Mini Break and Sixth Anniversary Celebrations!

[wavewright62]

Oooh, so it was a maahinen.  I like it.

Maahinen does not surprise me. And not only the band troll, but Minna’s Pastor Anne suggest that a sufficiently single minded passion for something may preserve the sanity and focus despite trollification. And teaching science is certainly a sufficient passion. Also the folklore of our world contains lots of instances of beings that will teach you something, if they can be dissuaded from eating you.

That was where I got the motivation for the brass band troll from - that story had been kicking around in my mind for a few years, but more as 'let's get together and play one last time' sob-fest, or 'making a last stand to protect this metaphor for our old lives'.  Neither was working for me.  It wasn't until that element was introduced by the Pastor Anne arc that I could make it work.  What a delightful Auntie!

I don't think that Toivosaari was necessarily the first place they attempted to settle, it just happened to be the last one. 

Kyara - hamina hamina hamina haminamazing image!  Almost sinister.  No clue about the book, though.

[thegreyarea]

Wow Kyara! that's a Raynir I'd like to see! I also have no clue about the book... As for the page...

Spoiler: show

The page is the one about mages, right? (adv.1 p.87)

Well, yes, but since the story is set in Y12, they must have established at the very least some fields on land somewhere

Which makes me think of a really cool post apocalyptic water town made of old boats and various odds and ends, maybe circa Y10-30. I wish I could draw!

I would love to try drawing it for you! The concept makes me remember the pile dwellings that existed in many lakes in the alps (if we use boats instead of stilt houses) and that still exist near many rivers in tropical regions. I've never read anything about those in Finland, but maybe there were some. You surely have plenty of lakes to place them... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_pile_dwellings_around_the_Alps)
I always found than fascinating! (I even have a book about it somewhere...) So if you want we could start by a general plan of the great floating city of Saimaa, and later something  more realistic... If you feel so inclined, that could be the scenery to a story, and we could eventually invite other minnions to illustrate it!

EDIT: I've done a little research and it seems that so far no settlement of that kind has been found in Finland (or Scandinavia)

[Vulpes]

These are all such great stories and pictures! I had a quick glance this morning before a meeting, and have been busy since, but I will claim that I guessed everything correctly right off the bat. Wonderful work, everyone, this makes the break much more bearable.

[JoB]

Let's see whether I can pile some more enigmatic stuff onto y'all ...

#3 A man, his dog, and his harem enter a bar. "What will you have?", asks the barkeeper. "Ice cream for my dog and a small beer for me", the man replies. "... so, just a dozen glasses of water for the ladies?", the barkeeper quips. "Don't be silly", says the man, "in a little while, just one glass will be enough!"

(Yeah, that one should probably go the "really bad jokes" thread. )

(Upon rereading arc 1 page 87, I notice that it says about the Academy of Seiður:
"Anyone who is discovered to have magical powers may enter a training program of their choosing."
"Liar, liar, galdrast-on-fire," Reynir would like to reply ... !)

#4 A man is gardening, wearing nothing but pants and during the night. A guard stands nearby, eyeing the gardener more often than the surroundings.

#5 Another man at work, both arms deep into a trough overflowing with lather and scrubbing away for sheer live as best as his arm-length leather gloves allow him to. A breathing mask is securely fastened to his face, in spite of him being immune.

... I pretty much fail at making any of this funny today, ain't I?

but I will claim that I guessed everything correctly right off the bat.

Oooooh, OK, someone summoned me to pop up with a couple head-scratchers ...

[Annuil]

That was my first thought, but no...

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I was thinking of 585, where they're having language lessons. All those words are there.

Yeah, Vulpes, you’re right... Onni might mess it up a little, since he isn’t on the page about the crew having lessons, but yes, my thought was more about words from different languages (I loooove languages!..)

Wow, Kyara, that’s an amazing Reynir, I wanna see that happening in the comic!
The light and the perspective are really good 
Page:

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I would say it’s the page about mages, page 87, Adventure I

[wavewright62]

Let's see whether I can pile some more enigmatic stuff onto y'all ...

#3 A man, his dog, and his harem enter a bar. "What will you have?", asks the barkeeper. "Ice cream for my dog and a small beer for me", the man replies. "... so, just a dozen glasses of water for the ladies?", the barkeeper quips. "Don't be silly", says the man, "in a little while, just one glass will be enough!"

