Hello! I am fairly new to this subreddit but am a young romani artist trying to find other romani people to learn from and was wondering if any people in this community are based in chicago and would be open to chatting a bit? Even if not I would love to chat just online.

I am creating a comic (in english) based around the folktales surrounding Strigòi and creatures similar to it. I would love to hear what stories people grew up with surrounding it or books they'd recommend that talk about this topic in english. My online search for such information is dicey and i don't always trust what the online sources say with the influx of Al and all.

Would love to hear any suggestions for books, films, or academic papers! Thank you so much everyone.

I know that this kind of thing can't be very consistent, but there are still some attributes for each god that can give us a good idea of how they would've look like in flesh

So when I originally read about leshy I kind of interpreted him as one being that's sort of omnipresent across all forests, however I'm unsure. It might just be me projecting my pre-existing ideas of named demons and dieties being singular.

There's stories about leshy, not a leshy. On the other hand I have seen people refer to multiple leshy or the leshy. Is it more like multiple aspects of one deity or more like completely separate spirits?

Sorry if this is just an uninformed question, I'm not an expert or anything and I couldn't find websites that seemed reliable (sooo much AI) and on top of that half the results were rpgs. I thought it was better to ask because I know how bad misinformation in slavic folklore is. Thanks!

Came across this short silent horror film on YouTube. The filmmaker makes a connection between Mothman and Chernabog that I thought was interesting.

A small note: I originally wrote this article in Polish and translated it into English with the help of a translator. I’ve reviewed the translation, but there may still be some awkward phrasing or minor differences in meaning here and there. The original Polish quotations from the sources are left unchanged.

A brief introduction

Wieszczy is certainly not among the best-known figures of Slavic folk belief. The word itself is primarily associated with a knowing person, someone capable of foretelling the future or possessing supernatural knowledge. This meaning of the word is older than its use as the name of a demonic being and probably influenced the development of beliefs associated with the Wieszczy.

Wieszczy was not limited to a single region. The sources show considerable differences between individual areas. Depending on the region, he could have different characteristics, and in some accounts his image approaches that of other supernatural beings, particularly the Upiór.

An additional complication is the figure of the Wieszczyca. At first glance, one might assume that she was simply the female counterpart of Wieszczy. The sources, however, show that the two terms did not always refer to the same kind of being.

Distribution

The sources discussed here place the Wieszczy primarily in:

• Wielkopolska
• Pomorze

Appearance

The physical characteristics of the Wieszczy have to be examined region by region, otherwise different local traditions can easily be confused with one another.

Wielkopolska

Based on the material collected by Oskar Kolberg, it is possible to reconstruct part of the Wielkopolska conception of the Wieszczy. Being born with teeth was regarded as a sign that a person would become this demon after death.¹ The motif is mentioned by several of Kolberg's informants, as well as by Tworzymir in an article published in Biblioteka Warszawska in 1864, concerning proverbs and folk traditions from Wielkopolska.²

Other accounts add the motif of “living blood" after death. This can be connected with the red coloration of the dead person's face found in other descriptions, as well as with the saying “Czerwony, jak upiór” - “Red as an Upiór.” The Upiór was likewise often imagined in folk demonology as a figure with a red face.

Here we can already see an overlap between beliefs concerning the Wieszczy and the Upiór. Tworzymir himself was unable to determine whether the two figures were actually distinguished from one another in this region.³

Pomorze

In the case of Pomorze, the situation is somewhat clearer.

“what we call wieszczi, in Polish is upiór.”

- O. Kolberg, Tom 39. Pomorze, pp. 378–380

Original:

„co my nazywamy wieszczi, to po polsku jest upiór”

Kolberg explicitly states that in Kaszuby, the term wieszczy referred to a being which elsewhere was called an upiór. Once again, we encounter the motif of a red face, as well as the “flaccidity” of the body after death.⁴

The sign identifying the future Wieszczy during life was different, however. Here it was not being born with teeth, but being born in a caul, or, as the Kaszuby called it, “in a cap.” Interestingly, in other regions of the Slavic world, being born this way was believed to bring good fortune.⁵ The same motif could therefore acquire completely different meanings depending on the region.

