Keep An Eye Out, Look Things Up

Have you ever watched a movie or played a video game and saw some creature or some name and thought to yourself, "where did they come up with this!?"  Here's the thing, sometimes they didn't, not all on their own anyways.  Often something else inspired them and acted as a foundation from which to build what they have.  Today I want to urge folks to keep their eyes open and Wikipedia ready, because there is a lot to be learned from seeing the sources from which others draw on.  Not only that, but you can get some insight to what is going on and how a writer makes something unique in their world whether it is a movie, novel, or video game.

The example I have is from an indie video game called Mayan Death Robots.  This game hearkens back to an age where big-battle tanks was the game of choice while the teacher wasn't looking.  They have improved the fun of that game by doing what many such games have done and adding a multitude of weapons to use.  What makes this game stand out is the use of Mayan gods to inspire their characters.  One example is the howler monkey god Hun-Batz.  In a game where you play giant robots trying to kill each other, it is easy to assume that the game makes up these names.  Instead each of them is a god-figure from Mayan mythology.  Looking to those gods and seeing how the game developers made the play style of each, one could come up with quite a pantheon for some jungle people.

Real mythology like this appears everywhere, and video games represent a great way to find this kind of thing.  Even in science fiction game, names are used to represent ships or species because of certain traits that they share.  This may be as simple as using a real world animal or well known mythological creature, like a basilisk, but it often includes those less known.  Please don't assume of course that my exposure to Greek myth and the very basics of Norse mythology should represent all of you.  What I may not recognize may be obvious if you live in a different part of the world.  By the same token though, there will be something you don't recognize as coming from a real-world culture either.

Often I find that there is a certain feel to things when I play a game.  The names are consistent, unique, and seem to have deeper meaning.  It is as if they and their inter-relatedness have been crafted over ages and are well known and developed.  That is the sign of a team who has done their work and crafted something great.  This also represents one of two possibilities of likely scenarios.  The first is that they have drawn on the framework of some set or sets of mythology and created an analog in the game's world.  The other possibility is that there is an expansive, unique universe that has been developed new for us.

Either one of these is a favorable outcome.  If there is a foundation of real world mythology you have the chance to expose yourself and explore that mythology.  You also have the insight of how it was used by someone else, as I have mentioned.  If the mythos is completely new, you have the benefit of being exposed to someone else's work and seeing what they did, how they made it work.  It is something more to draw on, another work in the list of works to look to for inspiration.

What I am suggesting is something pretty simple with a lot of potential.  Once in a while, when you're curious, do a search for something you see in a movie, game, or book.  I find the best way is to type in the name of the thing and "wiki".  Then you can get the wiki page for it within the setting and the Wikipedia page for it if it exists outside the setting too.  And don't just look there, these things pop up everywhere.

I'll leave you with one last example: the veela in Pathfinder's Bestiary 5.  To me this initial seemed as some kind of genie analog, and elemental humanoid variant to help fill the book.  Looking it up I have discovered it to be almost true.  They are different though, coming from Slavik folklore.  The same page that told me this also reminded me that Greek mythology has its various nymphs that hold a similar place.  If you read last weeks re-skinning article you know I like unique take on things for different areas.  Sometimes, mythology does all the work for you.