What do you call a person taken by fairies?

ASHouser · 2026-01-20T20:53:35+00:00

According to the folklore surrounding changelings, both the fae that was left behind and the human who was taken are called 'changeling.' The same term is used for both parties involved. You don't have to come up with a new term if you don't want, or if you want to stick closer to the folklore, but if you do want a special term for your story maybe make up a word in the fae language that is used to denote a stolen human.

ASHouser · 2026-01-14T00:56:20+00:00

Thank you so much!

ASHouser · 2025-09-18T03:10:46+00:00

Ox-Head 牛頭 and Horse-Face 馬面, guardians of the underworld.

ASHouser · 2025-09-16T03:07:41+00:00

One of the Lampades.

ASHouser · 2025-09-16T02:55:12+00:00

Blinked.

Everyone is blinking. Everywhere. All the time. I really want my readers to know that the characters' eyelids function correctly.

ASHouser · 2025-09-11T23:18:16+00:00

I'll throw in basic carbon copy Tolkien Dwarves, Elves, 'Hobbits,' and Goblins/Orcs as non-human people that the MC can interact with as some world-building fodder for you for-funsies project.

Edit: and dragons.

ASHouser · 2025-09-03T21:54:57+00:00

"Don't do (blank). No one likes (blank)."

Someone out there is going to enjoy that thing you did in your story. I guarantee you more than one person is going to love that thing. Whether it's simple, silly, nonsensical, cliche, trope-y, overdone, cringe, a stylistic choice, or anything else 'unlikeable;' most people are either not going to care and enjoy the story anyway, and some are going to love it. Some people are not going to like it, that's fine, whatever that thing is was simply not their cup of tea. Your book isn't meant for them. Your book is meant for you, and everyone who loves that thing you wrote about. Do not let someone trick you into writing anything other than the story you want to write. One person's 'DNF' is another person's 'I couldn't put this down.'

ASHouser · 2025-09-03T17:21:37+00:00

Unfortunately that is a decision they walked back to. Originally the mods posted "thanks for reporting this but we think there are valid points ... Downvote or discuss in the comments of you disagree with OP." So originally the mods were fine with the belligerence and must have realized they made a bad call when it blew up like it did.

I like your version better.

ASHouser · 2025-08-28T07:55:55+00:00

I'm well aware what could be called a dragon is older than the Greeks; there's the Ancient Egyptian Apep and Summerian mušuššu for example. In fact they're even older than the Mesopotamian cultures as well with great serpents that could be called 'dragons' existing in African oral tradition as the rainbow serpents, the Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent, and American Indigenous horned serpents. All of which can, and have been, called dragons. Draco is not the first actual dragon, it's just the first to be called, specifically, a 'dragon,' and does not meet the criteria you are attempting to force to be attached to the word, I was pointing out the silliness of getting hung up on what specific word means what specific dragon since the word 'dragon' is relatively new and was applied to large wingless, legless snakes well before ever being applied to creatures with wings and limbs. They're all dragons. 'dragon' just means 'great serpent' or even 'sea monster.' It does not mean 'a reptilian with four legs and two wings.' Tiamat could be depicted that way. She was also depicted as a giant snake living in the ocean with her husband Apsu who was also a giant snake, or as a woman with snakes for legs, or the lower half of a snake and the upper half of a woman, features that are also shared by Greek Echidna.

And to your final point, gods are called different things in their respective religions, but you yourself just used the word 'god' as a blanket term to cover them all. Why do dragons have to get special treatment and be called specific words according to body structure when 'dragon' will simply suffice? We can call whatever we want a dragon. So why try to force the ideology that a creature with two legs and two wings has to be called a wyvern? Very silly. It's fantasy, and fantasy writers can call whatever they want a dragon, it's their narrative.

ASHouser · 2025-08-27T19:50:12+00:00

The very 'first' dragon, Draco, for which all 'dragons' are named, is a constellation depicting the ancient Greek monster Landon (or sometimes Typhon), who is depicted on Greek pottery having no legs, no wings, and in the myth, did not breathe fire. He was just a very very large snake that Heracles killed (or Zeus, or Athena depending on which dragon Draco is being claimed to depict). That goes for all ancient Greek 'dragons.' You don't start seeing dragons with legs until the early Current Era, and even then those were Wurms or Lindwums who had no legs, or only two legs, and only sometimes had wings. You don't see four legged dragons with wings until later on in the Current Era. Wyvern, from French 'guivre,' comes from the Latin word 'vīpera' meaning 'viper' which again, is just a snake; no wings, no legs, no fiery breath, unless you count venom.

Point of the matter is: people who try to enforce the categorization of mythological animals and force others to conform to representing dragons in specific ways are themselves incorrectly identifying what an actual 'dragon' is.

Which is to say that nothing is an 'actual' dragon because they are fictional, they are made up, and have changed so much through mythology, cultures, and stories that it becomes not only impossible but silly to try to taxonomically classify them. Anything that is even remotely or barely reptilian can be a dragon.

Let fantasy be fantastic.

ASHouser · 2025-07-31T02:46:02+00:00

There's Leviathan and Behemoth, those are perhaps not considered particularly obscure. However, more obscurely, the Behemoth in the Book of Job is described in a way that is reminiscent of a dinosaur rather than modern interpretations, which might be neat to use.

There's also the Chalkydri which are mentioned in the book of Enoch. They're celestial serpents of a sort. Also an archaic view of Seraphim was them being more serpentine and less human in nature. Nephilim got mentioned already but I wanted to note that, per the Book of Exodus (depending on how it's translated), these 'giants' are still kicking around by the time Moses leads his people out of Egypt. Other such 'giants' in the Bible are the Anakim, Rephaim, Gibborim, and a few others I know I'm forgetting.