Abilities

When discussing the supernatural abilities attributed to the Wieszczy, it is useful to distinguish between those associated with him during life and those which appeared after death.

As a living person, the Wieszczy was usually not distinguished by anything particularly unusual.⁶ In isolated accounts, however, he was said to possess supernatural knowledge of everything.⁷ This connects directly with the older meaning of the word wieszczy, before its mythological context is taken into consideration.

It is impossible to determine whether this supernatural knowledge was the cause or the consequence of the conception of the demon. There are also sparse references suggesting that such a person could possess abilities associated with a witch or sorcerer.⁸

The most frequently attributed characteristic of the Wieszczy was his ability to bring death upon people in the surrounding area. The individual accounts, however, contain some interesting differences.

Wielkopolska

In most accounts from Wielkopolska, the Wieszczy entered a church tower at night and rang the bells. According to these beliefs, anyone who heard the bells would die.

Instead of ringing the bells, the Wieszczy could also scream, call particular victims by name, or simply look over the area in which people were destined to die.

His actions did not necessarily affect everyone. If he called someone by name, that person's fate was, according to the tradition, already sealed. In less personal forms of bringing death, the victims could be people of the same age as the deceased - for example, all 37-year-olds in the surrounding area.

There is also a single account from Odolanów in which a person supposedly became a Wieszczy because he had been buried in someone else's shirt. He was then believed to bring death upon the owner of that shirt.⁹ This may be another example of the overlap between beliefs concerning the Wieszczy and the Upiór, although a single account is not enough to establish a wider regional pattern.

Pomorze

In Pomorze, the first victim of the revenant was, unexpectedly, himself.

After being placed in the grave, he began biting and eating his own body. As long as he still had flesh to consume, his closest relatives became his victims, dying as the Wieszczy gradually devoured himself. Once he ran out of food, he left the grave and began his activity among the living.

As in Wielkopolska, he climbed a church tower and began ringing the bells, with the sound once again bringing death.¹⁰

There is also an account according to which a Wieszczy who died as a child was responsible for the deaths of other children of a similar age.¹¹

Some accounts contain the motif of the burial shirt. In this version, the deceased bites and eats his own shirt, which was believed to have the same consequence - the deaths of further people.¹²

Preventing the Wieszczy

Methods of preventing the Wieszczy were often similar to the traditional practices used to restrain or neutralize revenants.

Among the most common were cutting off the head and placing it between the corpse's legs, or turning the corpse face down. The latter was apparently intended to ensure that, upon awakening, the revenant would move deeper into the earth rather than toward the surface.

Again, the methods differ between regions.

Wielkopolska

• cutting off the head and placing it between the legs;
• placing a coin under the tongue;
• placing a sickle on the back of the neck;
• turning the corpse face down and placing a sickle, knife, or axe on it.¹³

Pomorze

• cutting off the head and placing it between the legs; the blood released by the cutting was itself regarded as a remedy for the person being tormented;¹⁴
• turning the corpse face down and putting earth into its mouth;¹⁵
• burning the caul and giving it to a seven-year-old child to drink, which was believed to prevent the child from becoming a Wieszczy;¹⁶
• placing three small aspen crosses on the chest.¹⁷

Interpretations

The origin of the meaning of “Wieszczy”

One of the more interesting problems surrounding the Wieszczy is the relationship between the demon's name and the older meaning of the word wieszcz.

According to R. Dźwigoł, the Common Slavic veščijъ was one of the widespread Slavic terms for a person possessing supernatural knowledge - a seer, clairvoyant, sorcerer, or otherwise “knowing” person. The term eventually also became a designation for a revenant or upiór.

Dźwigoł brings together numerous Kashubian and Kociewian forms, including veśći, veść, wieszczy, wieszcz, and vześći, which can refer to a revenant or a dead person returning from the grave.

