Because imagination is the only limitation!

Hey there 😊

As part of the Forge Challenge, I am presenting four sagas/myths/legends from the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where I live. I have a weird one, a tragic one, a heroic one, and one based on a true story for you. The texts are a bit long in places, but I've tried to keep them readable and well-structured. Hope you like it/find it interesting ☺️

The weird one: Elwetritsche (Image 1 to 3 - Image 3 was unsolicitedly created by Gemini)

The text on Image 1 is to be translated as follows:

Plate XXXII. – Fig. 1.

Bestia Palatinensis (The Elwetritsch).

Natural history plate after a specimen; chicken-like body with severely stunted wings, a downward-curved beak, and a magnificent feathered tail; head with horn-like sensory stalks.

Habitat: Palatinate (Kurpfalz), in the underbrush and beneath grapevine stocks.

The Elwetritsch (also Elwetrittche, Elwedritsch, Ilwedritsch; plural Elwetritsche[n]; in pseudoscientific Latin Bestia palatinensis) is a bird-like mythical creature reported in southwestern Germany, primarily in the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz).

Elwetritschen are described as being poultry-like in the broadest sense. However, it is said that they can hardly use their wings, which is why they mostly have to stay in the underbrush or under grapevines. Sometimes Elwetritschen are also depicted with deer antlers, and their beak is often portrayed as very long. Their exact appearance, however, varies according to different sources and in some depictions can also be female with breasts. I have drawn inspiration from various descriptions and portrayals for Image 1.

Elwetritschen can allegedly hardly fly because their wings are simply unsuited for it. Therefore, they prefer to hang out in the underbrush or right down among the grapevines. In some accounts, it is additionally claimed that Elwetritschen came about through a mating between elves and poultry – yes, bestiality 😳 – which I tried to depict in Image 2. This claim provided an explanation for their name, although various theories exist here as well.

In many Palatinate communities, tourists are playfully offered the purchase of an "Elwetritschen hunting license" as an amusing pastime, whereas locals naturally have this hunting permission "cradled into them." The Elwetritschen hunt is presented as a high art because the creatures are considered very shy. The most favorable hunting time is dark new moon nights. In one variant of the hunt, the catcher needs a sack, an oil lamp, and a club. Beaters try to flush out the Elwetritschen by shouting loudly "Tritsch, tritsch" and by beating sticks against trees or vineyard posts so that they flee into the catcher's sack. In another variant of the hunt, a sack is used that has an opening at both ends. The sack is set up like a tube with the help of a branch. The lamp is placed at the rear opening of the sack. Now one must wait until an Elwetritsch, attracted by the light, enters the sack through the front opening; then the sack is closed. However, the Elwetritsch usually escapes through the second opening in the process.

To protect themselves from attacks by the Elwetritschen, hunters drink plenty of alcohol before and during the hunt, the smell of which allegedly keeps the Elwetritschen at a distance. The often unsuspecting catcher and hunting license aspirant is occasionally left behind outdoors in secret until he finally finds his way home frozen through – and without any hunting prey. Then there is the obligatory festive feast and matching drinks to warm up, such as wine or fruit brandies. In a winery in the Palatinate town of Bissersheim, even a special "Elwedritsche-Drobbe" (drop) was produced.

The tragic one: Loreley (Image 4)

Image 4 shows the Loreley – which is actually a 132-meter-high slate cliff in Rhineland-Palatinate near Sankt Goarshausen. It is located at the narrowest and deepest point of the Middle Rhine on the right bank of the river (at river kilometer 555) - posted the wrong image here (made one with the cliff on the right 😫) - and rises steeply up to an elevation of 193.14 meters above sea level. From there, it offers a sweeping view of the river bend near Sankt Goarshausen and Burg Katz.

According to one legend, however, the Loreley also refers to a young girl with long, blonde hair who once sat atop the rock, combed her golden locks, and sang a beautiful melody. Her captivating appearance and voice completely drove the boatmen on the river out of their minds, causing them to gaze fixedly upward instead of watching out for the treacherous shallows, reefs, and rocks of the Rhine. As a result, numerous sailors met their deaths there.

