Let My Armies Be The Rocks And The Trees And The Birds In The Sky

Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky

Golden chains with enamel birds, most likely made in Kyiv in 11th-12th century

Fanfiction

Svete div sa, došlo k endemickému výskytu Červenák-verse fanfikcie aj mimo AO3. Predstavujem dvojicu stoslovných kraťasov - drabble k Štrkáčovi Callahanovi. On sám tam nevystupuje, oba sú o dvojici záporákov, ktorá mnohým čitateľom musela veľmi nápadne pripomínať čosi z ich detstva.

Volch - "The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math ."

Oh, oh yes... Slavic dragons are some wonderfully shifty beings.

They often begin as ordinary snakes, but if they live long enough (40 years e.g.) or somebody does hijinks with their dead bodies and cattle or other potent bits they become dragons - smoks and zmeis, evil lamias and other such. They might even grow 3 to 12 heads.

In south-eastern tradition zmeis are mostly benevolent with bad counterparts featured under other names, while further east and north they are a bit more ambivalent figures - villains just as often as righteous or neutral.

They can become guardians of sacred places, like Gorynich with Kalinov bridge, keeping out trespassers to land of dead. They can be minding their own business when a hero tramples on them, thus earning their ire (looking at you, Dobrynya). Their seduction might be a pleasant affair as witch Marinka would attest, getting furious over slaughter of her draconic lover, or more sinister, like what Gorynich did with Ivan Tsarevich's sister. They can be knaves too - kidnapping or exhorting people like Smok Wawelski did in Krakow. Some of them even embody turkic nomadic raiders in the form of thunder clouds such as Tugarin who needs to be defeated by Alyosha Popovich. And grotesque chudo-yudo is at times thought to be a brother to Koschei himself, the ultimate sorcerror and necromancer and troublemaker with no good deed to his name.

There are legends about their children too, like Volga/Volkh Svyatoslavovich/Vseslavyevich whose mother was a knyazhna (ruling lady, ruler's wife) and father a serpent, whose birth caused earth and all living beings to quake, who grew more quickly then other children and became a magician talking to and shape-shifting into animals to achieve his ends. He is counted among heroes.

Both male and female, they are not only fire-spitters, but also masters of depths, sleeping on stones at the bottom of sea, perching upon springs, building lairs deep in mountains, masters of heights, not only flying but also controlling weather, siphoning water from rivers through their tail to make rain or flood, bringing thunder clouds and hail.

Veles, god of underworld, animals and boundarries between fields and woods is sometimes thought to take serpentine form and throw fists with sky and war god Perun, thus releasing rain after long drought. Though it is disputed how old and authentically pagan is that tradition. At least Perun striking demonic creatures is a pretty certain thing.

And even deep into modernity people in Balkans still believed in their sleepy magicians.

Weather/wind/dragon men, zmai who lives on water banks, forest edges, in hollow trees and fights ala or azhdaya creatures that cause barrenness, in zduhac battling other magicians from rivaling communities to protect homes and crops of his own people.

And in kresnik born with the gift or taught by fairies or in magical school who heals people and cattle and while sleeping struggles against his dark counterpart assumed to be vampiric and witchy force. It was Adriatic thing.

In Romania people believed in solomonari who too studied in magic shools and under devil, but unlike kresniks did not protect, but bring ruin to fields and homes when riding dragons they were given to mount and causing storms. Similar to strigoi minus vampiric characteristics. Thankfully one might request help of a contra-solomonari who would do what amounts to kresnik's job, but without having to fall asleep.

This split into evil and good sorcerrers is a christian thing. Original conception was of one neutral cunning class rather then two with different moral alignmet.

There are three types of dragon in Slavic mythology: the fiery dragon is a huge reptile with wings, a being that carries a fire inside him, as known in English. But, there is also a human form that is his descendant and ascendant, a human with great power, usually called dragonkin, some of which can even shapeshift into a dragon-like form and fly. The third form is the spirit dragon, the most unusual and most powerful of them all – this invisible essence willingly resides only in a special human who is unable to control it, and it is the only being that is able to confront the ancient beast that brings havoc upon men, while leaving the human body to fight its archenemy in the sky. Stay tuned for more mythology bits. 🔥

Niečo ku Krvi prvorodených.

The Prague astronomical clock is a medieval astronomical clock attached to the Old Town Hall in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still in operation.

The clock mechanism has three main components – the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; statues of various Catholic saints stand on either side of the clock; "The Walk of the Apostles", an hourly show of moving Apostle figures and other sculptures, notably a figure of a skeleton that represents Death, striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. According to local legend, the city will suffer if the clock is neglected and its good operation is placed in jeopardy; a ghost, mounted on the clock, was supposed to nod its head in confirmation. According to the legend, the only hope was represented by a boy born on New Year's night.

Prague astronomical clock

Old Town Hall

Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿

And some additional info here...

Keby niekoho zaujímalo niečo bližšie k historickej osobnosti spomenutej v Diablovej pevnosti...

(Diablova pevnosť, kapitola 9, strana 233)

Reading Aldous Huxley’s ‘The Devils of Loudun’ and just cackling so hard…..