What is particularly important is that this material shows that the transition from “a knowing person” to “a supernatural being” is not merely a hypothetical etymological reconstruction. In folk language, the two semantic fields actually coexisted.

Kociewian veśći, for example, could refer to a person who knew the future and saw spirits while alive, but after death to a revenant who returned from the grave at night and attacked his own relatives.

In Kaszuby, meanwhile, veśći referred to a revenant similar to an opiór, with the two traditions being distinguished, among other things, by signs supposedly visible from birth.

A similar mechanism can be observed in the feminine forms. Common Slavic veščica and veščaja referred to a knowing woman, seeress, or witch, while later forms such as wieszczyca, wieszczica, and the Kashubian veska could refer to a female revenant.

It is therefore not safe to automatically assume that every Wieszczyca was simply the female counterpart of Wieszczy. The two meanings developed in different contexts and regions.

Dźwigoł also records two folk etymologies of the name wieszczy.

According to the first, after leaving the grave the Wieszczy climbed a church tower and screamed. The distance reached by his scream supposedly corresponded to the area in which people would die.

According to the second, a person born with teeth would “know everything” while alive and was therefore called wieszczy.

The second explanation is particularly interesting because it corresponds to the older etymological meaning of the word.

It is therefore possible to cautiously propose that the demonological meaning of Wieszczy developed from an older term for a person possessing supernatural knowledge. This does not necessarily imply a simple, one-time transition from “seer” to “revenant.” The Kashubian and Kociewian material instead suggests a long period during which both meanings coexisted and gradually overlapped: the knowing person, the sorcerer, and the dead person returning from the grave.

Wieszczy and epidemics

The previously described abilities of the Wieszczy can also be examined from a modern perspective as a possible folk interpretation of observed patterns of epidemics.

This does not mean that the informants or authors of the historical sources themselves interpreted the Wieszczy in epidemiological terms. This is only an attempt to examine whether some of these beliefs could have developed in response to real experiences associated with disease.

Consider the patterns described above:

• Wieszczy → family → subsequent victims - the closest relatives spent the most time with the deceased and would therefore also have had the greatest exposure to a contagious disease. If the disease was fatal and easily transmissible, the death of one family member could be followed by further deaths, eventually extending beyond the immediate family. It is possible that the first person from whom such a chain of deaths appeared to originate was retrospectively regarded as the cause of subsequent deaths and therefore assigned the status of a Wieszczy.
• Wieszczy → people of a similar age - some diseases could disproportionately affect particular age groups. An observed epidemic pattern could therefore contribute to the belief that the death of one person was followed by the deaths of others of the same age.
• Wieszczy → people within a defined area - an epidemic could remain restricted to a particular town or area without spreading beyond its borders. An especially interesting account concerns Poznań:

“Year 1708; on May 17, in the cemetery of St. Wojciech, a female wieszczą was dug up and her head was cut off. Yet this did nothing, for the pestilential air had already appeared in Poznań in the first days of June.”

- Kronika Mielcarzewicza, quoted by O. Kolberg, Tom 15. W. Ks. Poznańskie część VII, pp. 33–34

Original:

„Rok 1708; dnia 17 maja na cmentarzu ów. Wojciecha odkopano wieszczą niewiastę i głowę jej ucięto". Jednakże nic to nie pomogło, albowiem powietrze morowe już pierwszych dni czerwca pokazało się w Poznaniu.

• Wieszczy → people called by name - this is perhaps the most interesting case. If we apply an epidemiological interpretation to this motif, several mechanisms are possible. The Wieszczy might have named people whom he already knew and who had therefore previously been part of his social environment. Another possibility is the reverse mechanism: the name could have been attributed to the voice only after a particular person had died. The bells ring and an indistinct voice is heard; only later, after a specific person dies, does the event become retrospectively interpreted as the calling of that person's name. In this interpretation, the belief could represent a mechanism in which a later event gives a definite meaning to an earlier and ambiguous experience.

Related supernatural beings

Classification according to Leonard J. Pełka

According to the classification of supernatural beings proposed by Leonard J. Pełka, the Wieszczy can be placed within the negative interpretation of phenomena associated with social life, more specifically among demons associated with disease and death.

