User:Pishkirlin/sandbox/Guide to Brigand Kings
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Azarbad the Great
The Zoroastrian fire
The name Azarbad, common among Iranian people, comes from Aturpat, which is Old Persian for “protected by fire”. Azar is in fact the Persian word for “fire” and Azarbad’s character is marked by fire and flame-related themes revolving around a mysterious flaring stone called “Heart of Fire”. The reference to fire is most certainly related to Zoroastrianism, the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, which was the primary belief in the area before the islamization of ancient Persia. In Zoroastrianism, fire (atar, adar) is an agent of ritual purity, and its associated purification ceremony is considered the basis of ritual life. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire, which is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom is gained. During the Sassanid era (226–650 CE) many of the kings of the dynasty issued one or more coins with a symbol of Fire on the verso, and seals and bullae with the fire symbol were common.
The Heart of Fire
The key element of Azarbad’s character is a shiny stone called “Heart of Fire” that adorns his turban and it’s also given in ransom for his release to those who defeat him at sea. His flotilla icon depicts such a stone.
Heart of Fire in culture
- In Star Wars universe, the Heart of Fire was a shiny, red glowing stone from the planet Kiffu, where it was tradition to give the stone to someone you loved and cared about. It was said that the stone held a little of the spirit of both the giver and the receiver.
- In World of Warcraft universe, the Heart of Fire is a little bit of Fire Elemental essence. It is used in many crafting recipes and a couple of quests and can it be found on any number of flame-based creatures throughout the lands.
Barnabas the Pale
Demone o dannato?
The first question to which we need to find an anwer concerns the nature and the origin of this eerie character. Barnabas' appearance is that of a spirit, but is he a supernatural being or just a dead man?
When Barnabas is defeated, he exclaims "From the Abyss I was born and there I shall return". Mentioning a birth within the abyss may lead to think of an otherworldy origin, there are however several hints that could deny such an hypotesis.
The key can be found in the death chant. In its lastest part, Barnabas exclaims "Perhaps now I shall finally have my peace and see her lovely face again...". Se ne deduce che Barnabas è probabilmente dannato e per qualche sconosciuto motivo la sua anima non può avere pace, ma ancora più interessante è il fatto che egli voglia rivedere il volto di una donna. Come LeChuck di Monkey Island and Davy Jones dei Pirati dei Caraibi, Barnabas sembra essere un undead captain whose immortality is a curse resulting from his broken heart. Sembra improbabile quindi che egli si tratti di un demone o di una creatura ultraterrena.
Le parole poi da lui precedentemente pronunciate ricalcano il passaggio 3:19 della Genesi, in cui il Creatore ricorda ad Adamo la sua origine e inesorabile destino: "...until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return". Barnabas non fa che sostituire concettualmente "polvere" con "Abyss".
The Abyss
Cos'è dunque the "Abyss"? In biblical literature, abyss refers to a bottomless pit; to the underworld; to the deepest ocean floor; or to hell. The word derives from the Greek abussos (also transliterated as abyssos), which is conventionally analyzed as deriving from the Greek element meaning "deep, bottom" with an alpha privative, hence "bottomless". Nella scienza marina, Abyss si può riferire anche al The abyssal zone, una is the abyssopelagic layer of At depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters that remains in perpetual darkness and never receives daylight.
Il termine Abyss ritorna sia nel nome dell'equipaggio di Barnabas, Elditch Abyss, che in nell'engagement chant. Il termine eldritch, attestato dal 1500, deriva dall'Old English el- foreign, strange, uncanny (see else ) + rīce kingdom (see rich); hence “of a strange country, pertaining to the Otherworld”.
Al momento dell'engagement invece, Barnabas esclama: "Your ship crossed over to the Abyss, and with it comes death!". Entrambe le occorrenze farebbero pensare dunque esclusivamente al senso religioso dell'Abysso. Tuttavia, nel victory chant Barnabas incita i propri uomini a strike them down and throw them overboard. "We can always use more crewmen...", dice, come se la morte per annegamento fosse il mezzo per reclutare nuovi membri. Si noti come i corpi con l'addome perforato, cioè quelli la cui morte potrebbe essere stata causata da armi da taglio (e Barnabas può essere affrontato solo nello sf), tendano a non tornare a galla e quindi presumibilmente sprofondino nell'Abyss sottomarino. La morte da annegamento sarebbe confermata dal grappling chant, in cui Barnabas esorta l'equipaggio a rialzarsi da "watery grave". Che questa sia stata la fine dello stesso Barnabas? Ciò è alquanto probabile, visto che nella credenza popolare, supernatural activity is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the such as murder, accidental death, or suicide. In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. Non ha caso gli uomini di Barnabas sono caratterizzati come esseri malvagi.
