Saturday, February 25, 2017

Type of Myth #1 & #2; Fable #1: part 1

Myths Series
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths
Mythology: How they are created

Myth #1: Blood and Water - Begin
Myth #2: From them, all become
Type of Myth #1 & #2; Fable #1: part 1

Earth Diver, Secretion, and Sacrifice type myths

Looking at Marta Weigle's creation type list, I try to categorize my two creation myths. She lists accretion/conjunction, secretion, sacrifice, division/consummation, earth diver, emergence, two creators, deus faber, ex nihilo as creation types.
Types of Creation Myths

If I categorized the first two myths, the blood and water is more like a mixture of creation types earth diver and secretion. Whereas the maggot myth is more like sacrifice creation because the maggots came from the ancient skeleton and had eaten away flesh - so both have been caused by parts of the god. After falling down to Aioskoru, powers morph them into new beings.

Beginning to attempt to create a fable.

After the first two creation myths which saw the creation of winged creatures and serpents, I wanted to create my first fable which includes the three moons of Aioskoru.

Story idea pieces
Winged beast
Serpent
Three moons

So i thought about making a fable of bird taking snake to the moons.

I write down these words, which I want to develop into a fable.


Bird takes snake to the moons


Bird takes snake to the moons
© 2017 Ken Wickham

I really want to do more than that summary sentence. But first, I want to look at a few fables in the next post. I want to see how people have created fables in the past.

So my next posts will look at fables, so that I can equip myself with some basic fable making knowledge using some of the knowledge of the past.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Myth #2: From them all become

Myths Series
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths
Mythology: How they are created

Myth #1: Blood and Water - Begin
Myth #2: From them, all become

In this section, I join and differentiate the maggots from the blood & water..






Struggling maggots falling as well.

Flies soon emerge, ready to fly

Spreading across the great land.

Some eat from the ancient remnants.

Some begin to eat each other. 

From maggots, the first serpents form. 

And from the flies, winged beasts grow.

Feed by the powerful essence,

the hidden beast from blood & water,

to small to be of concern to the offspring of maggots,

multiply and live in secrecy.

They are the offspring of maggots.

They are the offspring of blood & water.

From them, all become.


From them, all become 
© 2017 Ken Wickham

What primary reason do you play roleplaying games?

Imagination is what brought me back to roleplaying games.

Decade of virtual worlds

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs ) brought me a decade of limited images constructed by others. After a decade of socializing online and meeting others, from Everquest up until Lord of the Rings Online, computer role-playing games occupied part of my hobby time. Something was lacking. Something that I had before MMORPGs. To me, that was using my imagination.

All that I had from the computer gaming was pre-made settings and features.

Everything was handed to me.

Missing

What I was missing most was using my imagination.

Creativity first emerged in the urge to write a story. I hadn't written anything since putting down my rule and setting books decades earlier. I wanted to tell my own story, not participate in a limited story. The story I wanted is boundless, open, and free - not restricted by borders, pixels, reset times, and quest lines.

I had to write new ideas.

Writing

Two stories I wrote for national novel month.

Not long after the first novel and having written 200 pages of a new world, I wanted then to expand my long neglected imagination.

RPGs

I searched for my old system. MERP is gone.

I found newer, unknown to me, systems: Fudge, Fate, 5e, PF, among hundreds - maybe thousands.

Despite different rules that focused on different parts of gaming, my imagination remains a common thread throughout all of the games.

Imagination.

I posed this question in Lone Wolf Roleplaying which is a great community of gamers that focus on solo roleplaying.

Although there is a poll with numbers showing at this time some number from the poll and that many of the people list imagination as well, I assume that users have multiple reasons for playing the games. The comments show multiple reasons, although my questionnaire only allows one answer.

My other reasons for playing RPGs.
If I put my reasons in order, a second it would be setting (playing in interesting settings), and third would be action (exploring new and exciting types of action), followed by rules (trying interesting focused rules).

Through this past year, I've been using solo roleplaying techniques in my story writing. My first two novel month writings were done using built structures primarily Dramatica mixed with snowflake method of novel creation. The past year I've mixed in my rekindled interest in roleplaying games and found solo roleplaying games. They are a friendly community, unlike other communities I have encountered which are protective.

What primary reason do you play roleplaying games?

This informal question wasn't to find a right or wrong answer. In fact, I tried to mention that there is no correct answer since the reasons for playing are depend on the individual. It's just to create a discussion and see how why others say that they play roleplaying games. The other blogs had things like to improve memory, to use your imagination, for creative problem solving, for high action combat, and for socializing, for fun, fan of setting, the rules, or coerced into playing, etc.