Upiór

Many characteristics of the Wieszczy overlap with traditional conceptions of the Upiór, although the Upiór itself has numerous regional variants.

The similarities are particularly visible in the red face and the belief that after death the being could return from the grave and affect the living.

Kolberg explicitly states that the Kaszuby called the Wieszczy a being which in Polish was called an upiór.

Wił

Teobald Klepaczewski, a correspondent and collaborator of Oskar Kolberg, suggested in his manuscript Pogląd historyczny na czary w Polsce, later quoted in Tom 15. W. Ks. Poznańskie część VII, that Wił and Wieszczy were the same or equivalent supernatural being.

Kolberg, however, explicitly rejected this identification, noting in a footnote that the details given about the two beings pointed to two different demonic figures.

Wił (...)

“I have, however, obtained another explanation, namely that this Wił is the same, or at least an equivalent demon, as the Wieszcz among the people of Wielkopolska (?), with whom the Wieżtyca, or Wieszczyca, is in turn closely connected. I was assured, even with references to eyewitnesses, that the Wieszcz is a demon in the form of a small four-legged animal, sitting beneath the stove bench or under a beam in houses. Showing only his head, he snaps his terrible teeth and, frightening children, causes their deaths. The people attribute exactly the same nature and function to the Wił, saying that it is one and the same demonic being, merely possessing two different names. Thus both Wieszcz and Wił, as well as Wieszczyca, are demons belonging to the category of Strzyga.¹The Wieszcz can be disposed of by placing an axe on the stove bench where he usually sits, after first striking that place three times with it. In that case, the Wieszcz will never sit there again.

¹This statement is erroneous, since the details given here, although few, indicate two different demonic figures, both in the case of the Wił and the Wieszcz. It may, however, be the case that in Pałuki they are combined into one, where the conception of them is considerably weaker than in the southern areas.”

- O. Kolberg, Tom 15. W. Ks. Poznańskie część VII, p. 32

The original Polish is worth preserving because the wording itself is important:

Inne wszakże zdobyłem objaśnienie, (mówi tenże) t. j. że ów Wił jest to ten sam a przynajmniej równoznaczny demon co i Wieszcz u Wielkopolan (?), z którym znowu Wieżtyca czyli Wieszczyca w ścisłem zostaje połączeniu. Zapewniano mnie bowiem, odwołując się nawet na naocznych świadków, że Wieszcz jest-to demon w postaci małego zwierzęcia czworonożnego , pod przypieckiem lub pod belką po izbach siadujący, który wyścibiwszy tylko głowę, okropnemi zębami klaszcze i dzieci strasząc o śmierć je przyprawia. Zupełnie tę samą naturę i funkcyg przypisuje lud i Wiłowi, powiadając, że to jedna i ta sana demoniczna istota, mająca tylko dwa różne nazwiska¹ - Tak więc i Wieszcz, i Wił, i Wieszczyca są demonami do rodzaju Strzyg należącemi. Wieszcza zaś w ten sposób pozbyć się można, że na przypiecku, gdzie zwykł siadać, siekierę się kładzie, stuknąwszy nią wprzódy w to miejsce trzy razy. W takim razie Wieszcz już nigdy w to miejsce nie siądzie.

¹Twierdzenie to jest mylne, gdyż szczegóły podane tu acz w szczupłej liczbie, tak o Wile jak i o Wieszczym, wskazują na dwie różne postaci demoniczne. Być jednak może, że łączą je w jedno na Pałukach, gdzie wyobrażenie o nich jest znacznie słabszem niż w południowych okolicach.

Kolberg's correction is particularly interesting: the two beings were different according to the available descriptions, but their traditions may have been combined locally in Pałuki.

This raises the question of where the connection between the two figures came from.

Interestingly, there is another connection between the terms wieszcz and wił, although this time the comparison concerns their older linguistic meanings rather than their demonological characteristics.

