Originally Posted by Pool 6
1: "European Aboriginals" A Servant of the Ancient to pre-Christian non-Greek/Roman Europe. A Person or God from the so called Barbaric Tribes of Europe, regardless if from Spain, to the border of Europe. Be it Chieftain, Warrior, or even a God or Goddess of the European Pantheon, like Slavic or Germanic Culture for instances.
2: "Ancient Celebrities of the Polytheistic Levantine Cultures" A Person from the old Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Hittite, Babylonian Worlds and so forth. A Person of renown of the Polytheistic Age of the Near East be it legendary Ruler, Hero or Mage.
3: "Antique Roman Statesman" A Statesman of Rome, be it a legendary King of its time as City Kingdom, a General or Official of the Republican Days or a Roman Emperor from the Imperial Age.
Class: Caster
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Alternate Class: Avenger, Shielder(?), Lancer(?), Rider(?)
Place of Origin: Finnish myth, Kalevala
Traits: Humanoid, Servant, Female, Divine Spirit, Weak to Enuma Elish, Queen
Attribute: Sky
Parameters:
STR - E
END - D
AGI - D
MGI - A++
LUK - C
NP - EX
Class Skills:
Territory Creation: EX
Creation of a "Temple", which is superior to a "Workshop", becomes possible. Furthermore, any territory no matter how big or small confers equal bonuses as if it was properly consecrated so long as it contains the properties of either “darkness” or “a cave.” Also allows for the creation of a special territory that combines these two parameters.
Item Construction: B
Things such as potions of immortality are frankly beyond her reach…no, it’s more that she never had a reason to try that hard. Enough skill to produce common magical items, but retrofitting a Divine Construct that was created while she was present and observing seems to be her limit.
Goddess Divine Core: EX
A Skill that expresses one being a perfected goddess from birth. A composite Skill that comprises the Skill Divinity, preserves the absoluteness of the mind and the body, repels all mental interference, prevents the body from growth and prevents the figure from changing no matter how much calories are absorbed.
A daughter of Tuoni, god of death and the incarnation of darkness. Though she’s treated as an offshoot, Caster’s divinity never seems to lessen. The truth is that Caster’s identity varied from region to region within the Finno-Ugric world. Sometimes she was remembered as a simple witch of revenge, sometimes she was indistinguishable from the goddess of death. The Caster summoned here simply reflects the myth of a certain area of Finland. Because she is purely a Divided Spirit, she is able to exhibit this Skill at its maximum.
Personal Skills:
Protection of the Underworld: EX
The Authority of the Queen of the Underworld. Until her rule comes to an end, she who controls the underworld is the underworld itself, as well as the queen protected by its bounds.
The Hostess (Queen) of Pohjola. Caster’s occupation and title within the Kalevala. Pohjola, also known as Manala (“land under the earth”), Sariola (“land of sleep”), and Tuonela (“land of the dead”), is the Finnish Underworld. A land of darkness and spirits, with Caster at their head.
Provides support to all allies within her territory.
High-Speed Divine Words: A
A Skill that assists with magical incantations via a power to activate Thaumaturgy without the use of Magic Circuits. The language of the Age of Gods, back when words played a heavy role in spellcasting. As such, it is a power long lost by modern magi. It is particularly useful for direct attack magic.
Not the Divine Words found within the world of the ancient Mediterranean, but those found in the taiga of the ancient Finno-Karelia region. Called runo or rune-singing, surprisingly it has practically nothing to do with the Magical System derived from Odin found in the rest of Scandinavia. The word runo is simply a loanword from Proto-Norse, which means “secret” or “mystery.” A secondary, sacred language that speaks directly to the Earth.
Greater magecraft-level Magecraft can be cast at the speed of Single-Action spells.
Shapeshift: C
A Skill that refers to both borrowing bodies and appearance change.
Caster is capable of transforming herself either partially or completely into a variety of birds, which were her specialty in life. From doves to eagles, and even a giant bio-mechanical dragon known as Pseudo-Demonic Spirit of the Air: Kokko after modifying her body. Incidentally, this functions as a Noble Phantasm for Caster in one of her other forms.
Noble Phantasms:Pohjola PakkanenExtirpation of all Heat
Type: Anti-Country
Rank: A
"Moon of gold and Sun of silver,
Hide your faces in the caverns
Of Pohyola's dismal mountain;
Shine no more to gladden Northland,
Till I come to give ye freedom,
Drawn by coursers nine in number,
Sable coursers of one mother!"
The inherent power to manipulate the forces of freezing, snow, and congealing. A frozen Underworld forcibly applied to the surface.
Though Caster is the originator and mother of frost in the Finno-Ugric texture, this ability is both unrelated and of far more potency than her normal Authority.
