A camp question Mizzle may seriously put to the Warriors Three:
Shiny is definitely the charismatic Dashing Fandrel. Tiny’s dedication to his work makes him Grim Hogun. Whiney complains about how hard he’s being made to labor, so Voluminous Volstagg. (I’ve also always thought Whiney was the biggest, so that fits, so to speak, too.)
“who are the heroes of your culture - the people you respect and aspire to emulate? What are their stories and which of those are your favorites?”
With the Urgent Care business, this is just throwing some ideas I had out there.
I have the sense of Treshenko (esp. since Thule fell) as being isolated, and also a bit different as being an animalkin village. That has some cultural impact I haven’t quite parsed.
One hero is Grindle, a cat-kin who went off to the wars. The story is that a group of the Archmagus’ troops, led by lieutenant with a funny accent, came to Treshenko and demanded someone to serve serve in the AM’s army as “tribute.” Grindle volunteered and went off with them, never to return. Stories from there differ:
- He faithfully served in the AM’s forces, cleverly making sure that Treshenko got omitted from any future levies (a catburgled map office, a claw in the dark with the funny accented guy, etc.).
- He let his indolence and disdain for orders – characteristics of any true cat – sabotage any future desire to recruit such obviously unsuitable sorts as those animalkin.
- He deserted and joined the resistance / opposition to the AM, and helped bring him down.
All that is known is that he didn’t return. Some day he died valiantly. Other say he found some very nice, sunny spot to retire to
Another hero is a horse-kin named Voder. During a terrible winter in generations past (when such things were rare), a blizzard cut off the city from any supplies. All would have been doomed, had not Voder volunteered to go for help. He managed to make it to civilization (some say as far as Thule, though others note there were settlements far closer, at least in those days), and bring back food, coal, and medical supplies to Treshenko, nearly dying in the process (insert daring adventures against wolves and defiant strength against the elements). He was lauded as a hero, and the town survived to the next spring.
(A variant tale says that Voder died, but that his indomitable spirit pulled the cart through the snow to the village, before disappearing in a rain of sparks).
No statues are erected to either of these heroes. It’s not that kind of town. Nor are there official records to show that either of them existed. The stories are told, often around winter fires, and expanded on, questioned, commented about, evolved, grown. Even for a small village, there’s a lot of oral history there, waiting for some future Homer to pin it down.
For the TBs, what inspires them about both heroic myths is multifaceted. There’s the idea (esp. with Whiny) of the heroic journey, outside the bounds of their little village. With both figures, there’s a sense (esp. to Tiny) of sacrifice for duty. And, to a bit of meta for them (esp. Shiny), the idea of being talked about at every fire (in a good way) is a little appealing to them.
There are probably some specific stories I could (and maybe will) get into, but that’s what I got.