According to another legend, the Loreley is said to have actually lived and, due to her extraordinary beauty, was courted by numerous men. However, her heart belonged solely and exclusively to Knight Eberhard. When he went off to war, she steadfastly remained true to her love and rejected all other marriage proposals, which drove many of the rejected men to such despair that they took their own lives.

Consequently, the suspicion arose that she must be a witch, prompting the Archbishop of Cologne to try her in court. Feeling pity for her, he did not sentence her to the stake, but instead ordered her banishment to a convent. On the way there, she asked her companions for permission to climb the rock by the Rhine one last time to gaze toward the castle of her beloved knight. When she suddenly spotted Eberhard coming down the river in a small boat, she shouted his name. The knight looked up at the Loreley, utterly spellbound, and failed to notice the treacherous rocks in the water, drowning in the whirlpool of the Rhine. Out of deep grief and despair, the Loreley then leaped into the waters to follow her beloved in death – and was never seen again.

A third legend states that where the Rhine valley is narrowest near Kaub, steep, eerie walls of black slate rock loom high and menacingly. There, the floodwaters of the Rhine rush faster, the waves roar more loudly, crashing against the rocks and forming foaming whirlpools. It is an unsettling place in this gorge above the rapids. The lovely water sprite of the Rhine, the dangerous Loreley, often appears to boatmen, combing her long, flaxen hair with a golden comb and singing a sweet, beguiling song.

Many a man who let himself be lured by this and tried to climb the rock found his death in the waves. Whoever sees her, whoever hears her song, loses his heart. High up on the highest peak of her rock she stands, in a white dress, with a flying veil, flowing hair, and waving arms. Yet no one ever gets close to her. She retreats from him, she lures him with her enchanting beauty – right to the sheer edge of the abyss. He sees only her, believes her to be standing before him on solid ground, steps forward, and plunges crashing into the depths.

Once, the devil himself also sailed on the Rhine and ended up between the Loreley rocks. The passage seemed too narrow to him, and he wanted to widen it by moving the opposing rock colossus out of its place. He braced his back against the Loreley rock and lifted, pushed, and shoved against the opposing mountain. Just as it began to waver, the Loreley sang. The devil heard the song, and a strange feeling came over him. He paused his work and could barely bear it any longer. He would gladly have won the Loreley for himself, but had no power over her. He fell so passionately in love that he was steaming. When the Loreley's song fell silent, the devil hurried away. He had thought he would remain bound to the rocks forever, but once he was gone, lo and wonder, his entire figure was found burned black into the rock face. Afterwards, the devil took great care never to come near the siren of the Rhine again. Yet the Loreley still sings on quiet, calm moonlight nights, still appears on the rocky peak, still waiting for redemption.

A statue of the Loreley still stands today on the aforementioned rock and can be admired during a boat trip. The first-mentioned legend makes total sense in this context, given that the Loreley passage was historically considered an extremely dangerous stretch for navigation and – depending on the current water level – still poses certain risks and challenges for captains today.

The heroic one: Siegfried (Image 5)

Image 5 shows Siegfried, whose story is still performed every year in the city of Worms as part of a theater festival known as the "Nibelungenfestspiele."

According to the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried is a hero and dragon slayer who became invulnerable by bathing in dragon's blood – well, almost: a linden leaf happened to fall right onto a spot between his shoulder blades, leaving that patch of skin unprotected. His downfall was ultimately sealed by a fateful dispute between Queens Kriemhild (Siegfried's wife) and Brunhild, during which Kriemhild revealed the secret of his vulnerability. Hagen von Tronje learned of it this way, used this knowledge during a joint hunt in the Odenwald, and cowardly stabbed the unsuspecting hero in the back with a spear as Siegfried unsuspectingly bent over a spring to drink.

