Brainstorming different legends/myths/folklore

[PhantasmicDream]

I and I'm sure many others enjoy hearing tall tales,  whether they are about why your shouldn't suck your thumb to princess being locked up in a tower.  Something can be intriguing about them,  where did they originated from? Why were they told?  Is there a deeper meaning behind them? 

This got me thinking...  what would some of these kinds of stories be for the setting in SS13.  What would these alien species tell for stories?  Would humans still believe or tell some of the same stories we hear today or would they have new ones?   So,  my boyfriend and I decided to come up with a few different myths.    I also welcome anyone to share their own ideas as well!   

 

•Skrellian  Myths•
•The following names may be loose translations•
The Deep Water Skrell

In the large bodies of water on Qerrballak (Jargon 4) there's going to be a lot of areas where it's "deep water" they're places most people can't reach to and probably would never be able to reach to whether the technology is good enough.   In these dark, cold, and high pressured place, what kinds of things could be living there?  Ancient and huge beings that noone really knows ago?  Are these areas so far gone that nothing can live there?  Or is there a possible society living in the deeps that were able to adapt to their surrounds? 

"Deep Water Skrell"  they're told the be more monstrous looking Skrell. Having a more elongated figure being much taller than the average Skrell.  They're described to have longer than average limbs,  needle like teeth,  piercing black eyes, external gills, fins, and webbed and claw liked hands.  They have long thin tendrils that normally floats along behind them.   Stories about them can vary,  but many Skrell believe them to be cannibalistic in nature.   It leaves a lot of them wondering,  are they real? Can some like them really be living out there?  Or are these just part of stories to tell children at night?

 

The Sea Witch

What may look like a poor innocent Skrell trapped in the dirt or tangled out in seaweed/kelp may actually be a "sea witch".  The Sea Witch is portrayed to have two appearance,  one of a young Skrellian maiden while the other being her true form.  While her Skrellian appearance is described to be soft and draped in gold jewels, her true form is more thinly. Instead of having three tendrils, she's told to have many small ones,  she has a single eye and a sideways mouth that when open reveals rows of many teeth (much like a leech).  It is said that she's rooted in areas with high levels of seaweed/kelp,  in the original telling she's unable to move from her location but uses her illusions to lure people to her.  If luring doesn't work,  she controls the seaweed/kelp around her to pull people in.  In some other tellings of her, it's told that she can travel through the roots however it is an unpopular telling. 

The Sea Witch can be seen with a Skrellian baby,  in one story it was said that the child was her's before she became a sea witch.  That she was a regular Skrell seeking a way to bring back the baby, but it never worked.  In more common tellings she would find away to kidnap the baby.  What happened to these babies depended on the type of story that was being told.  Sometimes it's told that she takes care of them as if they were her own.  Other times it's told that she'd eat them or used them for a ritual.   

Many who have crossed paths with the Sea Witch don't always get away.  You can always bribe or make a deal to get out from her grasp,  however they doesn't always go as planned.   Maybe she does a backstabbing move with the deal, or it can feel like an impossible task to achieve.  What this really comes down to is, you should be careful when going through any sort of areas with high levels of seaweed/kelp.

 

Stone Siren 
(needs a better name)

The "Stone Siren"  luring travelers in by her song and her "enchanting" appearance. The Stone Siren is described to have tentacles instead of tendrils, a webbed or fin like area from her arms to sides giving her a sort of 'winged' look, and what may seem like a tail at first but really a cord like flesh attaching her to her giant stone crab half.  In some portrayals she's attached to the crab by the legs instead of the the "flesh cord".   She can be seen wearing fine jewels and lavish attire. 

It is told that if the "Stone Siren" places a kiss on you that you yourself would turn to stone.  This would then lead the to crab part of the Siren to devour you whole.    In stories she is mentioned to be located in areas that boarder shallow waters, giver her the option to find people both above and under water.   It's said that she's most active during "twilight" and "daybreak" while the rest of the time she's most likely sleeping.  Skrell who believe in these stories may advise you on what time is best to travel to the shallow water and than you should never travel alone. 

 

 

•Human's Myths•

Ghost Towns (Mars)

While colonizing on Mars would have been a big deal for humanity,  there would have been many failed attempts a doing so.  With a few failed colonization, these areas on Mars may have been left aside and possible forgotten about.  Some people may believe that these areas are mostly likely haunted by the original settlers.   People who may find themselves still living on Earth believing the Mars is just a cursed planet.  

Some would believe that If Mars used to have water on it but rejected it, then it'll soon reject humanity living on it too. These people may believe there's sort of pattern happening, and "doomsday" is bound to happen on Mars someday. 

 

The Dead Astronaut 

For people who live on the (Earth's) Moon, and some people who live on Mars, may hear or tell stories of "The Dead Astronaut".  Normally portrayed as a  Human Skeleton in an old/retro style space suit.   People believe that his appearing to places or showing himself to people is some sort of warning.  However the warning is never clear.    In stories he's told to give off a cold and "Ancient" presence,  and that when (or if) he speaks it sounds like whispers echoing around the area. 

[Cazdon]

Gosh I really love folklore and legends, they really help make a universe feel alive. This is really cool!

 

I'm sure there's lots of unsolved space mysteries too! I'll do a parallel one.

Legends speak of a Ghost Ship on the fringes of human controlled space. A ship and crew of the dead, and these ghostly figures are said to capture the crew of ships they encounter, and add them to their own. The legend soared in popularity when a ship returning from the fringe sectors was found derelict and abandoned. The crew was completely gone, but all of the supplies and cargo remained, and no entry in the ships logs betrayed any hint as to what happened to them. With no conclusive evidence as to the fate of this crew, legends of the Ghost Ship started to fill the void of facts and evidence, and the legend still serves to scare off superstitious Captains from charting course through fringe space.

[jatu]

On 1/6/2020 at 3:48 PM, Cazdon said:

Gosh I really love folklore and legends, they really help make a universe feel alive. This is really cool!

 

I'm sure there's lots of unsolved space mysteries too! I'll do a parallel one.

Legends speak of a Ghost Ship on the fringes of human controlled space. A ship and crew of the dead, and these ghostly figures are said to capture the crew of ships they encounter, and add them to their own. The legend soared in popularity when a ship returning from the fringe sectors was found derelict and abandoned. The crew was completely gone, but all of the supplies and cargo remained, and no entry in the ships logs betrayed any hint as to what happened to them. With no conclusive evidence as to the fate of this crew, legends of the Ghost Ship started to fill the void of facts and evidence, and the legend still serves to scare off superstitious Captains from charting course through fringe space.

And actually the Ghost ship legend is probably a rumour set off by Nanotrasen to stop too eager pilots finding their super secret research facilities on the edge of known space. That would make sense considering what kinda corporation NT is after all. even the ship itself might not be just a rumour, but a botched up experiment and the ghost ship story just a cover-up.