Given only 5 choices and knowing that this is a solo gaming community, I chose five somewhat summary descriptions: action, imagination, challenge, setting, and rules. I didn't think this would cover everything, but there is also room to comment and add missing reasons.

The other choices and suggestions

I may in the future write about about the other reasons for playing roleplaying games.



Saturday, February 18, 2017

Reviews for IJRP articles in search of usable information

The Invisible Rules of Role-Playing The Social Framework of Role-Playing Process by  Markus Montola (2010) found in issue #1 International Journal of Role-Playing available free online.

The goal of this paper sends a red flag to me immediately. It is building a structural framework for further studies. That to me is code to 'this is something I'm making up' and others can use this made up thing as proof or evidence.

It says that RPGs are interactions and changing a imaginary world which I agree.

I disagree with the second point that there is a hierarchy of power to define the world within the participants. The word 'define' is used strangely almost point towards a GM and player hierarchy found in the examples of the definitions. I think that this wrongly assumes a GM and player relationship. For example, in solo RPGs, there is only one participant. The 'defined', though I would say 'influencing', force comes from an oracle - not a GM participant.

I agree with the third point for participant (though I would not pluralize participants) as personification of character constructs as well.conforming to the world and contents.

In fact, directly following these three statements, the author says "possible roles...player, game master..."

I also reject option (ii) in that although it says 'often' that it is reinforcing the word 'game master'. Game master shouldn't be mentioned, rather some other generic word for influencing force. If it said something less hierarchical, I would have accepted it.

Option (iii) reinforces player ruleset and again uses 'often' for 'quantifiable'. I don't think people will remember the 'often'. Rather they might focus on the 'quantifiable' part of the definition.

I entirely reject option (iv) as once again reinforcing the power hierarchical framework.

The quoted t1 promotes verbal communication without mentioning nonverbal games.

LARP and computer roleplaying game information looks okay.

For some reason, the author once again tries to reinforce 'rules'.

For some reason, the author divides goals into two types, calling one type a part of 'exceptional' games. I believe that statement is leading to some critical judgement to reinforce narrative games. In fact, the author gives as example three games, so the author is reinforcing those games indirectly as 'exceptional'

The article could use the word 'plot' but instead tries to use 'diegesis'.  That makes part of the article less understandable to the public using uncommon jargon. If you mean 'plot', then write 'plot' or the at least 'narrative'.

Now it goes into further reinforcement of re-defining the world due to the hierarchical power.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I reject the structure presented on grounds of solo roleplaying games as evidence against this structural framework opinion and any opinion that relies upon the problematic language of hierarchy, plot, and focus on rules.

The structure is highly problematic and insufficient to explain all RPGs. Qualifying the framework with the word 'often' isn't helpful. The entire article should have specified 'GM RPGs' and not 'role-playing process' nor even 'social roleplaying' when cooperative play lacks GMs.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Myth #1: Blood and Water - Begin

Myths Series
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths
Mythology: How they are created

This is a creation story somewhat similar to the Japanese creation story. It continues from the initial myth of the immense skeleton Hewhoshestes floating in the endless void. The maggots having consumed the ancient being's flesh crawl towards the world. The skeleton dips a quill into a bottle with the ink of life (blood) and and upon the scroll begins to create.

Myth #1: Blood and Water - Begin




Blood dripping from the sky.

Falling into a pool of water. Simmering and stirring.

Sparkling bubbles rising to air.

From within the pool, the blood condenses. 

Formless becomes form. Stillness into movement. 

The blood of the ancient one, grandfather bones.

Life awakes, or transforms, or becomes.

From blood and water, it begins.


Blood  and Water - Begin 
© 2017 Ken Wickham

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Starting a series of reviews for IJRP articles in search of usable information

I wanted to start a series trying to find practical uses for the material found in the International Journal of Roleplaying

The Many Faces of Role-Playing Games by Michael Hitchens and Anders Drachen
This spends 7 pages trying to define roleplaying game using several definitions. Next it uses 4 pages to look at several specific forms of RPGs: tabletop/pen and paper, systemless, live-action, single player digital, massively multiplayer, freeform, and pervasive. It then covers 5 common features of a RPG in 3 pages.

