Terve!
It's Jyri, Conifer's resident lorebeard.
Versebound is participating in the Myths & Legends Steam sale, so it felt appropriate to enlighten the uninitiated a bit on the mythology our game is based on; Kalevala.
Here's the link to the sale page: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/mythsandlegendssales
Short history lesson to start off:
Kalevala was compiled in the first half of the 19th century when Finland was developing its national identity. An author called Elias Lönnrot spent years collecting and recording poems from the oral tradition of numerous towns in Karelia and modern eastern Finland. These all he combined into a coherent epic by combining elements, altering details and bridging some gaps with his own writing.
The end result is still considered a definitive cornerstone of Finnish national identity and notably influenced elements of Tolkien's construction of the Middle-Earth mythology! I feel the Karelian contribution to this is largely unknown or easily forgotten, hence my insistence we market the setting as "Fenno-Karelian". Anyway!
The Defence of the Sampo (Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1896)
In the world of Kalevala, singing is power. Wounds can be healed, combat won, even life can be created if you're a mighty singer and know the right lyrics to pray with. When the old sage Väinämöinen cuts his knee open with an axe, he desperately goes door to door seeking someone who knows the magic words to sing his wound shut. In exchange, he sings him the origin story of iron. Another time Väinämöinen clashes with the dead giant Vipunen slumbering underground for his long lost lyrics on how to enter the Kalevalan world of the dead, Tuonela safely.
Kullervos Curse (Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1899)
Knowledge may thus be power, but that doesn't mean the characters are all wise and reasonable. Joukahainen is a cocksure youth whose blustering and envy ends up with a watery end for his sister. Kullervo is the end result of childhood spent in abuse and slavery; an unstoppable ball of anger issues and bloodlust, bringing ruin to his family and only finding peace at the end of his own sword. Even Väinämöinen, the "steadfast old sage" has his blunders; the hubristic horny old man can't take a hint when a young lady says no to marriage until she joins the fish and mermaids.
Joukahainen's Revenge (Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1897)
What else? Every animal and plant has a progenitor-mother called Emuu you would pray for help when dealing with their offspring, pains we're caused by a goddess of pain either boiling people's pains in a black pot or milling them on a stone, the firmament (aka dome of heaven) is like a giant pot lid that the legendary blacksmith Ilmarinen crafted to hold up and form the sky of our world... The stories in Kalevala and our folklores are endless.
The Aino Triptych (Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1891)
This game has been a great excuse for me to spend a lot of valuable gamedev time researching these tales and they still keep delighting and sparking my imagination. If even a fraction of that inspiration shines through and leaves you with an appreciation for the setting, I will consider Versebound a textual success!