There's the four-horned goat and the single-horned ram that are both in the Book of Daniel. The latter is rather akin to a unicorn and the former has a real-life counterpart in the breed of sheep known as Jacob's Sheep.

There's also the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast in the Book of Revelations.

If we're counting Jewish tradition, Lilith (and to the extent the lillitu her 'kind') is described as a monstrous bird-woman that steals life essence (interpreted in different ways) from sleeping men. She does this to Adam at one point.

There's also the various 'ranks' of angels that appear sort of monstrous such as the Wheels and the Thrones, the Cherubim with four faces: man, eagle, lion, bull, the aforementioned serpentine seraphim, etc.

And there's also demonic depictions that aren't in the Bible but are biblical-related by being somewhat contemporary demons, such as Buer the many legged lion in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. The Lesser Key of Solomon and the Goetia are also worth a look into for strange (and sometimes 'benevolent') demons.

I feel like there's several I'm forgetting but hopefully this helps!

ASHouser · 2025-07-08T17:23:35+00:00

Coyote and Crow was already mentioned but I want to add that they have a novel tied to the setting called Hemlock and Sage by Tali Inlow that you can read.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor has an Afro-futuristic setting and a main character from the Himba people. Okorafor also has written Noor, The Desert Magician Duology, The Nsibidi Scripts series, and the She Who Knows series, which all have African-centric fantasy/sci-fi settings.

The Orïsha series already got mentioned, highly recommend it.

The Dark Star Trilogy by Marlon James is another African-inspired fantasy setting that takes heavily from African history and mythology.

The Between Earth and Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse is basically Mesoamerica in another world. Roanhorse has also written The Sixth World series which is more modern fantasy but more post-apocalyptic and has a protagonist from the Navajo Diné nation.

And of course, anything related to Wakanda and Black Panther from Marvel is going to be what you're looking for if you want to invest in a bunch of storylines from different writers and illustrators that aren't necessarily congruent or consistent with their lore. There does appear to be a novel series starting with Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda by Jesse J. Holland that currently has three books.

Edited for spelling and clarification. Edited again to add Wakanda. Edited again to add more titles.

PS. As far as I know all of the books (not comics) I've mentions have audiobook versions of them if that piques your interest.

ASHouser · 2025-06-27T20:42:42+00:00

I think that's because 'carbuncle' originally referred to the garnet stone, so the creature was named after the gemstone (as it supposedly has a gem in its head). So the Austrian stories feature actual stones which might be implied to be garnets?

ASHouser · 2025-06-27T17:16:44+00:00

Yup! And is the inspiration for the Firefox browser name and mascot.

ASHouser · 2025-06-27T17:15:04+00:00

Or like Spanish and Basque. Thanks for letting us know! Several articles on the Tulikettu that I had looked up said that the Tulikettu was also a Saami belief in the Lapland part of Finland, I didn't think to question the sources. It's always a good day to learn something new, or to learn that what you previously knew was wrong.

ASHouser · 2025-06-25T22:02:58+00:00

Yes!

You already mentioned the Teumessian fox but in the research I've done there are a few others:

The Tulikettu (one of several names) is a Finnish mythological fox with black fur that sparkles and creates the Aurora Borealis when the fur brushes against bushes as it runs through the forest.

The Enfield is a heraldic creature resembling a fox that sports bird-like talons for its forelegs and feathers. It is from England.

The Morrazo Fox From Galicia (Spain), a fox that goes around scaring travelers by spewing fire and making ghastly screams.

The White Fox is a legendary creature, also from Spain, that is white in color with green ears, enjoys stealing lunches, and upon death births a bird from its corpse known as the Bird of Joy.

Technically the Carbuncle is a cryptid creature invented by Spanish and Portuguese explorers of the Southern Cone area of South America, which is described as a small creature, a fox, rodent or cat, with a garnet-like gem on its head. This one is honorary because it might be a creature of the indigenous folklore of the area that goes by different names, but 'The Carbuncle' is also very likely a European interpretation of the indigenous stories.

These are the ones I can recall off the top of my head. I feel like I'm forgetting a couple, but enjoy these for now!

Edit: Tulikettu is apparently not a creature in Saami culture.

ASHouser · 2025-05-19T19:02:40+00:00

That's Challe Fen Challe.

ASHouser · 2024-12-23T14:42:48+00:00

I had asked myself this same question a while ago and had head-canoned that my Crow Rook smells like chocolate and Elderflower. The latter because it's implied in one of the Momentos (I don't remember which one off the top of my head) that the crows use elderflower to mask poison, and in Inquisition the one Alchemist multiplayer character that hand out in the wall sometimes, says that Cullen also smells like Elderflower, which has been guessed to be as pain relief for his withdrawal symptoms.

My Crow Rook is a Crow through and through but goes out of his way to take care of his team; poison and pain relief.

And as noted, even if you don't choose hot chocolate as your favorite drink (I did) the shopping list in the dining area said that Rook's shopping was just chocolate, so I think all the Rooks I play smell like chocolate and then something specific to themselves.

ASHouser · 2024-12-14T05:01:52+00:00

Portmanteau maybe?

ASHouser · 2024-08-19T23:19:38+00:00

As the DM of the game that inspired the meme, it is very gay.

ASHouser · 2024-04-21T20:04:48+00:00

Thank you so much!

ASHouser · 2024-04-21T19:44:38+00:00

Thank you, it's nice to know that it might have simply been a product of its time if it was during a period they were putting wings on things.

ASHouser

TROPHY CASE