The Kalethulu

[Swatopluk]

Here the condensed contents of the saga in (as of yet not checked by native speaker) Icelandic:

Örhandar Saga – innihaldlýsing

Þórgeir er járnsmiður í Byrkjedal. Hann selur býlið sitt og gengur til Uxavaðs. Þarna verður hann fylgismaður ungs jarls sem heitir Jógvan. Fjórir hersar skippuleggja að ráðast Uxavað. Þó að jarl er færri að tölu vinnur hann bardagann. Þórgeir verður sært á hendi og tekur upp gælunafn Örhönd. Hann giftir Þórbjörgu systur Hamðis bátasmiðs. Þeir flytja á Málang í norðri og fá són sem Þeir kalla Óttar. Óttarr verður kaupmaður og skipseigandi. Hann ferðast til fjarlægra lönd, giftir völvuna Aasu og setjast í Englandi. Þeir fá dóttur sem Þeir kalla Gerði.
En Aasa er ekki bara völva heldur líka vond seiðkona. Óttarr drepur hana til að bjarga dótturina frá henni. Hann giftir aftur konu sem heitir Ása. Þeir fá són sem hann kallar Ólrik en Ása deyr víð fæðingu.
Vikingar ráðast bæ og Óttarr verður drepið í einvígi með svikum. Gerður aetla að hefna sín á morðingjunum. Hún vekjur upp drauginn Ásu sem hún heldur að vera móðurinn sin. Ása útskýrir henni sannleikann. Gerður smiður vopn og drepur draugurinn Aasu en sál seiðkonu hefur tekið líkamann Ólriks. Gerður ferðast tíl Noregs með bróðurinn sina. Hún finnir gyðju (prestinn) Þúlarins (guðdómur vont) sem er sálutvíburinn Aasu og drepur hana. Guðdómur vont sækur sálarnar sínar. Gerður gengur til býlisins föðurforeldranar sinna. Hún deyr barnlaus kerling.

[Swatopluk]

OK, here it is again after my Icelandic teacher checked it for errors.

Örhandar Saga – innihaldlýsing

Þórgeir er járnsmiður í Byrkjedal. Hann selur býlið sitt og gengur til Uxavaðs. Þar verður hann fylgismaður ungs jarls sem heitir Jógvan. Fjórir hersar skipuleggja að ráðast á Uxavað. Þó að jarl sé færri að tölu vinnur hann bardagann. Þórgeir særist á hendi og tekur upp gælunafnið Örhönd. Hann giftist Þórbjörgu systur Hamðis bátasmiðs. Þau flytja á Málang í norðri og eignast son sem þau kalla Óttar. Óttarr verður kaupmaður og skipseigandi. Hann ferðast til fjarlægra landa, giftist völvunni Aasu og setjast þau að í Englandi. Þau eignast dóttur sem þau kalla Gerði.
En Aasa er ekki bara völva heldur líka vond seiðkona. Óttarr drepur hana til að bjarga dótturinni frá henni. Hann giftist aftur konu sem heitir Ása. Þau eignast son sem hann kallar Ólrik en Ása deyr víð fæðingu.
Vikingar ráðast bæinn og Óttarr verður drepinn í einvígi með svikum. Gerður ætlar að hefna sín á morðingjunum. Hún vekur upp draug Ásu sem hún heldur að sé móður sín. Ása útskýrir fyrir henni sannleikann. Gerður smíðar vopn og drepur draug Aasu en sál seiðkonunnar hefur tekið yfir líkama Ólriks. Gerður ferðast til Noregs með bróður sínum. Hún finnur gyðju (prestinn) Þúlarins (vondur guðdómur) sem er sálutvíburi Aasu og drepur hana. Guðdómur vont sækir sálirnar sínar. Gerður gengur til býlis föðurforeldra sinna. Hún deyr barnlaus kerling.

