Hello and welcome to this weeks Dev Diary! Todays topic will be the mythological and cultural inspiration for the games that are currently under development.

Bare in mind, that there will be similarities to every other pre-christian religion and way of life and I'm fully aware of that. These are written in the perspective of the Finnic peoples.

The Nature of the Gods

"One of the most notable characteristics of the Finnish mythology is the interdependence among the gods. "Every deity", says Castrén, "however petty he may be, rules in his own sphere as a substantial, independent power, or, to speak in the spirit of The Kalevala, as a self-ruling householder. The god of the Polar-star only governs an insignificant spot in the vault of the sky, but on this spot he knows no master."" ~a take from "The Kalevala, by John Martin Crawford, [1888]"

According to the studies and above mentioned depiction of the nature of Finnic Gods, a spirit is considered a God, if it had dominion over some particular thing. Since the star closest to either pole of the earth is seemingly more steady in the sky and all the other stars seem to rotate around it, it makes sense to consider it as a domain of a god. It is highly likely though, that all the hierarchical themes in Finnic mythologies are later Christian and Islamic influences, as the native beliefs around the world were based upon natural phenomenon, which were given their responsible gods and spirits.

Two of the most important Gods were;

Ukko was the "High-God" of the Finnic mythology, a god of the skies, who was responsible for anything that came or was considered to come from the sky; Snow, Hail, Rain, Thunder, Sunshine and Shadows. He is called in The Kalevala "The Leader of the Clouds", "The Shepherd of the Lamb-Clouds", "The God of the Breezes", "The Golden King", "The Silvern Ruler of the Air", and "The Father of the Heavens". Comparable to the Greek Zeus and Norse Thor, he was also considered to be *the thunderer".

Akka was the wife of Ukko, and since Akka means an "Old Lady" or a "Grandmother", it is a fit name for "mother earth" and as such, Akka has dominion over the land and fertility. Not much is known about the specifics of her nature, as she is not mentioned often in Finnic Poems.

All the Gods were necessary for harmony on earth, which makes the native mythologies also a spiritual guideline. 

The Spirits and Creatures

The Finnic mythology has interesting similarities with the Japanese Shinto religion, in that every living and non-living thing had a "soul" and often it's ruler "spirit" and/or God. For example, when ever you were about to cut a tree, you should knock the tree three times with the side of an axe, so that the spirit of the tree could escape the tree and go find a new home, before the tree is cut down. If the bark of the tree was cut before knocking to the tree, the spirit would be wounded and die with the tree, when cut down. By letting the spirit leave the tree, it ensured, by the beliefs of the finnic people, that the forest would continue to thrive.

a Similar example would be the "Peijaiset", of which there is many variations, but here is one example. If the tribe were ever required to kill a Bear, for if it had settled near the peoples lands and posed a threat to their people, they would essentially locate the bears nest, wake the bear for it to have a fighting chance and then brought it down in either one on one, if the person wanted to have personal glory or in a group, to bring it down more safely. The wording "brought it down" holds a more specific meaning, as the bear was not hunted out of malice or ill will, but banished away from the tribes lands, to be born again somewhere else.

After the bear was brought down, it was brought to the town center and in eastern Finland and Karelia, there were wailer's who cried out to the bear as being either one of their ancestor by name or a son of Tapio, the God of the forest. As they considered bears to be their ancestors, their meat was not always eaten, but when ever they did, their village shaman or "tietäjä" would do rituals and recite incantations, after which the meat was considered to be turned into some other animals meat, like Venison. By eating the Bears flesh, it was also believed that doing so consumes the life-force of the bear.

The remaining bones of the bear was then placed next to a ceremonial Pine and the skull of the bear was placed on a branch of the same pine, so that the soul of the bear can find it's way back to heavens and be brought back to life once again. The purpose of the ceremony was to appease the spirit of the Bear, so that it would not bring misfortune to the tribe, as the Bear was the most venerated creation in the nature. Some of the traditional stories of the Baltic Finns tell, that the Bear descended down form the heavens, from the constellation of the Great Bear, in a golden basket, hanging from silver ropes.

Even peoples lands and houses had their guardian spirits and mischievous spirits and creatures, like "Maahinen" (which was a tiny human like creature, that lived underground and could often be mischievous), that might take house in your home, unless you kept your guardian spirit at least content. It was also customary to have a house snake, that was considered to be an avatar of the "spirit of the land", "Maan Haltija" and was to be kept pleased to ensure fortune for the household. 

Conclusion

There would be much more to write about, but it would be wiser to not reveal too much at once. This is why I will end this Dev Diary with the words of Väinämöinen;

"Often I have heard it chanted,
Often heard the words repeated:
"Worthy cataracts and rivers
Never empty all their waters."
Thus the wise and worthy singer
Sings not all his garnered wisdom;
Better leave unsung some sayings
Than to sing them out of season."

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