At the climax of the Kalevala, with the Sampo already lost to the sea and her other methods of revenge failing her, Caster chose to be reckless. If she couldn’t hurt the heroes of Kalevala directly, she would bring her fury to bear against the prosperity of the very land itself. The Sun and Moon were neatly excised from reality, instantly creating an immobile world of silence.
Not the “generation of ice and snow” but rather the complete removal of heat value at a conceptual level. Water molecules in the air itself may undergo instant sublimation, ice at the level of glaciers can be casually willed into existence and dissolved with a thought.
A Bounded Field originating from Caster that fundamentally rejects the Concept of “heat” as well as those held under the umbrella of “Sun” and “Moon.” Magecraft aligned with the element of fire is functionally negated completely, while enemy combatants with strong ties to the Sun (Karna, Tamamo, etc) or the Moon (Artemis, Caligula, etc) will be at a severe disadvantage.
However, because the Sun and Moon still exist within a domain under Caster’s control, the heat sapped from the world can be temporarily reconstituted; concentrated into a single point in order to create a facsimile of the heavenly bodies she’s stolen away. Because she has no Authority in this area, however, it’s nothing but an imitation. Quite similar to the Idea Blood of a certain Dead Apostle.
Sammas MarjattaFragment of the Lost Dream
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: C
A Divine Construct created by the hero-god of smithing and forges, Ilmarinen. A pre-ordained existence, one promised to Caster after she saved the principal hero of the Kalevala, Väinämöinen, from drowning after a fateful encounter with the villain Joukahainen. After rejecting several other rewards for her hospitality, Caster asks for “the Sampo.”
Väinämöinen, incapable of doing what Caster wished, assured her that he would have Ilmarinen construct the Sampo for her in exchange for safe passage back to Kalevala. After Ilmarinen is tricked into going to Pohjola by Väinämöinen, the smith god eventually acquiesces after Caster promises him her most beautiful daughter. After recreating his forge in the Northland, Ilmarinen gets to work.
But four times he fails.
Four times he creates a thing of evil.
And then at last, the promised treasure. But this Noble Phantasm doesn’t encapsulate the completed Sampo, rather it’s a combination of the “items before the Sampo” as well as “what was left” after the Sampo was destroyed. At the climax of the Kalevala, Caster was only left with the “lid-in-colors” of the Sampo, deprived of its completed power.
However, the failures Ilmarinen created were still existences that could be verified by the World.
Combined with her own personal nature, Caster was able to take the remnants of the shattered Sampo and reconstruct it into a modular Mystic Code based on Ilmarinen’s previous attempts. It’s capable of reshaping itself into a flying ship or a self-operating plow, but Caster tends to keep its “rest state” that of a small orbiting weapons platform conducting protocols that automatically guard Caster with showers of powerful curses. This of course is derived from the Sampo’s first ever initial form, that of a divinely evil crossbow:
On the first day, Ilmarinen
Downward bent and well examined,
On the bottom of his furnace,
Thus to see what might be forming
From the magic fire and metals.
From the fire arose a cross-bow,
"With the brightness of the moonbeams,
Golden bow with tips of silver;
On the shaft was shining copper,
And the bow was strong and wondrous,
But alas! it was ill-natured,
Asking for a hero daily,
Two the heads it asked on feast-days.
It’s not that Caster really needs the extra help when it comes to combat–far from it–the fact remains that she more than most is fully aware of the treacherous and conniving nature of mankind, and thus refuses to leave openings in her defenses out of any sense of pride.
If she can be convinced to calm down, or if she has a need for gathering information, Sammas Marjatta can also take the form of a mechanical familiar mimicking the form of a great cow.
Sammas MarjattaHeavens, Sing the Song of the End
Type: Anti-Fortress / Anti-Divine
Rank: EX
The Sampo as an artifact has been notoriously hard to define by modern mages and scholars.
Some call it a magic mill, a wish-granting vessel with properties similar to the First Magic. A Holy Grail of the North. This definition stuck mostly due to the prosperity the Sampo heaped on its owner.
The truth of the matter is that the Sampo, derived from the earlier sammas (pillar) was the World Pillar of the Finnish texture. The true purpose of Ilmarinen’s magnum opus was a mere manufactured replacement meant to keep the three distinct worlds of Finnish cosmology separated and held in eternal stasis.
The original Finnish World Tree, a divine oak, was corrupted and evil from its very sprouting. The primordial sea dragon Iku-Turso’s fire was responsible for stoking the growth of the World Tree, but like a cancer the tree grew so tall that it threatened the very heavens. After its destruction at the hands of Väinämöinen and his allies, Caster–concerned with the balance of the universe as a magus–never stopped hoping for a proper replacement. When Väinämöinen drifted ashore in Pohjola on that fateful day, she knew her opportunity had come.
But, that mindset wasn’t one that could last amid harsh reality.
