Galaad at 05:10, 31 Dec 2014.
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Doomhammer said:
Nice work Galaad
Thx
And nice avatar, btw!
red_flag said:
Here is my Dwarf's line-up, if you don't mind (with google translation)
Privet
I don't mind at all, thx for sharing
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Jiriki9
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
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posted December 03, 2014 01:07 PM |
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looking promising, but I dislike that so MANY names are lore and hard to pronounce.
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 03, 2014 02:57 PM |
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Jiriki9 said:
I dislike that so MANY names are lore and hard to pronounce.
And this is what I like about it It sounds more enigmatic and mysterious thus is therefore more appealing to me.
Thanks for the feedback though
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War-overlord
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Presidente of Isla del Tropico
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posted December 03, 2014 03:04 PM |
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This very much looks like a H3-approach to faction building, set in the 3 tier-system. The association between the units is stronger than is usual in H3, but it is still a little on the loose side. Without further explaination, it looks like a copy-paste of Norse Myth and then slapping some Heroes-looking numbers on pictures, which isn't to my personal taste.
Having said that, this is still an impressive piece of scholarship on Norse Myth, for which kudos.
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Vote El Presidente! Or Else!
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 03, 2014 03:10 PM |
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War-overlord said:
This very much looks like a H3-approach to faction building, set in the 3 tier-system. The association between the units is stronger than is usual in H3, but it is still a little on the loose side. Without further explaination, it looks like a copy-paste of Norse Myth and then slapping some Heroes-looking numbers on pictures, which isn't to my personal taste.
Well it is kind of that. I did some research, and used it as an inspiration to come up with the units. Also I thought that reading some mythology hurts no one
You are totally right about the homm3 approach of the tier system, it is the one I know the best and am more familiar with. And I wasn't too worried about the stats as they are no other factions to balance with.
Quote:
Having said that, this is still an impressive piece of scholarship on Norse Myth, for which kudos.
Thanks
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War-overlord
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Presidente of Isla del Tropico
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posted December 03, 2014 03:24 PM |
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Galaad said:
Well it is kind of that. I did some research, and used it as an inspiration to come up with the units. Also I thought that reading some mythology hurts no one
You are totally right about the homm3 approach of the tier system, it is the one I know the best and am more familiar with. And I wasn't too worried about the stats as they are no other factions to balance with.
I think you meant a H3 approach to faction-building. You've still forced it into the H7 3-tier system, with stats looking roughly like they'd belong to the H3 7-tier system in the awkward Conflux skew.
As for the myth-research and paste. There is nothing wrong with it, I never tried to imply it. But I, personally, don't like it, because 1. it doesn't challenge my creative writing, as the H3 style needs little to no explaination. (They never gave much of it back then either) And 2. because I like that kind of explaination. As much as I criticise Ubi for the way they handle their lore, I appreciate the approach they take.
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Vote El Presidente! Or Else!
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Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
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posted December 04, 2014 01:02 AM |
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Edited by Galaad at 10:50, 12 Jan 2015.
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War-overlord said:
I think you meant a H3 approach to faction-building. You've still forced it into the H7 3-tier system, with stats looking roughly like they'd belong to the H3 7-tier system in the awkward Conflux skew.
Both actually, it is a 7 tier system like in homm3, "forced into" the 3-tier system is a good term.
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batoonike
Known Hero
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posted December 28, 2014 04:22 PM |
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Looks great. The names are a no-no. They don't fill the main functions of a name. They are very hard to memorize, impossible to pronounce, hard to distinguish between and have no connection to anything else in the world for most people.
If you're going to use interesting names, use like 1 or 2 per town. And keep them short, less than 5 characters preferrably. Of course "Hiiuööõis" looks cool on the screen but it's not good name for a creature.
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Greenlore
Known Hero
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posted December 29, 2014 06:08 PM |
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I think you should change one of the core units
2 dwarven warriors in the core line-up just feels like there are too many dwarves.
Especially since there are 2 more dwarven units in the elite tier(EDIT: dang it mixed things up,sorry on this one)
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