I'm not sure how this would be used. It is too long to be used effectively. And there is a slight danger of using it prescriptively to categorize what 'is' or 'isn't' a roleplaying game. If this were reduced to the essence, it might be useful maybe in two pages. There is about 17 too many pages to make the point.

These pages will be archived in on a page where all of the reviews can be found.
http://worldofthefifthsun.blogspot.com/p/practical-information-from.html

Talking Heads

"Talking Heads"
by Ken Wickham, © 2017

Sometimes "talking heads" just talk.

Talking, talking, non-stop.

Come, come let's take a walk.

I can't. I mustn't. I need to talk, talk, talk.


based on a true encounter with several talking heads.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Using JAGS for fantasy Power Level and race and species creation

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS
JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures
JAGS melee reach
JAGS: Difficulty Modifiers in more common language
JAGS: dice rolling: Skills, Attributes, Resistance, degrees of success
Using JAGS for fantasy Power Level and race and species creation

JAGS wild west bestiary

I wanted to collect a bunch of page numbers that are useful for JAGS fantasy games. I'm doing so for both a record for me for easier location and for anyone wanting to create species, races, and creatures. I'll then in the next post maybe try to recreate the basic fantasy races from the 1st edition into the JAGS Revisied edition, to make using them easier.

JAGS Revised References

Character Points and Archetype Points
JAGS allows several different degrees of power within the game. These levels of power are found in JAGS Revised on p 27.

JAGS Fantasy p 1 has some similar notes. In it it mentions 8 points is the normal amount for building races/species. 24 points would be a powerful race/species.

If I combined the two charts what would it look like?

The fantasy book mentions that the power levels are Basic Points (BP) and the races are Fantasy Power Points (PP). So I've equated:

Basic Points (BP) to Base Character Points (CP)
Power Points (PP) to Archetype Points (AP)

JAGS Fantasy and JAGS Revised Point systems

J Fantasy BPJ Revised CP
Beginner (High school)30 BP30 CP
Inexperience but competent50 BP50 CP
Experienced adventurer75 BP75 CP
Heroes100 BP100 CP
Greater Heroes150 BP150 CP
J RaceJ Race PPJ Revised AP
Beginner (High school)Minor traits4 PP0 to 8 AP
Inexperience but competentBasic race w/ minor item8 PP8 AP
Experienced adventurerPowerful race w/ unusual powers12 to 16 PP8 to 16 AP
Heroes16 AP
Greater HeroesReally powerful fantasy race24 PP16 to 48 AP


JAGS Omnibus References

Note of that Innate Powers are used to build races JAGS Omnibus p 47.

Notes on building races pp 49 to 50
Innate Power details pp 51 to 126

Overview p 51
Body types pp 52, trait list 71 to 75

Body sizes pp 60, size list 76 to 78
Natural attacks pp 65
Animal traits pp 79 to 83
Body powers pp 84 to 89
Strength p 90
Speed p 91
Appearance/Social p 92
Bio Defense pp 93 to 99
Bio Weapons pp 99 to 113
Movement pp 114 to 118
Defensive Innate pp 118 to 120
Senses and Perceptions pp 120 to 122
Limbs p 123
Mutations pp 123 to 125
Weaknesses pp 125 to 126

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Mythology: Why and how myths are created

Myths Series
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths
Mythology: How they are created

In the first post, I looked at the definitions followed by quotes from the late scholar Joseph Cambell concerning myths. In the last post, I looked at several types of myths and how they function in societies. In this post I begin using a thread from the last posts concerning mythical heroes. How do heroes come to be.

There are explanations of how myths of great heroes come to be.
  1. Based on a few truths and real experiences of real life people, whose stories are exaggerated (hyperbole) and change over time through oral retelling and alterations.
  2. Mythical beings are allegories (metaphors, symbols) of real natural phenomena.
  3. Mythical heroes are personifications of inanimate objects or forces.
  4. Myths and rituals arise together. Myths explain and support rituals.
From a mythology stand point some heroes were real people, some are allegories, some personifications, and some arose in hand with rituals. Heroes play an important part in society as mentioned in the last post for helping to bring meaning to life, serve as examples, and justify cultural activities to name a few from the last post.

I assume that if there were no real people to serve as examples for the myths that fictional represented heroes can take the place of real people. Why did these myth stories become good mediums for ancient and modern people to transmit the stories?

Why are myths good mediums for transmitting knowledge?