Mankind’s greed and evil nature revolted Caster to her core, an opinion continually reinforced by the constant harassment and death that followed the heroes of the Kalevala wherever they went.
After killing her children. After killing her husband. After all of that, those monsters came for the only thing she had left.
Why?
…No. It’s far too late to ask a question like that. Complete and utter destruction is the only fate waiting for those who are truly evil.
Even if it takes a thousand years, my grudge will outlast the world you belong to, Son of the Waters.
As a Noble Phantasm, the True Release of Sammas Marjatta is a reenactment of the Sampo’s destruction, and Caster’s curse which followed. A spear falling from the heavens to enact judgment on the World itself. It’s no surprise that it’s very similar to its conceptual “sister” Rhongomyniad.
As with the battle at Camlann signifying the end of the Age of Gods in Britain, the destruction of the Sampo inevitably led to the passing of Mystery within Finland. The “Marjatta” portion of the Noble Phantasm’s name refers to the final runo of the Kalevala, in which the new protagonist Marjatta appears as the heroine of a changing, Christianizing Finland. Väinämöinen, berated by Marjatta’s Christ-like child, senses that the time of heroes like him has finally come to a close. The Kalevala ends with Väinämöinen sailing away, the Age of Gods and the heroes it epitomizes never to be seen again.
Caster’s revenge on the whole world given form.
Ah…but…
It hurts too.
It won’t bring any of them back. It won’t make any of the others reconcile with what they did.
Therefore, isn’t it best to start over?
Lore:
The Witch-Goddess of Finland: Louhi.
A child of the god of death Tuoni, Louhi has existed in some form since the beginning of the Finnish conception of time. A goddess in her own right. However, due to the way the gods interacted with the people within the Finno-Karelian texture, she is also remembered as a mortal being. In the end the dichotomy is meaningless. Louhi is Louhi, and her true value lies in her role within the Kalevala.
She first appears in person as Väinämöinen’s savior after the immortal sage narrowly avoided being assassinated by the Sami villain Joukahainen. The Hostess of Pohja readily heals the hero’s wounds, asking for the creation of the Sampo in exchange for safe delivery back home. Väinämöinen reluctantly agrees, tricking Ilmarinen the smith-god into helping. After receiving her prize, Louhi is more than happy to be a passive force for the rest of the story, were it not for the heroes of Kalevala.
Lemminkäinen, one of the triumvirate of southern heroes, steals away Louhi’s daughter Kyllikki. After Kyllikki broke a promise made between her and Lemminkäinen, the hero storms Pohjola and demands Louhi’s official permission and blessing. In a role similar to the Greek Eurystheus, Louhi functions as an overarching obstacle to the given hero she encounters by providing them with increasingly difficult labors. Louhi and her challenges are ultimately not the ones responsible for Lemminkäinen’s death, it was his own recklessness and disregard for others. And yet, upon his resurrection, he derides Louhi as evil.
Later, in a fight over Lemminkäinen’s supposed snubbing of Ilmarinen’s marriage, he assaults Pohjola again and murders Louhi’s husband the Master of Pohjola.
And that was the first loved one they took from her.
Meanwhile, both Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen vy for the Maiden of the Rainbow (sometimes known as Ilpator), another of Louhi’s daughters and the one promised to Ilmarinen in exchange for the Sampo. Ilmarinen is finally wed, and for a time things are well both in Kalevala and in Pohjola.
Until the arrival of the cursed child, Kullervo. Adopted by Ilmarinen, the Maiden of the Rainbow’s fear and hatred for Kullervo eventually leads to her death. Even her husband, a demigod, did nothing to save the Maiden.
And that was the second loved one they took from her.
Saddened and angered at the loss of his wife, Ilmarinen confronts Louhi in Pohjola and demands a “replacement” in the form of her second daughter. The Hostess refuses, and Ilmarinen, like Lemminkäinen before him, kidnaps her. Unlike Kyllikki, this daughter makes no attempt to hide her hatred of Ilmarinen. Finally, Ilmarinen reaches a boiling point and transforms the daughter into a seagull, never to be seen again.
And that was the third loved one they took from her.
And yet, throughout these ordeals, Louhi is never described as anything less than evil.
Why?
It didn’t matter. The definition of “evil” had been applied to her against her will, regardless of her feelings. Regardless of how much she had lost. She had become a mere scapegoat that the childish heroes of Kalevala could blame for all of their many misfortunes. If that were the case…if that were the case, then she would become the evil they had so desired.