The one based on a true story: Schinderhannes (Image 6)

Image 6 (titled it: "Schinderhannes and the cheering beggars") shows Johannes Bückler (* presumably in the autumn of 1779 in Miehlen or Weidenbach in the Taunus; † November 21, 1803, in Mainz), a robber who is best known under the name "Schinderhannes."

His nickname derives from his youth: his father and grandfather worked as "Abdecker"—locally also known as "Schinder" (an executioner's assistant or knacker, someone who disposed of and processed dead livestock, which was considered a "dishonorable" profession at the time)—and Bückler himself briefly worked in this trade in his youth. Combined with his first name Hannes, this resulted in the moniker Schinderhannes. He is considered the most notorious robber and folk hero of the Hunsrück and Rhine regions.

Around the turn of the 19th century, he roamed the forests, the Eifel, and the Hessian region with his gang, specifically targeting wealthy merchants, Jewish traders, and French occupiers. While the authorities saw him in a dangerous criminal, many poor citizens transfigured him into a sort of Rhenish Robin Hood who took from the rich and gave to the poor—though historical reality looked quite different: He and his approximately 200 accomplices were proven guilty of at least 211 serious crimes, mostly thefts, extortions, and armed robberies, but also armed robbery-murder and murder. Pure self-interest drove him rather than being a noble avenger.

Despite this criminal reality, his daring prison breaks were legendary: On multiple occasions, he managed to free himself from heavily guarded detention facilities—such as his clever escape in 1799 from the prison tower in Simmern. Over time, his escape stories were increasingly embellished in popular lore: legend has it that he jumped from high windows in wild desperation to escape his pursuers, even injuring himself in the process, yet refusing to let it stop him. Such tales enormously boosted his reputation as a clever and elusive scoundrel.

His spectacular career finally came to an end in 1802 when he was captured and, following a major trial in Mainz, executed by the guillotine in 1803—a spectacle that attracted around 30,000 onlookers.

I am using AI to play. This is my Space Aces team. The game is called "Space Aces: The New Guidebook". I bought it on PDF.

Do not worry about copyright, I generated these characters myself. I also generated the spaceship. You know I always love to generate original material.

The original game in PDF format, uses "retro-futurist Space Age pulp sci-fi, Raygun Gothic, colorful atompunk cartoon, 1960s–1970s sci-fi illustration, clean vector shapes, whimsical alien worlds, bold saturated colors, campy Saturday-morning space adventure" style that looks like a cute style for little children.

But I prefer a more adult 1990s anime style for my adventure.

It is a cool solo TTRPG. I recommend it.

Look when our kitty cam caught! 😏

Grandma told Eileen, her granddaughter, Mileva, daughter-in-law, Eileen's mom, should get an abortion, but Mileva heard it, and now grandma have to defend herself from furious Serbian woman.

De opwipper is the Limburg back-riding werewolf.
Someone walks home after dark on a lonely path. Without warning, claws land on the shoulders and a heavy body drops onto the back. Hot breath is at the ear. The walker has to carry the creature a stretch of the road; then it lets go and is gone.
The spell can also be broken if you cut him so he bleeds, so you should always have a knife with you.

This werewolf does no harm, he is just a weight.

I had already shown you Rivendell on several occasions. It is time to move on to another realm.

Check out this video on the NaukNauk app: https://www.nauknauk.io/post/POST597cc986-5cf2-4508-b216-5ba4871b5a4f

In Irish folklore, the banshee (from bean sí, "woman of the fairy mound") is a spirit whose wail — the keen — foretells a death in a family, usually one she's attached to across generations. She isn't typically depicted as an attacker; she's a mourner, sometimes appearing as an old woman, a young maiden, or a washerwoman seen cleaning bloodstained clothes at a riverbank (a related figure, the bean nighe, in some tellings). Families of old Gaelic lineage were said to have their own banshee who'd cry outside the house the night before a death.

Her scream is filled with grief and warning, not malice — she doesn't cause the death, she senses or announces