Received Complaints About My Own Twists on Fantasy Races

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

So according to your definition a random farmer who never left his farm in Denmark/Sweden/Norway was a Viking?

Most of the history buffs I know pretty much limit it to Norse who left the Northlands after about 1200. Norse is for all children of the Northlands who maintained the lifestyle and culture, whether Christian or Wotanic. Whether Danes count or not is a matter of contention.

Most Americans make no distinction between Danes, Norse, Old Norse, Viking. Nor that horned helmets were essentially Wagner's invention.
Nor that a horned helmet was a great way to get one's neck broken.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by shawnhcorey

Russia was supposedly founded by Scandinavians during this period but this is contested.

Nitpick: Russia was founded by Rus', which in turn was likely founded by Scandinavians (at least what became the capital city). They're not interchangeable.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Nor that horned helmets were essentially Wagner's invention.
Nor that a horned helmet was a great way to get one's neck broken.

Behold, the historical Japanese Viking! I'm not being serious, of course, just find it curious that horned helmets did seem to historically exist, though elsewhere.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Behold, the historical Japanese Viking! I'm not being serious, of course, just find it curious that horned helmets did seem to historically exist, though elsewhere.

The samurai were a head-hunting cult. The goal was to take the head (and helm) intact. Which allowed such silliness.

[Phantasm]

That segues into one other thing I got ragged on a lot about my setting, specifically the Far East. At the time I came up with the world's Far East, "Eastern Adventures" was the big d20 book, which was simply L5Rd20...

When I said "China, not Japan", I had a lot of folks screaming "but... JAPAN! SAMURAI! NINJA!" at me. One even went so far as to say, "Japan is the whole of the Orient that matters."

The debate still rages, a decade and a half later....

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

"but... JAPAN! SAMURAI! NINJA!"

But Kung Fu! Pandas!

At least a reply in case the debate still rages.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

But Kung Fu! Pandas!

At least a reply in case the debate still rages.

And Hong Kong Theatre. As Xander said in Buffy S4, "Incompetently dubbed kung fu, our most valuable Chinese import." XD

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by shawnhcorey

Not my definition. See above.

From the link you posted "It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonization, and conquest. In this period, the Norsemen settled in Norse Greenland, Newfoundland, and present-day Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Normandy, Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Italy. "

Wikipedia is also careful to make a distinction between those who went on ships to foreign lands to pillage/rape/burn/explore/cause general mayhem and those that stayed in Sweden, Denmark or Norway and didn't engage in those previously mentioned activities.

Vikings were pirates.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Most Americans make no distinction between Danes, Norse, Old Norse, Viking. Nor that horned helmets were essentially Wagner's invention.

It also comes as a surprise to Americans when I and Icelander object to being called Scandinavian.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

It also comes as a surprise to Americans when I and Icelander object to being called Scandinavian.

Ooh, this is like the bit about parts of Canada or New Orleans being Latin America, but in reverse. (French is one of the Neo-Latin languages, but people seem to often forget that.)