The war between Kalevala and Pohjola came to a head when the three heroes of Kalevala sought to steal back the Sampo for themselves, jealous of the prosperity it had brought to Louhi and her land of frost and death. But the witch queen would not let it go without a fight, one she would end up losing. Fragments of the Sampo would be recovered by Väinämöinen, sown into the land of Kalevala to impart it with the Sampo’s blessings of prosperity. The reality of the situation was too much to bear for Louhi, who could never return to the peaceful woman who had only ever acted in self-defense. Her bitterness and hatred would cause her to lash out at Kalevala with increasing ferocity, no longer wishing for any sort of understanding or forgiveness.
But even this was not enough. Even though she knew she was justified. Even though she sent monsters and thousands of undead warriors to war with Kalevala. Even though she altered the very cosmos itself with her passion, Louhi’s fate was never to be remembered as a winner. Her final scene in the Kalevala has her fleeing in terror from Ilmarinen, who had sworn to bind her with an iron choker to the same rock in which Louhi had hidden the Sampo.
Because Louhi had been wrong all this time.
The one thing she truly had left to lose had been her own freedom. Freedom from her own rage, a prospect that surely must have been terrifying.
She will never be remembered as a hero by anyone other than her own countrymen. To everyone else, she will always be the duplicitous, callous, evil Louhi.
Perhaps that is enough.
Relationships
Medea:
“Witch of Betrayal…is it? That name is ill-fitting, so I refuse to use it. What, modeling? Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not worth your time.”
An extreme case of similarities. Though Louhi respects her as an individual, she’s incapable of ignoring the similarities between their two stories. She’s happy for Medea that, while her story ended poorly, she did indeed make memories with friends along the way. Unfortunately, Louhi was never able to experience anything like that for herself…so jealous.
Because of the age difference, the shattered remains of her motherly instincts are stirred. Medea Lily might give her a heart attack. From a distance. From a distance…
Luviagelita Edelfelt (Astraea):
Nothing but sneers. Louhi pays no attention to the spirit within, only the girl that is the shell. The Edelfelt family’s tendency towards theft and rampant opportunism reminds Louhi to a debilitating degree of Luvia’s countryman Väinämöinen. She’ll gladly compare Finn Shots, however…no, maybe that’s a bad idea.
Sitoni:
A High-Servant who boasts Louhi as one of her components. Though she takes a backseat to both Sitonai herself and the shell that is Illya, Louhi is of course able to sense that a fragment of “herself” is contained within. Awkwardly watches her from a distance, but the girl’s clear maturity is something the witch queen has trouble reconciling.
Senji Muramasa:
A mixture of disgust and fear, resulting in instant violence if Louhi doesn’t run away to hide first. The young body and belligerence of Lemminkäinen, the forging ability of Ilmarinen, and the aged personality of Väinämöinen. Perhaps it’s shallow, but seeing all three combined in one vessel is too much.
Notes
So this was the sheet mentioned in the Womb thread, obviously. While I couldn’t help myself from committing the sin of comparison, I think I brought enough to the table to differentiate Louhi from the other two(?) sheets she has floating around here. If she comes across as basically a wanked Medea, I don’t exactly blame you but their shared archetype exists for a reason.
Shoutouts to Verg and Adlet for their own takes, which are also great. However, we have bits and pieces of Finnish myth finally represented in the form of Sitonai (some Skills and Pohjola Pakannen are just Illya’s but tweaked) and Riyo Saber, who is very very obviously ya boy Väinämöinen. I think I’d like to do my own takes on him as well as a Rider Lemminkainen, but those will probably come later.
Something interesting I found in my research is the general perspective on magic in the Finno-Ugric culture, building off what was mentioned in Louhi’s Divine Words Skill. The magicians in the Kalevala are described as “singing their target into [X]” like with the fight between Väinämöinen and Joukahainen which is clearly reminiscent of Water aligned alchemy (I couldn’t stop thinking of Heine from CF and his Living Stone), but further research seems to imply that it is in fact closer to shamanism: the magician falls into a trance, manipulating the spirits within everything in order to cause physical change. The third option is there are two distinct styles of magic, one endemic to Kalevala/Finland (runo singing) and one that’s more associated with the Sami (shamanism). I think that if Louhi were a magus of the modern day, she would definitely be closer to a shaman, but because she’s a goddess I think giving her Divine Words is still appropriate, especially given the context of the story.
This does make me wonder about things like Gandr and Luvia. Gandr is described as Rune Magecraft without actually using Runes…so I’m wondering if the Finnish runo, which is its own term that hasn’t had any relation to the mystical alphabet in centuries, was shoved under the umbrella of Rune Magecraft because reasons. Either way, if Luvia’s Gandr is strong enough to physically affect reality at the level of a pistol shot, Louhi’s would be closer to a ballistic missile.
I might have missed a few cases of italics when referencing to the Kalevala as a book instead of a place. It's like if the Iliad was just called Troy and they go to Troy and also somebody's name is Troy.
I would have tried for a second sheet but I was sick as a fucking dog for the first week of the contest. I hope whoever receives her enjoys!
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