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Hi

I think it would be great if we could shared some of the folklore and legends from around Scandinavia, stories and legends that you have been told or are “common knowledge” in your area, and that could inspire a good Væsen mystery.

I’ll start. I live in the south of Denmark, in Sønderborg, on island Als. On a small island (or perhaps it is a peninsula) Kegnæs, just south of Als, the legend goes that in the 17th century the lord of Kegnæs was particularly cruel and when the farmer were working the fields, the lord would visit the farmers wives and daughters and have his way with them. As time passed more and more the people of Kegnæs starter to have the same features, and people started to refer to them as the “cuckoo of Kegnæs”, because of the way that the cuckoo lays it's eggs in other birds nests.

Here is the story in a bit more detail and .... in danish, but google translate it or something :
“E Kegnæs kukkere
E kukke er det alsiske navn for gøgen og betegnelsen "de Kegnæs kukker" stammer fra tiden under ritmester Wolf Rathlou (fra 1666 til 1684), som havde håndsret over bønderne på halvøen og terroriserede dem i den grad, at mange ligefrem flyttede. Når fogeden havde sendt mændene på arbejde, besøgte ritmesteren døtre og hustruer eller fik dem bragt op til sig på Hjortholm. Disse besøg forblev ikke uden følger og deraf opstod det spøgende navn ovre på Als, fordi gøgen jo lægger æg i andre fugles redder og lader dem om at udruge og opfostre dens unger. ”

I think there is a good Væsen mystery here, perhaps the ghost of the old lord and a cult that somehow continues the lord’s cruel ways to this day.

Please share some of your local folklore and legends, and help inspire other to write great mysteries for Væsen.

Thanks!

Or the lord was, in fact, a troll of sorts, and the kids are changelings. ^^
Good story, anyway. Not living in the North, I can't share any story, but I'm always curious to read anyone else's.

I’ve been reading up on Asbjørnsen & Moe’s collection of fairy tales. They traveled around Norway during the 19th century, collecting fairy tales much like the brothers Grimm. I made our first encounter based on the “kvernknurr”, a Vaesen who lives in mills and by water wheels who have a mouth that could fill a doorway. Unfortunately one of the players (we are all new to RPGs and play on Roll20) Googled “kvernknurren” to see what he could to to banish it


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Folktales

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