1.Easy to remember in an illiterate society in which ideas cannot be written nor read.
2.Approachable and somewhat understandable by people of any level of intelligence, including people for whom a philosophical discourse would be incomprehensible.
3.Stimulating to the imagination and feelings, where the effect can be more profound and life-changing than that from intellectual comprehension.

http://www.mythome.org/mythII.html

In a time when books were rare or non-existent, stories preserve ancient knowledge. The mythical stories are many times entertaining and envoke feelings which may be understandable to less educated as well as highly educated people. The myths of old were the movies, TV shows, and dramas of the common people of the past. They were the comic and manga books.

Along with the functions and types of myths, how can I understand by interpreting myths? This sort of mixes up all of the proceeding lists and summarizes it 12 perspectives.

Ways to Interpret Myths

1.  As a belief system.
2.  As disguised history.
3.  As disguised philosophy or allegory.
4.  As fables illustrating moral truths.
5.  As allegories of natural events.
6.  As pre-scientific explanation.
7.  As charters for customs, institutions, or beliefs.
8.  As religious power, or metaphors for the unknown.
9.  As expressions of religious rituals.
10.  As examples of psychological archetypes.
11.  As stories.
12.  As embodying irreconcilable structural conflicts in social systems.

http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/ways.htm

Now knowing why myths are created, how can I create a myth?

I found a simple process found in wiki-how. These instructions give more specific keys into helping to craft a myth, together with all of the prior points kept in mind.

How to create mythology

  1. Decide where you want your myth to be set.
  2. Start to create your characters. 
  3. Understand the conventions of myths in the culture you are created; most are passed down orally 'by speech' and this means they have features of speech, such as repetition 'Fee, Fi, Fo Fum...' or the rule of three
  4. Come up with appropriate names.
  5. Don't make it overly complicated, at least initially.
  6. End your story with a solution to the question or problem, such as 'And that is how The God (BLANK) Created Rain.'
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Interesting-Mythology

Summary

I think that by now I have a good working frame to try creating a few experimental myths for Aioskoru. All the reading and study can't replace actually creating mythology. In my next posts I will revisit my initial creation myth which is very small.

I'll decide what limits that the mythology will keep and which cultural perspective to begin with initially.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Project RPG & Story

This is the beginning of another scene somewhat similar to the ABS12 stuff that I wrote, rather it is using a Fudge based system mixed with some of my solo gaming stuff. This serves as an exploratory post. I will not show most of the details of the system. Rather I am showing the resulting text in story game results. This story is being made up as I go. I'm not sure where it is beginning or when it will end. I'm testing some new conflict mechanics and dynamics material that I've recently created. I'll probably try doing one scene and then writing a title later, which I will post when it's finished right below this paragraph along with copyright.

"Someone Else"
©2017 Ken Wickham

She stood, back arched and dark hair to her waist across the shadow filled room. Crickets sang in chorus and the gentle warm breeze brought the scent of daisies, roses, and tulips from the backyard garden several floors below.

I couldn't quite see what she was doing. The sound of jingling metal, and several objects clicking added to the cricket song as she apparently seemed to be looking for something in her bag.

The musky scent of bodies that had rubbed together still mixed with the floral breeze. I took in a few warm breaths to try calming my pulse wiping away my damp brow.

From her, I heard a few clicks like the sound of her pumping a perfume or some sort of body spray.

"We're good together," I finally say now that my strength had returned.

"A lot of people are good together," she said now fanning the air, sitting down at the oak chair at small desk where her purse lay atop.

Even though I had felt recovered and refreshed, something in the tone of her voice and the seriousness of her reply caused my lungs to tighten. A few seconds later my body seemed to then spread an uncomfortable second wave of heat. A few more droplets trickled down my arm.

Why do I -.

I took in a forced breath. One that hurt my lungs as much as it relieved my need for air.

Looking towards her, she now was sitting back in the chair looking up at the ceiling. I could see the shadow of her open mouth which slightly moved forward and backward. Then some oriental scent finally reached me, which felt like a key unlocking some old rusty lock on a guarded chest tucked in some attic of some cobweb filled house.

Naomi, although of Asian descent, had lived her entire life here.

I thought she was into me. Yes, before I had thought I was even lucky she knew my name.

She seemed entirely different than her mother.

"Is your mother doing better," I said.

She let out a long audible breath. "My mother ... my mother - I don't want to talk about my mother."

A sense of discontent entered me like an ocean wave. She was hard to read. I thought I was finally connecting with her.

I reached up and placed my hand on the mahogany headboard. I like the feel of something sturdy. It seems like the solid wood is something that I can rely on, trust, and is dependable. Unlike...