Thorgeir ist Schmied in Byrkjedal. Er verkauft seinen Hof und geht nach Uxavað [auf Stavanger-Halbinsel in Westnorwegen]. Dort wird er Gefolgsmann des jungen Jarls, der Jógvan heißt. Vier Hersen planen, Uxavað zu überfallen. Obwohl der Jarl zahlenmäßig unterlegen ist, gewinnt er die Schlacht. Thorgeir wird an der Hand verwundet und nimmt den Spitznamen Narbenhand an. Er heiratet Thorbjörg die Schwester des Schiffsbauers Hamdir. Sie ziehen nach Malangen im Norden [in Troms-Provinz in Nordnorwegen, im Mittelalter Teil von Hålogaland] und bekommen einen Sohn, den sie Ottar nennen. Ottar wird Kaufmann und Schiffseigner. Er reist in ferne Länder, heiratet die Seherin Åse und läßt sich in England nieder [an der Themse im Raum Oxford]. Sie bekommen eine Tochter, die sie Gerdr nennen. Aber Åse ist nicht nur eine Seherin sondern auch eine böse Hexe. Ottar erschlägt sie, um die Tochter vor ihr zu retten. Er heiratet wieder (und zwar) eine Frau, die Ása heißt. Sie bekommen einen Sohn, den er Olrik nennt, aber Ása stirbt während der Geburt.
Wikinger überfallen den Ort, und Ottar wird im Zweikampf durch Verrat getötet. Gerdr will an den Mördern Rache nehmen. Sie beschwört den Draugr (Toten-Geist) Ásas, die sie für ihre Mutter hält. Ása erzählt ihr die Wahrheit. Gerdr schmiedet eine Waffe und tötet den Draugr Åses, aber die Seele der Hexe hat den Körper Olriks übernommen. Gerdr reist mit ihrem Bruder nach Norwegen. Sie findet die Priesterin Thulurs (eine böse Gottheit)[in Thugela am Kilpisjärvi-See], die der Seelenzwilling Åses ist, und tötet sie. Die böse Gottheit holt ihre Seelen ab. Gerdr geht zum Hof ihrer Großeltern. Sie stirbt kinderlos in hohem Alter/als alte Frau.

[Swatopluk]

Here is the list of major characters with approximate life span. I may have to add a few minor ones* for which I lack birth an/or death dates because those are irrelevant to the story. The four characters at the bottom are contemporary real persons that either appear in or otherwise influence the story (time on throne marked by different colour.
In the case of Aase and the Thulargydja dates of birth are naturally unknown, for Aase estimated time of first recorded appearance is marked.

*Aelfthryd(born ~884), Andswaru(born ~908), Cearo(born 910)

[Swatopluk]

And here I have the provisional cast of characters.
Not perfect in all cases. I especially wish I had found a better Ottar.
In some cases the type is right but not the age (Játvarður should be about ten years older and Haförn about 5).
I left out two characters that are named but do not appear personally (due to being dead at the time they are mentioned first), Jógvan the Elder and Hrækráka.

[Swatopluk]

Start of the year report:

I managed to type all the stuff I had already written by hand.
Current state: 1500 lines of text, close to 21000 words.
No end in sight. Actually, the end(s) have been written but huge chunks in-between are still not even on paper, and extra episodes pop up regularly.
But as far as I can see, no new important characters will have to be introduced*, so the casting list attached to the previous post (with pictures!!!!) looks complete.

New Year's Resolution: finish by next New Year

*not that all got their introductory texts already written

[Swatopluk]

Current state: 2222 lines of text. Still no end in sight.

[Swatopluk]

I have crossed 3000 lines of text (typed).
Already there are several new handwritten pages not yet typed.
For those interested (and versed in German) here is the current state

[pieces o nine]

Wow -- 60 pages!

[Swatopluk]

And there are still large gaps. There were a lot of elements I did not plan originally or otherwise got out of hand. E.g. I had no idea that I would send a character originally introduced as a mere in-joke round the Barents Sea (and over several pages) just to give him credentials as a skilled sailor and establishing his principled loyalty.

[Swatopluk]

Again I have fallen way behind with typing the handwritten stuff. The plot is still expanding and I had to come up with some more backstory (unlikely to be told) just to get personal relations sorted out in my head.

I have updated the family trees. Due to Aase's repeated soul transfers the direct blood tie to the (unaging) Thúlargydhja does not show anymore because it would be many generations in the past and it would be futile to come up with names. The family tree connecting Gizur and Hrafn has a deliberate bird theme, fit for the seafaring and (sometimes shady) trading traditions.

[pieces o nine]

An impressive undertaking!