(Yeah, that one should probably go the "really bad jokes" thread. )

(Upon rereading arc 1 page 87, I notice that it says about the Academy of Seiður:
"Anyone who is discovered to have magical powers may enter a training program of their choosing."
"Liar, liar, galdrast-on-fire," Reynir would like to reply ... !)

#4 A man is gardening, wearing nothing but pants and during the night. A guard stands nearby, eyeing the gardener more often than the surroundings.

#5 Another man at work, both arms deep into a trough overflowing with lather and scrubbing away for sheer live as best as his arm-length leather gloves allow him to. A breathing mask is securely fastened to his face, in spite of him being immune.

... I pretty much fail at making any of this funny today, ain't I?
Oooooh, OK, someone summoned me to pop up with a couple head-scratchers ...

Spoiler: show

#1 A child sitting on the floor of its nursery, waving one teddy bear in each hand over a bunch of smaller, more humanoid, but otherwise unrecognizable action figures. A much more realistic, but slightly transparent and smiling, bear cub is about to hand it yet another teddy. A blackboard on the wall reads "NO INSI DANCE SINCE 12345 DAYS!!" in a child's scribble.

Still dunno.  Closest I can think of is Luonto, with the bear luonto kinda-sorta enabling dominance in the child's game?  Googling "insi dance", I found a medical article with the phrase in it, but it was a misspelling of 'incidence'.  Perhaps this is as well?  But incidence of ...what?... in 1, 2, 3, 4 5 days?

No. 3 - wtf

No. 4 - Scandinavia, warm enough to garden without a shirt on?  So what if it's night, it'll still be light out!  Regardless of the gender of the guard, appreciation may be appropriate.  Oh, no idea of the page, though.

No. 5 - Perhaps the scrubby man has come in contact with a stinky, acidic Kalma.

[wavewright62]

Perhaps a bit inscrutable, but my contribution for the night (experimenting with a brushpen).

[Jitter]

Umh.. Kyara... that Reynir... 

Is it just me or is it somewhat hot in here?

Is the book the Shadowhunter series, City of Bones etc?

[Jitter]

Wave, the page I'm reminded of is (two alternatives actually)

Spoiler: show

The blessed felines? The cats have survived even though the community is gone?

or it could also be the North Dakota cat on p 47 / A1

Grey, this sounds great! The kind of jumble collection of habitations like some of the boat cities of nowadays are is what I had in mind. The movie Waterworld probably has something similar (I've seen it when it was fairly new so... a long time ago ) If you'd like to sketch it, I'd be very happy to comment!

I'm also not aware of such having been historically known here, but when the people realize water offers some protection, it would only make sense to do something like this. It could also be located on some of the other lakes where there are habitations on the world map (Pielinen, Koitere or Oulujärvi near Kajaani). All of these lakes freeze over in the winter and the boats probably get a bit cold So there would be unique features in comparison with the present day boat cities as well as similarties.

There is one stilt house type prehistoric site known in Sweden! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvastra_pile-dwelling

[Róisín]

Jitter, isn’t there something similar to a raft city in Ursula le Guin’s ‘Earthsea’ books? I’m sure I remember a scene where Ged spends Midsummer night celebrating with a Long Dance among the people who live there, dancing from raft to raft through the night.

And also a scene, I think it was in the novel ‘In the Doldrums’ or ‘Boats of the Glen Carrig’ where some of the mostly-abandoned ships had drawn together in a huge patch of weed in the Sargasso Sea. Those were fine tales of horror, one of them providing the inspiration for a young Alfred Hitchcock’s first movie. By the way, if you have never encountered the works of William Hope Hodgson, I recommend him if you like subtle and often maritime Gothic horror.

[wavewright62]

Jitter, both good guesses, but neither was the page I had in mind (even though Grade A cats do appear).

[thegreyarea]

JoB, you really left us scratching our heads! My guess for #3 would be:

Spoiler: show

the beasts, trolls and giants page (Adv.1 P.178). They are all infected, and soon all the harem women living very close would fuse together... (what a dark thought for such a sunny day around here)

Wave, I have no clue, but I do like your drawing!