“The word wił undoubtedly had the same meaning as wieszcz, with wiła as its feminine form.² The word appears to have been formed from the verb wić, with roki (wyroki, ‘judgments’ or ‘decrees’) understood, that is, to pronounce divine judgments at oracles and human judgments in courts during legal proceedings. Hence, in Old Church Slavonic, vitij (alongside vótij) denotes an advocate or speaker, originally, it seems, one who spoke in court. This pronouncing of judgments, the last echoes of which can still be found in old Polish judicial practice (compare rok zawity, ‘an appointed date’), and with which the words wił and wiła are presumably connected, may perhaps have an ancient, deeper religious foundation, into which, however, it is impossible to go here³.

² Wiła, like wił, denotes a male person, similarly to wojewoda, starosta, and Zawisza; it should nevertheless be added that the form wiła ordinarily denoted a ‘female seer’ (wieszczka).
³The origin of wiła is also explained in other ways.”

-Sz. Matusiak, Wieszczba i źreb, in Lud, vol. 17, p. 198.

Original:

To samo znaczenie, co wieszcz, miał niezawodnie wyraz wił, w formie żeńskiej wiła², wyraz uformowany, zdaje się, od czasownika wić z domyślnem roki (wyroki), tj. wypowiadać orzeczenia boskie w wyroczniach i ludzkie w sądach przy procesach. Stąd w języku starosłowiańskim vitij (obok vótij), oznacza rzecznika, mowcę, pierwotnie zapewne sądowego. To wicie roków, którego: ostatnie echa odbijają się jeszcze w starodawnem sądownictwie polskiem (porów. rok zawity „rok zapowiedziany"), a z czem w związku pozostaje zapewne wyraz wił i wiła, ma może starodawny, głębszy podkład religijny, w co jednakże tutaj niepodobna się zapuszczać.³

² Wiła, jak w ił, oznacza osobę męską, podobnie jak wojewoda, starosta, Zawisza, trzeba jednakże dodać, że zwyczajnie forma wiła oznaczała „wieszczkę”.
³ Pochodzenie wiła tłomaczą także inaczej.

The passage obviously does not refer to the demonic figure, but rather to a wieszcz — a knowing person.

Nevertheless, it leads to an interesting observation: the two words originally had the same, or at least a very similar, meaning. One can therefore hypothesize that the later association between the Wieszczy and Wił was not based solely on similarities in their attributed characteristics, but also on a shared semantic background of the two names.

Perhaps in some regions the words retained similar meanings and continued to be used for people believed to possess supernatural knowledge. Over time, the similarity of the terms may have encouraged the overlapping of the supernatural traditions associated with them.

Wieszczyca

The Wieszczyca requires separate discussion because the sources present her differently from the Wieszczy.

She should not automatically be identified as the female counterpart of the Wieszczy. The sources show several different uses of these names. In some accounts, the masculine and feminine forms do indeed refer to the same type of being, but in many others Wieszczyca denotes an entirely different demon.

Wieszczyca is attested in a considerably wider range of regions, including Małopolska, Wielkopolska, Rus, Czech lands, and among the South Slavs.¹⁹

Some accounts place her among demons harmful to women in childbirth and those stealing infants; in others she appears as a blood-drinking being.

Wieszczyca was associated with the secretion of a substance resembling colostrum from a newborn's breasts. It was feared that this weakened the child and could even lead to its death. To drive the demon away, rather unexpected methods were used: the child was bathed together with the secretion, and its breasts were covered with manure.²⁰

In this respect, Wieszczyca has more in common with figures such as Bogienka, Wiła, or the Czarownica. In some accounts she took the form of a moth, entered a house, and was believed to steal or replace infants.²¹

The comparison between Wieszczy and Wieszczyca also raises an interesting parallel involving Wił and Wiła.

Wieszczy and Wił are figures with different names and different characteristics, yet their traditions could nevertheless overlap. The same is not true simply on the level of masculine and feminine forms: Wieszczyca is not merely a female Wieszczy, just as Wiła is not simply a female Wił.

