Lien Gwerin is a magazine that retells Cornish folk stories, so a lot of the material has already been claimed for the gazetteer project through its trawling of Victorian collectors of Cornish material. Similarly, its editor is Alex Livingstone, and there’s some crossover of material with his book, which has already been harvested for story hooks. That being noted, I’ve pulled a few pages of notes from the first two issues, and I’d like to distribute them so people can incorporate them into their sagas before the gazetteer is complete. This is particularly important now that I’ve decided to drag the three volumes by Bottrell into the work, which will blow out the completion date.
These notes are spare, almost point form, and so they wouldn’t make good podcast copy. Some will be added directly to the gazetteer, but the chunk about Looe Island is likely to get its own episode, as it seems a likely covenant site. Although I’ve boiled down these magazines for plot hooks, if you are setting a game in Cornwall you might find them useful: I’ve deliberately excluded many stories which are from after the usual start date of 1220, but which could be told with minor changes in detail.
Notes
The witches of Saint Eonder can take the shape of hares, and ride ragwort.
St Piran lived to the age of 206, and died by falling down a well while drunk. At this time, he still had clear eyes and all of his teeth, so he had some sort of immortality thing going on. His first converts were a fox, badger and a bear.
The smith’s stone at St Mabyn kept away the devil until it was stolen. The devil tempted a farmer to do this, and cut it up for gateposts.
Looe Island has a tunnel to the mainland. It has many caves, which are “Etruscan” according to a couple of random antiquarians. The island belongs to Glastonbury Abbey from 1144 to 1289.
There are at least three ghosts of Looe Island. There is a dark-skinned man with blood on his face. There is an aristocratic, long-fingered man with long hair who emerges from a blue light. There is a white hare which warns of storms and is the spirit of a girl who committed suicide when wronged by her suitor. Apparently this happens a lot in Cornwall, so there are several of these hares about as potential familiars.
One story mentions that faeries are apparently the ancient, pagan dead. They worship the stars, and can take the form of any bird.
Faerie is accessible through mounds and tunnels. We don’t need the woodlands they have everywhere else. Some people are drawn into Faerie by following a tune, sleeping, or crossing a stream. It is abundant and beautiful.
In Rillaton there are two black dogs. The ghost of a druid appears to people and asks for water. He died when refused by a local lord, and so now the local lord is cursed to always give food and water to travellers. The location of the druid’s grave in known (it overlooks the town). He was buried with his sword, knife and cup. The Rilllaton Cup is a real world object.
Games From Folktales 