Jitter, since you like the idea I'll start thinking about that! I've seen that lone example in Sweden, and there's some evidence in Finland of another isolated case, but nothing like the big villages that existed in the alps. There the lakes freeze too, but stilt houses have advantage over boats because they aren't in direct contact with the water. Maybe people would start to build over the boats, or find ways to add insulation in the lower parts... I also remembered Waterworld, but that movie, having an interesting initial premise, irritated me so much with it's almost total absence of logic that I refuse to see it again!
I found two examples of floating villages:
Ko Panyi, in Thailand (https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/05/ko-panyi-thailands-floating-village.html) and 4 in Halong Bay, Vietnam (https://www.halonghub.com/blog/halong-bay-amazing-floating-villages/) The ones in Halong Bay seem to be really floating ones, and not stilt houses
There's also a game (on Steam) that let's you build a raft dwelling. I haven't check it yet to see if it's good or not (https://store.steampowered.com/app/648800/Raft/) Maybe they could make a version with water beasts instead of sharks...
Anyway I'll try something.

Róisín, always good advice coming from you! thanks!

[Jitter]

Grey, wondeful! Thailand also as many floating markets, such as this:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Damnoen_Saduak_Floating_Market

I’m however thinking that perhaps Finns wouldn’t put their dwellings side to side, but rather leave some space to the neighbors. One person / family / clan could and would have their area comprising of several craft, but maybe there would be an open water “canal” between each of these? And then a larger market area (maybe with a larger ship as a meeting space), but living quarters would probably attempt at least some privacy. It’s also added safety both against the Rash and fire. Streets / bridges could be boats set between the areas so that it’s easy to cut access from either side.

[Vulpes]

#3 A man, his dog, and his harem enter a bar. "What will you have?", asks the barkeeper. "Ice cream for my dog and a small beer for me", the man replies. "... so, just a dozen glasses of water for the ladies?", the barkeeper quips. "Don't be silly", says the man, "in a little while, just one glass will be enough!"

I will echo wave's "wtf?" for this one! Edit to add: I forgot you mentioned being unfunny -

Spoiler: show

They're not going to fuse into a giant, are they? O.o

#4 A man is gardening, wearing nothing but pants and during the night. A guard stands nearby, eyeing the gardener more often than the surroundings.

Um. I have absolutely no idea. It's... an image...

#5 Another man at work, both arms deep into a trough overflowing with lather and scrubbing away for sheer live as best as his arm-length leather gloves allow him to. A breathing mask is securely fastened to his face, in spite of him being immune.

I agree with wave's guess on this one.

Oooooh, OK, someone summoned me to pop up with a couple head-scratchers ...

Glad I could inspire...?  :'D

[JoB]

Spoiler: re: #1 • show

Still dunno.  Closest I can think of is Luonto, with the bear luonto kinda-sorta enabling dominance in the child's game?  Googling "insi dance", I found a medical article with the phrase in it, but it was a misspelling of 'incidence'.  Perhaps this is as well?  But incidence of ...what?... in 1, 2, 3, 4 5 days?

Spoiler: show

"Luonto" is correct (the "realistic half-transparent bear cub" is going to interact with the child, which is playing and thus awake, which fylgja supposedly cannot do without becoming an omen of their human's death), but it's not in reference to the info page on luontos.
"Misspelling" is also correct. It's a child, after all. But no, it's nonetheless "12345", not "1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ...".
What does the fact that the luonto's about to interact with the child tell you about the latter?

Spoiler: re: #4 • show

No. 4 - Scandinavia, warm enough to garden without a shirt on?

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You're on to something there. So, where in the post-Rash world do we have "gardens" that defy the local weather/climate?

Spoiler: re: #5 • show

No. 5 - Perhaps the scrubby man has come in contact with a stinky, acidic Kalma.

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One out of three keywords is correct ...

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The blessed felines? The cats have survived even though the community is gone?

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... oh, a cat. I had taken it as the upper part of someone wearing a fez or somesuch, and pondered interjecting "fetchez la vache" ...

JoB, you really left us scratching our heads! My guess for #3 would be:

Spoiler: show

the beasts, trolls and giants page (Adv.1 P.178). They are all infected, and soon all the harem women living very close would fuse together... (what a dark thought for such a sunny day around here)

Spoiler: show

Correct! The actual wording I had for the solution is "(the drinking habits of) beasts, trolls & giants(-to-be)".

... gee, the preview starts to look like I'm working PR for some intelligence agency ...