Väinämöinen (hero)

ARMOR CLASS: -4
MOVE: 15"
HIT POINTS: 250
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to charm and disease
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
SIZE: M (7')
ALIGNMENT: Lawful good
CLERIC/DRUID: High Priest (C12)
FIGHTER: Paladin (P20)
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Illusionist (I12)
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Master Bard, Magna Alumnae (B23)
 

S: 19	I: 18	W: 18
D: 24	C: 20	CH: 18
Com:	-	-

Väinämöinen is the Kalevala's greatest hero and minstrel.
His mother is Ilmatar (q.v.),
so Väinämöinen has divine ancestors (like many of the Finnish heroes).
He is called "Son of the Wind" by his friends and enemies alike.

Väinämöinen appears as an elderly fighter wearing +5 leather armor.
He has two weapons which he wields alternately:
a +5 battle axe and an intelligent +3 sword of sharpness.
This sword talks,
and ait can cast a [fear] spell once per day.
He wears a girdle of cloud giant strength (which gives him a strength of 23).
He has two magical crossbows:
one combines the abilities of crossbows of accuracy, distance and speed,
and the other,
once started,
loads and fires itself at Väinämöinen's enemies until stopped (much like the way a dancing sword fights by itself).

In addition to his clerical,
illusionist and bardic spell powers,
Väinämöinen can shape change, [dispel magic], and use monster summoning I-IV at will.
He is immune to the effects of charm-type spells and disease.

Väinämöinen has two special methods of transportation.
He has a special horse (AC 3, MV 24", HD 10, hp 59, #AT 3, D 1-10/1-10/1-6, immune to magical attacks) that can pull his sledges across land or water,
drawing weights up to 300,000 gp with no appreciable loss of SPEED.
He has a canoe-sized boat that can carry huge quantities of objects in much the same manner as a [bag of holding]:
it can hold up to 60,000 gp of weight in a volume of 1,000 cubic feet.


 
 

Finnish Mythos

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DDG

* "the water shaman" - (1) <compare to wu jen(water), and shaman, which maps to shukenja in 3e>
* demigod? Vainamoinen is the son of Ilmatar, goddess of mothers. <a case can be made against this, as he is not actively worshiped (cf. D97). quasi-deity, perhaps?>

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonesy
Vaka vanha is the, umm, title given to Väinämöinen in most of the verses that concern him in Kalevala. Vaka means steadfast, vanha means old. Together they mean someone who, though old, is aging very respectably. Like those Himalayan guys who look like they are a million years old, yet can carry more stuff than anyone up a mountain, vertically. Iän-ikuinen means everlasting and tietäjä is a sage or a guru (though in this instance wizard might be more apt). 

Thanks for the enlightenment 

Maybe "enchanter" is the best translation of tietäjä in regards Vainomoinen, eh?

BTW, the lead programmerfor the LA MMP online game is from Finland.

Cheers,
Gary
 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonesy
I think enchanter fits Ilmarinen somewhat better what with his forge creations.

Maybe 'spellsinger' for Väinämöinen? 

Actually, from my reading "Enchantment" fits most of the magic enacted by the various persons in the Kalevala. Although a kanteel is often employed, that does not move the resulting spell from the chanting category, so "Enchanter" seems accurate to me. In mythology and folklore there are no spellsingers named per se. are there?

Cheers,
Gary
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonesy
I was thinking of the instance where Väinämöinen sings Joukahainen into a swamp. His singing is so powerful that the lakes spill over, mountains start shaking, hills split apart, and that's only the beginning.

In the same part his honorific becomes 'laulaja iän-ikuinen' (singer everlasting), instead of tietäjä.

Heh,

Okay, he sings his enchantments, musical chanting as it were, as he used when he sent the "callow youth of Lapland into and under the ground."

Cheers,
Gary