Skellies and skeletal ghosts
Si confrontino infatti la lista dei nomi degli skellies e quella dell'equipaggio di Barnabas. Si noterà che mentre gli aggettivi degli skellies si riferiscono semplicemente al decesso, l'equipaggio di Barnabas è contraddistinto da termini che richiamano la depravazione morale, il peccato e la dannazione.
Cultural influence
La storia originale di LeChuck narra che, When still alive, he was a fearsome, bloodthirsty pirate. He fell in love with Governor Elaine Marley, who rebuffed his advances. Undeterred, he decided to impress Governor Marley by looking for The Secret of Monkey Island. But a terrible storm sank the ship, leaving no survivors. The grave could not contain his black spirit and love for Elaine, however, and his ghost continued to haunt the seas and bedevil the governor. Her continual spurning of his love drives him to pillage and destroy. His victims included other pirates who were turned into skeletal ghosts and forced to join his crew.
Certamente, prima ancora di LeChuck, quello della nave fantasma era un comune tema letterario. Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.
Chthulu
A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque scaly body with rudimentary wings." represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind." R'lyeh is a fictional city that first appeared in the story, "The Call of Cthulhu," by H. P. Lovecraft. R'lyeh is also referred to in Lovecraft's "The Mound" as Relex. R'lyeh is a sunken city located deep under the Pacific Ocean and is where the godlike being Cthulhu is buried.
Finius, a piscine Bonaparte
"Death is nothing; but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily." Napoleon
Questa citazione, che ritorna nel defeat chant di Finius, non lascia alcun dubbio circa il personaggio storico a cui egli è ispirato. Si confronti anche il suo ritratto con il dipinto by Jacques-Louis David del 1812, "The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries".
Un altro indizio riconducibile all'Imperatore francese, è la tenuta dell'equipaggio, i membri del quale sfoggiano French sailor berets. Humphead wrasse
Il personaggio a cui Finius è ispirato, nonché la presenza fra i suoi trinket di una scatoletta di acciughe, farebbe pensare che l'Ammiraglio sia un pesce che popola le acque francesi e che quindi debba essere cercato tra la fauna marina mediterranea o dell'Oceano Atlantico. Eppure tra i predatori dell'acciuga, non vi è nessun pesce il cui aspetto ricordi quello di Finius. E' necessario cercare altrove e precisamente nell'Indo-Pacific region. Qui abita infatti the Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), comunemente noto come Napoleon wrasse o Napoleon fish. The humphead wrasse is the largest living member of the family Labridae, with males reaching 6 feet (2 m) in length, while females rarely exceed about 3 feet (1 m). It has thick, fleshy lips and a hump that forms on its head above the eyes. The common name, Napoleon Wrasse, arises from this prominent bump that protrudes from the foreheads of fully grown adults, giving them a profile that is reminiscent of Napoleon Bonaparte with his hat.
Royal Anchovy
Royal anchovy è il nome di un artificial fly. are the bait which fly fishers present to their target species of fish while fly fishing.
Gretchen Goldfang
Nomadic nature, superstition, allure for gold (and dental prosthesis in such a material) all remind of Roma culture. The Romani (also Romany, Romanies, Romanis, Roma or Roms; exonym: Gypsies;Romani: Rromane) are an ethnic group of Europe tracing their origins to medieval India. As a name, Gretchen is the German diminutive of Margareta. It derives from Latin Margarita, which was from Greek μαργαριτης (margarites) meaning "pearl", probably a borrowing from Sanskrit. Floral names are not unusual among gypsies women. Gypsy names are usually the same as those of the people in the country of their residence; therefore we could safely assume that Gretchen comes either from Germany or from a Central-Eastern European country with high numbers of German speaking minorities. She could belong to a Sinti community, which among gypsy populations is the one that distinguished by the strongest German influence.
