All legends are from the Age of Bronze.
In the Age of Bronze, humans, elves, orcs, half-orcs, trolls, goblins, ogres, half-ogres, dwarves, giants, sprites, ents and talking animals all existed, wondered around and did stuff. We are looking at the Celtic mythology with a few subtle changes.
Fae, fairies and the fair folk.
Refer to them anyway you wish, with as much belief in them as you like.
You can have fluffy fairies and helpful brownies who do nice things all the time.
You can have nasty fae who steal babes and curdle milk.
Common story traits (not essential)
They had strange magical powers, and hated steel and iron.
They taught people magic, but would occasional trick people just for fun.
Gods and Monsters
In some stories, you’ll want to have gods. The easiest way to have a creatively shared pantheon is to have the gods as animal totems, referred to as either as the animal (e.g. The Raven) or by name (e.g. Kai the Panther).
Try to stick to the ‘generally’ accepted perceived traits of the animal, but don’t worry. If it clashes with another author’s legend, that’s fine, because they are stories told by different storytellers, in character.
Tales from the Age of Steel.
About 500 years ago, the Hassani swept through the area during their civil war. The Shire was occupied (in the end) by the 15th Badger Support Company who successfully beat off the some Jackal scouts. They brought steel and iron in great quantity, as well as their own gods and the Fae fled before them. The Hassani then spent the next hundred odd years ‘pacifying’ the area and integrating their society into that of the local culture, a bit like the Romans invading the British Isles.
We’d like the Tales from this time to be like the classic Arthurian tales, Robin Hood and so on. More men doing deeds, slaying monsters and rescuing damsels. Gods become more distant and magic being spells and potions more than mystical powers. Ghost stories here too.
Gossip from the present day.
This category covers the last fifty years to today. From rumours about certain merchant families with skeletons in the closet, to what the Mayor got his wife for the Spring Dance.
Mostly these will be one or two lines, but occasionally they will be stories integral to some character's background, for example, the gossip surrounding one of the Lairds and his family life.
Remember to mark your contributions as either open or closed. Open if you don’t mind the GMs using it as plot, Closed if you want to use the idea yourself.
Legends, tales and rumours will be linked from here once submitted. They can be hosted here or on your own site if preferred. Emails to the usual address: shire-plot at mistelien dot org
The legends pages are now up on Dave's site. Click on the appropriate area of the map and you will be taken to legends and folklore from that area. We recommend that most characters will only want to know the information for the part of the Shire they come from - although obviously we're happy for players to read all of our hard work :)