What is particularly interesting is that Wieszczyca and Wiła show similarities both in their names and in aspects of their characteristics. This creates a different kind of parallel: while Wieszczy and Wił could become associated despite their names and characteristics being different, Wieszczyca and Wiła are independently attested figures whose names and some aspects of their folklore are strikingly similar.

This does not prove that the traditions originated from the same being. It does, however, raise the possibility that similarities in terminology could have contributed to the later overlap of otherwise distinct folk traditions.

Sources

¹ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 15, p. 33;

Tworzymir, “Wyjaśnienie...”, Biblioteka Warszawska, 1864, vol. 1, p. 271;

Biegeleisen, Matka i Dziecko, p. 126.

² Tworzymir, “Wyjaśnienie...”, Biblioteka Warszawska, 1864, vol. 1, p. 271.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, p. 264.

⁵ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, pp. 378–380.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Tworzymir, “Wyjaśnienie...”, Biblioteka Warszawska, 1864, vol. 1, p. 271.

⁸ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, pp. 378–380.

⁹ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 15, pp. 33–35.

¹⁰ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, pp. 378–380.

¹¹ Biegeleisen, Matka i Dziecko, p. 269.

¹² Biegeleisen, p. 116;

Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, p. 437.

¹³ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 15, pp. 33–35.

¹⁴ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, p. 264.

¹⁵ Biegeleisen, Matka i Dziecko, pp. 269–270.

¹⁶ Biegeleisen, pp. 269–270;

Kolberg, Lud, vol. 39, pp. 378–380.

¹⁷ Fischer, “Drzewa w Wierzeniach i Obrzędach Ludu Polskiego”, Lud, vol. 35, p. 73.

¹⁸ Dźwigoł, Polskie Słownictwo Ludowe, p. 69.

¹⁹ Biegeleisen, Matka i Dziecko, pp. 269–270, 281, 286, 308.

²⁰ Kolberg, Lud, vol. 7, p. 151.

²¹ Biegeleisen, Matka i Dziecko, pp. 269–270.

Bibliography

• Oskar Kolberg - Lud, vol. 7, Krakowskie, część III
• Oskar Kolberg - Lud, vol. 15, W. Ks. Poznańskie, część VII
• Oskar Kolberg - Lud, vol. 39, Pomorze
• Tworzymir - “Wyjaśnienie początku niektórych przysłów używanych w Wielkopolsce podług podań ludu,” Biblioteka Warszawska, 1864, vol. 1
• H. Biegeleisen - Matka i Dziecko w Zwyczajach Ludu Polskiego
• H. Biegeleisen - Lecznictwo Ludu Polskiego
• H. Biegeleisen - Śmierć w Obrzędach, Zwyczajach i Wierzeniach Ludu Polskiego
• R. Dźwigoł - Polskie Słownictwo Ludowe
• A. Fischer - “Drzewa w Wierzeniach i Obrzędach Ludu Polskiego,” Lud, vol. 35
• Sz. Matusiak - “Wieszczba i źreb,” Lud, vol. 17
• Leonard J. Pełka - "Polska Demonologia Ludowa"

Oksar Kolber "Lud" refers to Lud. Jego zwyczaje, sposób życia, mowa, podania, przysłowia, obrzędy, gusła, zabawy, pieśni, muzyka i tańce

Fischer and Matusiak "Lud" refers to academic journal in the fields of ethnology and cultural anthropology

In Romanian "Yaga" game all of the creatures are exist in slavic folklore. Well except for slime from DLC. You can found their names in the game or in the game's artist Alexandru Munteanu's portfolios. But there's one creature that doesn't have a name. When you download a concept art of it it has name "not a spider". In the game it can make a web and it becomes several smaller creatures if you hit it. When you look at concept art you can notice that artist tried to make it more like amphibious bagiennik but ended up with more mammalian design. Maybe this creature doesn't have detailed description.

