Dear reader,
Welcome to the March edition of the Undermere Herald - the most trustworthy news source for Undermere and its surroundings.
Since you’re holding this physical newspaper in your hand right now, we’ll assume that you, just like the writing staff here at the Herald, are an avid reader! From the rich tomes of Dickens to the pastoral poems of Wordsworth & Coleridge, the literary arts are a rich well of creative inspiration. This month, we’ll discuss the works that inspire us.
Strange Antiquities’ (Literary) Inspirations
It’s hard to pinpoint specific inspirations for the world of Undermere because we’ve drawn from such a wide range of our interests, and there’s no one clear ‘main’ influence, but we’re going to try and break down some of those inspirations here.
Clearly, there is a Lovecraftian angle, but, like many modern Lovecraft-inspired works, it’s more of a distilled inspiration. Perhaps the main influence here is a board game called Eldritch Horror in which players battle against fearsome entities from other dimensions. The general ‘feel’ of the world, from the story vignettes when you visit locations, to the Dread/Sanity system, certainly takes inspiration from that game.
Other smaller inspirations include Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels who is channeled through the no-nonsense Verona Green. And then there are the green-eyed Draer who are a nod to the blue-eyed Fremen from Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic, Dune.
Keen-eyed observers with a bit of local knowledge will also be able to spot several Lake District-based references, whether that be from local lore such as the witch Long Meg or the skulls of Calgarth Hall, or in the names of people and places, such as Barton Potter, Wainwright Hospital, and Naylor Island.
Can You Guess The Item?
Before we let you go, readers, here’s a little challenge: Strange Antiquities is all about occult artefacts. Here are just a handful of the carefully designed items from the game. One of these is a Shadow Hold, which any Thaumaturge could tell you is for drawing out the manifestation known as Creeping Dark, but can you guess which one?
And can you guess what any of the other items might be used for or what they might be called? You'll have to wait until the game comes out to find out if your guesses were correct!
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