"You should find someone that will love you in return," she said.

Someone?

She hadn't had the best luck herself. "Who do you want to be with? Huh." I knew she had trouble in her past relationships.

I could tell that her head had now turned was now looking at me since I could see the shadows of her ears slightly sticking out from her head.

"Someone else," she simply said.

I don't know if I would have ever written that scene in any of my stories. The game mechanics pushed me to write this pushing me sideways and creating characters that I may have never created. Part of the interest was for me finding out what I was actually writing about near the end of the scene.

Fun stuff. 

I'll take my notes, look things over, tweak it, and maybe add some things.

Myths: Types and functions

Myths Series
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths

In the last post, in Joseph Cambell's quotes, he brings up some interesting topics. Dreams vs myths, truth, poetry, symbols, and supernatural beings are a few of the topics he brings to the myth conversation.

Are there different types of myths?

I spend some of this post exploring this question

Types of Myths

(from In The Global Myths, by Alexander Eliot) 

  1. Primitive myths which were generally stories about nature, as told by shamans. 
  2. Pagan myths which were like the Greek and Roman tales of the interplay between deities and humans
  3. Sacred myths as in the stories from current eastern and western religions such as Christianity and Hinduism. 
  4. Scientific myths Credos, rather than hypothesis carefully tested for fit with empirical evidence. 
Okay so Eliot categorized these myths into four types. I've put in bold the key words that I find usesful: nature, deities & humans, religions, and science. I see these as broad categories. Myths cross the lines of science, nature, religion, and explanations of the powers of the universe.

Summarizing all of these, I could say that myths help explain the natural world in absence of science and explains religious and cultural deities relationships with humans.

and from David Adams Leeming's The World of Myth
  1. Cosmic myths including narratives of the creation and end of the world
  2. Theistic myths portraying the deities
  3. Hero myths with accounts of individuals such as Achilles and Jesus
  4. Place and object myths describing places such as Camelot, and objects such as the Golden Fleece
http://www.mythome.org/mythII.html

Leeming categorized myths into specific categories of creation & end of the world, deities, heroes, and place & objects. This categorization covers more the substance and content of the myths - the main cast, time, places, and objects of the myths. He uses 'narratives', 'portraying', 'accounts', and 'describing' all in similar ways for each of the content. Basically myths tell of imaginary people, events, places, things, or ideas. Imaginary in that there is no direct evidence that the accounts are correct or entirely true.

After looking at some types of myths I also want to look at another question. What are the functions of myths? Are they just stories? Or how do these stories bring meaning to our lives?

What are the functions of myths


  1. Myths grant continuity and stability to a culture.
  2. Myths present guidelines for living.
  3. Myths justify a culture's activities.
  4. Myths give meaning to life.
  5. Myths explain the unexplained.
  6. Myths offer role models.
http://www.mythome.org/mythII.html

Myths are cultural and useful to transmit knowledge on living. They help to bring meaning to cultural groups over a long period of time. They help to explain things that evidence cannot explain.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Joseph Cambell : Myths

Myths
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)
Joseph Cambell : Myths

Next I will show some quotes from the famous mythology scholar Joseph Cambell.


The Hero with a Thousand Faces

"In the absence of an effective general mythology, each of us has his private, unrecognized, rudimentary, yet secretly potent pantheon of dreams. "
― Joseph CampbellThe Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

"Dream is personalized myth, myth is depersonalized dream; both myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamics of the psyche. But in the dream the forms are quirked by the peculiar troubles of the dreamer, whereas in myth the problem and solutions shown are directly valid for all mankind."
― Joseph CampbellThe Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

"Centuries of husbandry, decades of diligent culling, the work of numerous hearts and hands, have gone into the hackling, sorting, and spinning of this tightly twisted yarn. Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world."


