Submitted by Disposable_Hero on Sun, 06/20/2004 - 11:15
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Came across an interesting little article here, I'm tempted to use some of it in the game and...well...read for yourself:
http://miaminewtimes.com/issues/1997-06-05/feature.html/1/index.html
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The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
That has to be one of the most facinating things I have read in a long time. And it strikes right to the heart of what we are doing here. I'd like in on some of that action too...
I can see transplanting the Miami mytology to LA and having a field day with Bloody Mary and her demonic army... very cool.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Damn thats pretty cool, would make a great season!
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Actually this concept has been used already. The book Mad Maudlin by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edgehill, uses the myths of a group of homeless children (including Bloody Mary) as an element in it's story.
Merceds Lackey does quite a lot of work for homeless children. Their plight has shown up in a number of her 'Urban Elves' books (Of which Mad Maudlin is one) Presumably she ran across the same story and felt it sufficiently interesting to incorporate it.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Yup :D
Me and Shaun have already talked about doing something on it for midseason.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
The "Blue Lady" reminds me of the Blue Fairy that Haley Joel Osment's character in A.I. sought out to make him a real boy. Just being able to see her was comforting to him.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Woah, that article hit close to home. Sent chills down my spine; religion is a touchy issue with me.
But it's a good article, and I'm feeling inspired. Funny thing is, my plans for midseason involved a little girl, but nothing big was to happen with her. Guess I'm changing them now :wink:
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
The 'Blue Lady' if she is indeed the deity Yemana, is a Goddess that is revered by thousands of people in my country. Here she's called Iemanjá, but its the same. Have you seen the movie 'Women on Top'? Well, its the same one too.
The cult to Iemanjá is part of a religion called Yoruba, that was brought by the negros that came from Africa as slaves. It's followed, with differences, of course, by millions of people in Brazil, Uruguay, and the Caribbean. In Uruguay the cult is called 'Umbanda', but we have our Macumba (black magic Umbanda, similar to Vodoo) too. It's not strange to find objects made of black feathers or wax in the street, and something i learnt when i was very little was not to take a wrapped gift i could find in the street, as if dropped by accident. It may contain a 'macumba' and be something bad somebody is taking from himself by passing it to another - that would be me if i happened to 'open' the gift :wink:.
If you are planning on using some of the ideas of the article, you'll find it useful to learn about Iemanjá. She appears in Yoruba, Candomblé, Santería, Umbanda, Macumba and other derivates from the same religion root. But all those different 'nuances' from Yoruba, consider Iemanjá a 'good' deity and the ultimate matriarch symbol. She embodies all characteristics of motherhood, caring and love.
Here there are some articles you may want to read. :D Most of these articles mention only Brazil, but all they say applies to Uruguay too.
http://members.aol.com/ishorst/love/Yoruba.html
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/macu.html
http://www.occultopedia.com/m/macumba.htm
And this is the 'Blue Lady' or Iemanjá
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Freaky. I'm working on an anime drawing of The Blue Lady which I made very similar too, only I suck at drawing so... yeah...
Matt, you have no idea how much that article freaked me out. Half an hour ago I tried going to sleep and all I kept thinking aboot was Bloody Mary :? So, I ended up saying "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" for aboot 10 minutes before I decided to go back on the computer.
Thanks a lot, dork :P
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
wow I really diddnet get that... and who is David Kelly anyway lol.
I remember hearing that Bloody Mary mirror thing in grade school. We did it and we failed to be killed by any evil demons as me posting this can attest to. However it freaked the hell out of us that as soon as we did it the door opend and another kid came in lol.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
When I was a kid back in the Middle Ages it was "Black Agnes" and she lived in the woods and kidnapped children to be her slaves.
The Blue Lady is very reminiscent of the "Blue Fairy" from Pinnoccio (and echoed in A.I.) who comes from the sea. The whale (in the book it is a dogfish) that swallows Pinnoccio is her servant.
The "Blue Lady" is also often used to refer to the Virgin Mary as blue is her color. Although this might be an attempt by the Roman Catholics to subvert a local tradition to its uses as it did with Christmas (Yule), Easter, All Hallows (Samhain), and other pagan traditions.
Ally's macumba sounds a lot like Nico's dibbuk - a spirit that is stuck to an item and haunts the owner. Interesting the parallells there.
I am going to break this subthread into its own thread becasue it will be more interesting to discuss it alone, I think.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Not exactly Dave, what i meant by a 'macumba' was a 'work'. Imagine you want to get cured of an illness, for example. The 'Mae' (witch) makes some kind of black magic spell and 'puts' your illness in the package. If you get to open the package you'll fell ill and the one who was sick gets cured. It can be done with a lot of things: bad luck, unfaithfulness, etc. Or at least that's what they say. :wink:
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Ya know, I think there's a meme filter that prevents people from spelling my name correctly. Even those who have seen it in print as Niko or Nikolas spell it Nico, Nicko, Neko, Nikko, Nicco, Nekko, Nicholaus, Nikalos. Guess the point is, it's NIKO, but don't feel bad if you get it wrong. :wink:
Anywho, this is incredible.
As far as the dibbuk/macumba parallels, they are there. As far as I can tell, the dibbuk emerged out of cautionary tales against greed. Now, given the ontologist and memetics theory that thought forms are exactly that (thoughts given active form and life), and tossing in a bit of game world spice, we can see that dibbuks and macumba's are very much related. The thought form, the meme, of greed or the illness' expulsion is given form in the shape of a sentient meme native to the Astral Plane. It is from here they interact with our world, but only within the bounds established by their original concept. As far as I know, evolved memes are different memes. Correct me if I'm wrong on that point.
Secret World
And the context of this "world" established by the Miami homeless makes it entirely plausible within even the established world of LABN. As far as I'm aware, every character here is an adult. There would be no reason for them to be aware of the conflict the children endure until obvious evidence popped up. Also, this would raise a lot of serious issues in gameplay. There's only a handful (ok, two) of RPGs that deal effectively with games of childhood terror, and no matter how high the fantasy, the caul of what you're really talking about is always hanging over it all.
I guess my point is that this world could prove very rewarding and fruitful. A season (or sub-season) based on childhood horror mythologies could be incredible (I've played a game or two of Little Fears). We just need to be careful about who we let into the story arch, establish a comfort level, and make sure everyone involved can work within it.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Don't worry, Niko. Those involved in buidling this story arch is working out the kinks, to make sure it fits into the folklore and the game atmosphere :D
I also drew the mad awesome Anime drawing of The Blue Lady today. Unfortunatly, I don't have a scanner, so I can't get it on here :cry: Ah well, I'll figure out something.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
When (NOT IF GODDAMMIT!) I'm able to post with more regularity than just between essays, I'd love to get involved as at least a part of it.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Groovy :) But we've got until midseason yet at the earliest.
Also, Cole and Kyle aren't adults ;)
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
I so want to be involved! + Midseason should be when I get to be active again.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
lol well if SO many people want to be involved...dare I mention a Season storyline possibility?
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
hmmm...a definite possibility I would think...i'd like in on it too, if that's the case...
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Right, but they are teenagers. As far as the children's myths, horrors, and legends bit goes, 13 is typically the terminal edge. For an idea on what's been done with the idea in a game sense already, check out http://www.key20.com/littlefears/. It's a RPG entirely dedicated to just this idea.
The Blue Lady/Bloody Mary
Good point.
Ohh...looks freaky. And groovy :)