Everyone who posses a sufficient amount of that precious metal enjoys false golden teeth. A smile of gold signifies wealth and a high status in a Gypsy camp
The Evil Eye
The evil eye is a belief that the envy elicited by the good luck of fortunate people may result in their misfortune. The perception of the nature of the phenomenon, its causes, and possible protective measures, varies between different cultures.
In roma culture, gypsies may put a spell on anybody just by staring them deeply; the most common one is called “the glamour” and also known as “evil eye”.
Glamour was defined by Sir Walter Scott as "the power of imposing on the eyesight of the spectators, so that the appearance of an object shall be totally different from the reality."
Scott in explanation of a reference to "the Gypsies' glamour'd gang," in one of his ballads, he remarks: "Besides the prophetic powers ascribed to the Gypsies in most European countries, the Scottish peasants believe them possessed of the power of throwing upon bystanders a spell to fascinate their eyes and cause them to see the thing that is not.
Many gypsies carry amulets and talismans as good luck charms. In gypsy lore an amulet is an item from nature that is either naturally, or artificially (through ritual), charged with magical power. A typical amulet would be a stone with a hole through it or a rabbit's foot.
In some cultures, the foot of a rabbit is carried as an amulet believed to bring good luck. In France the rabbit's foot, if wore on the left arm, is believed to be a remedy against dental problems.
Jewelry is worn profusely by both genders. Accessories like amulets, beads, exotic earrings, rings and anklets greatly add to our Gypsy look. All of the basic pieces are the same as for peasant women: bloomers, bodice, chemise (blouse), skirts, and hat. The appropriate one for a married Gypsy woman (or Romni) is a diklo, a square bandanna-like cloth that is tied on the head. Non-married Gypsy women and girls can wear a diklo, a Gypsy-looking hat (as many of us do) or even just a scarf used to tie the hair back.
Widow Queen
Widow Queen
the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli.
siren c.1366, "sea nymph who by her singing lures sailors to their destruction," from O.Fr. sereine, from L.L. Sirena, from L. Siren, from Gk. Seiren ["Odyssey," xii.39 ff.], perhaps lit. "binder," fromseira "cord, rope."
Later writers have inferred that the Sirens were anthropophagous(cannibals), based on Circe's description of them "lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses rotting away, rags of skin shriveling on their bones
"The sirens, though they sing to mariners, are not sea-maidens," Harrison cautions; "they dwell on an island in a flowery meadow."[
Black is a symbol of mourning and bereavement in Western societies, especially at funerals and memorial services. In some traditional societies, within for example Greece and Italy, widows wear black for the rest of their lives.
The black widow belongs to a group of spiders commonly known as cobweb
spiders. The characteristic hourglass is located on the underside of the abdomen.
Female black widows are dangerous and can bite and inject toxic venom.
A poison ring or pillbox ring is a type of ring with a container under the bezel or inside the bezel itself that could be used to hold poison or another substance. They became popular in Europe during the sixteenth century. [1] The poison ring was used either to slip poison into an enemy's food or drink, or to facilitate the suicide of the wearer in order to escape capture or torture.
Rings do exist that have a hinged bezel which opens to reveal a small cavity within. They were probably used as miniature pomanders. The pomanders were some perfume essence to protect against bad odours and possibly infection when going amongst the great unwashed masses long ago. Other purposes of poison or locket rings include housing a small holy relic or even a memento of a loved one - like some hair. In Elizabethan times, things got rather morbid when jewellers made mourning or funeral rings (coffin shaped, skeletons and skull decorations etc) which were given to mourners to commemorate the death of a loved one.
Unlike most other methods of measuring time, the hourglass concretely represents the present as being between the past and the future, and this has made it an enduring symbol of time itself.
The hourglass, sometimes with the addition of metaphorical wings, is often depicted as a symbol that human existence is fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life.[9] It was used thus on pirate flags, to strike fear into the hearts of the pirates' victims.
A common idea about redheads is that they have fiery tempers and sharp tongues.
Another belief is that redheads are highly sexed
Red hair was thought to be a mark of a beastly sexual desire and moral degeneration.
External links
Rhodin's Brigand King sprites http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=71273