― Joseph CampbellThe Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)


The Power of Myth

“Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth--penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth

“I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I've never met an ordinary man, woman or child.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth

“Heaven and hell are within us, and all the gods are within us. This is the great realization of the Upanishads of India in the ninth Century B.C. All the gods, all the heavens, all the world, are within us. They are magnified dreams, and dreams are manifestations in image form of the energies of the body in conflict with each other. That is what myth is. Myth is a manifestation in symbolic images, in metaphorical images, of the energies of the organs of the body in conflict with each other. This organ wants this, that organ wants that. The brain is one of the organs.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth

“Myth basically serves four functions. The first is the mystical function,... realizing what a wonder the universe is, and what a wonder you are, and experiencing awe before this mystery....The second is a cosmological dimension, the dimension with which science is concerned – showing you what shape the universe is, but showing it in such a way that the mystery again comes through.... The third function is the sociological one – supporting and validating a certain social order.... It is the sociological function of myth that has taken over in our world – and it is out of date.... But there is a fourth function of myth, and this is the one that I think everyone must try today to relate to – and that is the pedagogical function, of how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth

“Eternity isn't some later time. Eternity isn't even a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off.... the experience of eternity right here and now, in all things, whether thought of as good or as evil, is the function of life.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth

“The idea of the supernatural as being something over and above the natural is a killing idea. In the Middle Ages this was the idea that finally turned that world into something like a wasteland, a land where people were living inauthentic lives, never doing a think they truly wanted to because the supernatural laws required them to live as directed by their clergy. In a wasteland, people are fulfilling purposes that are not properly theirs but have been put upon them as inescapable laws. This is a killer.... The spirit is really the bouquet of life. It is not something breathed into life, it comes out of life. This is one of the glorious things about the mother-goddess religions, where the world is the body of the Goddess, divine in itself, and divinity isn't something ruling over and above a fallen nature.... Our story of the fall in the Garden sees nature as corrupt; and that myth corrupts the whole world for us. Because nature is thought of as corrupt, every spontaneous act is sinful and must not be yielded to. You get a totally different civilization and a totally different way of living according to whether your myth presents nature as fallen or whether nature is in itself a manifestation of divinity, and the spirit is the revelation of the divinity that is inherent in nature.” 
― Joseph CampbellThe Power of Myth




Saturday, February 4, 2017

What are myths, legends, and folklore (fable)? Definitions (Quotes)

Myths
Myth making: my plan
What are myths, legends, and folklore? Definitions (Quotes)

I wanted to start with the dictionary definitions comparing myth, legend, and folklore. Also I look for other comments and a comparison of the terms.

Myth

by American Heritage - Myth
1. a. A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society.

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=myth

By PBS - Myth
Myths are stories that are based on tradition. Some may have factual origins, while others are completely fictional. But myths are more than mere stories and they serve a more profound purpose in ancient and modern cultures. Myths are sacred tales that explain the world and man's experience.

In search of Myths & Heroes http://www.pbs.org/mythsandheroes/myths_what.html

By wikipedia - Myth
The word "myth" is derived from the Greek word mythos (μῦθος), which simply means "story"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth

A myth is a story based on tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning. A myth 'conveys a truth' to those who tell it and hear it

http://myths.e2bn.org/teachers/info311-what-are-myths-legends-and-folktales.html


Legend

by American Heritage - Legend
1.a. An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.

b. A body or collection of such stories.

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=legend

A legend is a semi-true story, which has been passed on from person-to-person and has important meaning or symbolism for the culture in which it originates.

http://myths.e2bn.org/teachers/info311-what-are-myths-legends-and-folktales.html

Folklore

by American Heritage - Folklore
1. The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.
2. The comparative study of folk knowledge and culture. Also called folkloristics.

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=folklore

A folktale is a popular story that was passed on in spoken form, from one generation to the next. Usually the author is unknown and there are often many versions of the tale. Folktales comprise fables, fairy tales, old legends and even 'urban legends'.

http://myths.e2bn.org/teachers/info311-what-are-myths-legends-and-folktales.html

Fable

by American Heritage - Fable
1. A usually short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing as characters animals that speak and act like humans.

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=fable

A fable's emphasis is on a "moral." Examples include Aesop's fables, such as the stories of the tortoise and the hare, and the fox who complained about "sour grapes."

http://www.mythome.org/mythII.html

Comparison

Fact to Meaning Continuum
Historical account      Legendary Occurrence      Mythical Event  Folktale based on cultural truth
Fact   <                            ----                                   >     Meaning

Myth vs Fable
Fable                                                                                   Myth
Morality  <                             ---                                   >  world issues and functions

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Myth making: my plan

Myths
Myth making: my plan

I wanted to begin a series covering how to make myths.

I'm not sure how much information is already available on such subject.


  1. So first, I might do some posts trying to establish comments covering the stuff that I can find available on the internet.
  2. Based on what I find, I might begin experimenting with different methods and suggestions.
  3. Based on the experimentation results I might assemble a system if possible or at least a collection of tools.
  4. Finally, I will use whatever made to help create Aioskoru mythology as needed.