Thunder and Cattle-Rustling

A few nights ago, Jason and I got together for our first writing meeting following our summer hiatus. Our break wasn't necessarily planned, but with Jason getting all married and stuff, it seemed like holding off on script-writing for a couple of months was a good idea. It felt great to get back in the swing of things... reacquainting ourselves with our characters while eating homemade pizza, doing a read-through for timing and remembering just how much we're going to have to practice before we record this sucker... I really enjoyed myself. It was enough to make me remember why I'm doing this in the first place - creative projects of any kind bring meaning to my life - and I've been blessed with several opportunities lately.

Enough of all that. It's time to talk about Slavic gods.

(Why yes, making smooth and relevant transitions is one of my primary talents. Thanks for noticing.)

We realized about halfway into the writing process that we needed to widen our scope a bit, and create more of an origin story for Alex, Uncle Fedyenka, Aunt Olga, and the rest of the characters that are tied up in this mess. Since our story centers around members of a Russian family and Jason and I both dig mythology - why not throw some old Slavic gods into the mix? Without going into too much detail about the plot, it just so happens that Russian myth sets us up very nicely for a battle between two warring factions.

Depending on who you ask, the head dude in Slavic mythology is generally agreed to be Perun. He's a thunder god, not unlike the Norse god Thor. Another striking similarity between Slavic and Norse mythology is the existence of a World Tree which holds all of the realms of reality in place. (The connection isn't all that surprising, considering the Russians and the Norse have similar roots.) Perun sits at the top of the tree as the ruler of the living world - sky and earth. He's often symbolized by an eagle that watches over everything.

Perun's enemy is Veles, a trickster god who is often symbolized by a dragon or serpent. He lives at the roots of the tree, aka, the underworld, and basically lives to piss Perun off. He loves to cause trouble by stealing Perun's cattle (you know, like you do), his children, or even his wife. Perun retaliates by trying to zap him with lightning bolts and thunder. I'm making light of what the Slavs saw as a big cosmic battle between two major forces - but that's basically how it went. When Christianity came to Russia, the battle between the Devil and God fit very nicely into this pre-made package.

The Wikipedia entries for Perun and Veles are a fun read - and there are plenty of other sources out there. If you're as much of a mythology geek as I am and want to read more, let me know, and I'll pass along a reading list.

As we did our research, it became more and more evident that this was the perfect backdrop for our story. We're working on weaving in elements of the battle between Perun and Veles, as well as this idea of a World Tree that holds reality in place. There are so many different cultures that identify with a World Tree, why does there have to be just one? What if reality was held in place by a sort of cosmic orchard of World Trees? What if you could get to one through that storage closet in your basement? And what if you suddenly found yourself in charge of keeping it safe and unsullied by mortal desires? You might see where this is going.

The story is getting really fun to write - particularly as we near the end and have to tie all the loose ends together. And seriously... Slavic gods? What could be more fun than that?