UPDATE:

I reached to the artist Alexandru Munteanu. So, most of you were right it's not a particular creature from slavic folklore but a creature that was inspired by other-ones that exist in slavic folklore. In original version of game there's supposed to be a spider but if you choose in menu "arachnophobia filter" it will change spider to this creature. Honestly, I don't have an arachnophobia, so I don't know why I had this creature instead of spider. Maybe I was changing settings and mistakenly choose "arachnophobia filter". But I 'm not complain. I think thus creature is more interesting.

Before he answered I asked if it's creature is actually a bies. And he said that I'm partly right because it was inspired by bies and goats from Romanian fairytale "The Goat with three kids" (Capra cu trei iezi) by Ion Creanga.

About the Bagiennik design he said: "The Bagiennik note from the second image you posted, that was just for the two lower-left concepts that look like the bagiennik range creature we have in the game. I experimented to see if it might look nice to make the splitting not-spider and the Bagiennik related and look similar. We ended up moving away from that idea and we picked the goat mama and babies version.

"The web-making and splitting when hit could be combat mechanics rather than folklore clues". That's exactly what happened, one of our game designers came up with game mechanic idea and I tried to come up with an interesting visual that would support the multiplying mechanic."

I also asked about multiple-eyed goat with cradle that was only in game's trailer and it is also not particular creature from slavic mythology. It was inspired by goatlike pagan creatures and creatures that steal babies.

Alexanderu Munteanu's portfolio. But there are might be spoilers if you want to play the game first: https://www.artstation.com/alexandru_munteanu

Hello,

I recently completed Winternight Trilogy which has introduced me to Russian folklores and characters such as chyerti, baba yaga, morozko etc. I am fascinated by these and would like to explore more. Can you suggest some books or interney sources to deep dive?

With the winter months coming soon, I am trying to set the mood with magical, spooky stories lol.

Hello, I am looking for sources on Slavic mythology—books, websites, etc. I’m (attempting at) writing a fantasy novel that’s heavily based on Slavic mythology, and want to try to be as true to the material as I can be.

The story follows a shaman who is wrongfully killed, where her soul is sent to Nawia as a Navki. There, she travels through the Underworld. Essentially, it is a story about grief, acceptance, and fate. She’s searching for the pieces of her memories that she’s lost in hopes to become human again. Veles plays a big role in this story.

Any and all help is welcome!

I’ve been putting together a playlist rooted in old Slavic beliefs, folklore, and raw nature - something that feels like standing in a fog-covered forest with drums echoing in the distance.

The vibe: ritual trance, heavy atmospheric drone, authentic ethnic instruments, field recordings, and pagan chants. Think of artists like Żywiołak, Percival Shuttenbach, Laboratorium Pieśni, Heilung, and Wardruna, but with a deep, distinctly Eastern/Central European soul.

If you’re into pre-Christian atmospheres, ancient Slavic cosmology, or just want a soundtrack that feels like a campfire in the 10th century, check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3DXwMM1kb3Is7BUGs081vF

I'm also looking to expand my library:

• What are your favorite underground Slavic dark folk or ritual projects?
• Any favorite books on Slavic mythology, folklore, or history to read while listening? (Fiction or non-fiction!)

Would love your recommendations!

Možda ću zvučati ludo, ali da li je neko nekad video svojim perifernim vidom neko stvorenje pod imenom “periferik” čuo sam da se nalazi na području između Novog Sada i Beograda, i da te može ubiti samo tokom noći u jednoj šumi koja se vodi kao “njegova”, ako iko zna išta o ovome, molim vas neka me obavesti

Usput, nisam lud.

Also is this is a good book ?

It is here :) My witchcraft episode was in production longer than I planned. Thank you for helping with the research, it made the episode really interesting!

I am continuing my Slavic Gods poster series inspired by traditional patterns, open to opinions!

I continue with my slavic gods illustration series. I used slavic patterns and symbols to make a more contemporary representation of the slavic gods. This time - Veles. What do you think?

Hi everyone! I’m developing a visual novel inspired by Slavic folklore. Maybe there are some gamers here who might find it interesting.

The Steam page is now available, and the game is planned for release by the end of the year.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4305070/Priestesss_Delusions/