[Swatopluk]

And the family trees are again incomplete because I have added Haförns ancestry on his mother's side. That became necessary since I had to add another full double episode to the Saga. I made the mistake of watching a documentary about the Lofoten islands which gave me the info about a large chieftain hall discovered in Borg on Vestvaagoy. This gets unfortunately dated to the exact time period my sage takes place in the same region, so I had to fit it in. Enter the chieftains of Borg and their rivalry with Vágar leading to a marital relationship but also a nasty intra-family feud a generation later.

Here are the current state of the saga and the updated family trees

[Swatopluk]

I have temporarily postponed work on the Örhandar Saga and started doing an epic version of Gerðrs part in it in Nibelungen stanzas
As with the saga I don't do it just from strat to end but in parts that slowly grow together.
Here is the current state (230 stanzas). The PDF Maker totally changed the layout, so it's not 21 as in the .doc but 35 pages.
And it's German naturally .

[RobertMason]

Fragments from the lost epic Kalethulu

DO WANT

Closed the portal, deep the darkness
Age-old evil ever brooding
Like a pressure vessel boiling/ Like a putrid plague boil fest'ring
That may burst at any moment

Elder Signs they seal the portal
For/In/Through strange eons never broken
Lock him in the foe unyielding
Keep us safe while they are holding

I love how you include alternate ways of translating the verses, showing how your work, like real translations, doesn't have a One True Way to read it (and the general ambiguity in some words when you try to translate them).

For those interested:

Interested!

Kalethulu is a contraction of Kall ef Thulu or Kalli Thulu and is derived from Islandic Kall (= Call, Calling, Vocation) and either Þulur (=Speaker, Narrator) or Þula (=song, verse). So it means either Call of the Story-Teller or The Call of Poetry (in very free translation maybe even Siren Song).

No allusion to a certain Finnish piece of literature or the fevered imagination of a Providencial pulp-writer

I like that you include a faux etymology.

Especially since, until I read it, I totally didn't think about the Kalevala and was wondering what this had to do with a Cthulhu made out of kale.

That is Cthulhu
Lord of Giants (or evil powers in general)
Monster/Spawn of stars
Enemy (he is) of mankind
Dead but dreaming
His day will come
Madness rules
But there is no light

I like that you show the writers having to express things outside of their understanding with words that, naturally enough, are designed to express only concepts that exist in their usual paradigm. They don't have anything to convey what Cthulhu and his kind are so they have to go with the closest possible equivalent, giants.

Owl-Terry and the Red Bull

When I have children this is going to be one of their bedtime stories. I'm not joking.

New Year's Resolution: finish by next New Year

Lol.

When you're done with your epic (or even before) I would love to be able to reference it (just name-dropping and/or including excerpts*) as an in-universe work in some of my Lovecraftian stories, if you're interested.

*Just popped into my head that there's an awesome story waiting to be told about the epic being discovered and translated, and what happens after. Some people think that it's a hoax, some people think that it's authentic but a baseless myth, and other people think that it's authentic and with a grain of truth to it. And they go looking for the truth beneath the myths (in part to prove that the epic isn't a hoax).

AND THEN THE SCARY HAPPENED.

Or, alternately, play it straight as a story about scholars battling it out over a newly-discovered epic and the efforts of some to prove it to be true. I mean, not every investigation into some Lovecraftian has to end with the people involved coming across mind-gibbering horrors. Seems to me like it's a combination of determination and (bad) luck that's responsible.

[Swatopluk]

You want some discovery? Since I can't find the thread where I previously linked to it, here it is again: Sketches of the large rune picture stone discovered in Lake Kilpisjärvi* (that's near where Finland, Sweden and Norway have their border triangle).


http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x97/Swatopluk/Kilpisjaervisteinen_C_1.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x97/Swatopluk/Kilpisjaervisteinen_B_1.png
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x97/Swatopluk/Kilpisjaervisteinen_A_2.png

Yes, the writing is non random but the long one has to be decrypted first. The encryption is one that was in actual use for runic inscriptions btw. Iirc the text is in (modern) Norwegian (bokmaal not nynorsk).

*Here is the Salmivaara peninsula in that lake near which the stone was discovered

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2261/2126597758_7af28b57f4_z.jpg?zz=1