HeroQuest
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Homeland: Ygg IslandsBy Rob Helm
Stop, stranger! Which is your ship, and who is its master? The Ygg Islands are fiery toeholds of rock in a sea of ice, swept by storms and shaken by volcanoes. Their wild inhabitants, the Yggites or Ygglings, also live in the river valleys and coasts of Winterwood. Barren lava, thin tundra, and dark, unfriendly forests dominate the islands, so the Yggites have turned outward to the sea. Yggites divide themselves into three classes: nobles, commoners, and slaves. Nobles fish, hunt, and raid on the seas, supported by wives in coastal villages. Commoners tend tiny farms and herd shaggy goats beneath smoking island peaks, or hunt the dark, frigid forests and windswept tundras. Slaves draw water, cut wood, and pull the plow until they are traded away or sacrificed to the gods. Yggites are quick to fight and fiercely defend their rights, but are equally quick to adapt to strangers and strange places. Yggite Homeland Keyword
OriginThe goddess Liizi brought the first of the Ygg Islands up from the bottom of the sea in a burst of steam and smoke, and she has steadily added to the islands ever since. Her sister is Maeri, who commands all the wealth of the seas. Ygg the sea storm, son of a glacier, took them as his wives after escaping from the treacherous uncle Orlanth, who stole many of his boons. The Yggites arrived in ships, and each ship founded a clan of one or a few villages. Clan chiefs organize raids and put down disputes with their circles of warriors. Yggites live in households of several related families which share a half-buried longhouse. Household chiefs carve their stories on supporting pillars in the houses, extending the stories already carved there by their ancestors. At Sunstop the Yggites were already on the islands. They exploited the Gbaji Wars of the suicidal easterners to raid and settle along the coasts. Ygg's people suffered under the God Learners, who occupied the islands and whose cursed castles still speck the landscape. Brond the Carver at last created the Great Longship, which smashed the Howling Fleet of the sorcerers and freed the islands. The Closing was a disaster for the Yggites, preventing whaling and raiding. Thousands of people starved despite a frenzy of human sacrifices. Dormal the Sailor then arrived and taught the Yggites to cross the seas again. In his wake came the Loskalmi sorcerers, who ruled the islands for a time. Orstando Black Wolf discovered the secret of the longship, became the first Champion of Ygg, and pushed many of the Loskalmi out, but they still hold the town of Coldfort. The Yggites suffered a major blow in 1617 when a foreigner, Harrek the Beserk, became Champion of Ygg and took over half the population with him to sea, leaving the Yggites weakened before Loskalm. But each year, more young men die in the wilds and return transformed, ready to take invaders for Udiarggu. Common ReligionsBoon Feats Nobles are those who have inherited boons, rights to ancestral names, songs, carved designs, and feats. Boons can be inherited through either parent, and families often fall into violent conflict over inheritance of boons. Feats: Call Flotsam, Captivating Voice, Carve Story, Catch Spear, Cool Anger, Drive the Lazy, Escape Through Smokehole, Expose Thief, Howling Wind Wolf, Impressive Gift, Plow Ahead, Rally Household, Sharpen Blade, Shout Down Rival, Smell Loot, Subdue Captive, Trace Ancestry, Wound With Words The First Ones The Yggites pushed many people aside, but the first inhabitants of the land are still there. Only commoners and slaves use these powers, but some "thunder egg witches" become powerful by abandoning other gods for the First Ones. (See "Selfrock Teaching" in HeroQuest, p. 108) Charms -- Be Like a Rock, Cut Wood, Glide Over Land, Put Down Roots, Scurry Up Tree, Sharpen Obsidian, Sprout Seeds, Turn Earth, Wait Patiently Feats -- Burrow Deep, Crack Stone, Cross Ice, Harden Snow, Pierce Mist, Shed Water, Silence Spouse Spells -- Call Lover, Escape Into Sea, Hide Family, Just the Wind, No Loot Here, Scratch Warning, Shut Out Storm, Walk On Fire Talents -- Carry Water, Follow Sun, Hide in Crevice, Kiss Away Cold, Leave False Trail, Look Busy, Throw Rock Specialized Religion -- Yggite PantheonMost Yggites worship Ygg and his companions. Men typically join one of the many subcults of Ygg (See "Ygg of Threestep Isle" in HeroQuest, p. 127). Each subcult teaches Ygg's two core affinities with some unique feats, and a third affinity specific to the subcult. Women mostly worship the mother goddesses, Liizi and Maeri, who teach the secrets of raising children, preserving food, and managing large, fractious Yggite households while the men are gone. Some men worship Udiarggu instead of or in addition to a god of the Yggite pantheon, and a few lower-class Yggites join churches or rely exclusively on common magic. Some specialists call on accepted foreign gods such as Dormal (see Men of the Sea, p. 17) and Donandar (see HeroQuest, p. 111). Yggites generally shun Orlanth and distrust his companions.
Sample Deities Entertainer: Daija the Singer, who collects ancient stories and treasures in her cave beneath the earth. Affinities -- Ancestors, Storytelling, Treasure Farmer: Doeno the Goat Affinities -- Farming, Goat, Labor Fisherman: Ygg the Fisher Affinities -- Fishing, Northern Sailing, Sea Storm Healer: Noora the White Woman, who heals the scars of the land. Affinities -- Heal Wounds, Cure Disease, Snow Hunter: Ygg Sea Hunter Affinities -- Sea Hunting, Northern Sailing, Sea Storm Hunter: Udiarggu Wild Man Spirits -- Hunting, Wild Man, Wilderness Merchant: Zary Wealth Finder Affinities -- Communication, Merchant, Northern Sailing Sailor: Ygg Ship Master Affinities -- Northern Sailing, Sea Storm, Ship Steadwife: Liizi Land Mother Affinities -- Fire, Land, Growth Steadwife: Maeri Sea Mother Affinities -- Mother, Sea, Wealth Warrior: Valind Winter King (see Storm Tribe, p. 234) Affinities -- North Wind, Snow Storm, Winter King Warrior: Ygg the Raider Affinities -- Northern Sailing, Raiding, Sea Storm Warrior: Udiarggu Wild Man Spirits -- War, Wild Man, Wilderness Reasons to Have Left HomeYou followed Harrek to raid the great eastern lands, or maybe you just got tired of scratching out a living in the middle of nowhere. Udiarggu Wild-Man (Independent Practice)Udiarggu kidnaps the spirits of the young to his Dark Wilderness under the earth. Those who return become great hunters and terrifying warriors. The practice varies widely from place to place, because each circle knows a few local spirits willing to serve the practice. Secret seasonal rites take place in the wilderness on Wild Day, Disorder Week. On the high holy day (Wild Day, Disorder Week, Dark Season), spiritists of the practice can become practitioners. Udiarggu takes the spiritist to the Dark Wilderness to hunt for his first practice spirit and bind it into a fetish. During the journey, the spiritist's body behaves as if insane, scratching, biting, running away, and finally falling into a deathlike catatonia. Practitioners who repeat this journey can create fetishes with any type of spirit, even spirits from other traditions and practices.
AcknowledgementsThanks to Jörg Baumgartner, David Dunham, Edan Jones, Peter Metcalfe, Jeff Richard, and Greg Stafford for information and comments on this topic. |
