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Part 4

Veres Plakun (He who cradles the dead)

From evening until morning he walks through the cemeteries and plays the song of the dead. His music sounds like the howling of the wind in empty bones. It is a lullaby for those who died a violent death or committed suicide. The living are forbidden to hear such things, they can become mute and turn gray. After the funeral, you cannot visit the deceased for two days and two nights. On the fresh grave, Veres will cry bloody tears and lull the deceased so that he does not walk on the earth at night. Half of his face is hidden by a wreath of wormwood and juniper, and from under the wreath, bloody tears flow in streams. Veres can show you your coming death. To do this, bring two wreaths of dried flowers, a juniper branch and a flute to the cemetery on a cloudy day. Stick the juniper into the ground and sprinkle it with your blood, then Veres the Plakun will appear and stand in front of you. Put one wreath of dried flowers on your head and give the other to the guest. And play the flute for him. After this, you can ask your question. Veres will take off his wreath of wormwood and juniper. If he likes your flute playing, you will see your death. But if he does not like your music, you will see his empty, bleeding eye sockets, eaten away by cadaverous worms. He will tear your soul apart. You will lose your mind, and your eyes will rot.

#arkonarussia #arkona #vladimir volf #pagan folk #russian folklore #fairy tail #slavic chthonic #bestiary #art #dark art #dark aesthetic

Part 3

Lesnoy Nestervnik (Forest Necromancer)

When night falls, he emerges from the earth to return the dead to her. In the darkness, he wanders through the forest and rattles skulls on his staff. Like a shepherd, he calls to himself the remains of dead animals. On his staff are many skulls from bears to birds, but not a single human. People bury each other themselves. With one eye, Nestervnik sees the souls of the dead, and with the other eye, he kills the living. All night long, dead animals and birds follow him. From all over the forest, remains come to life and rise, rattle their bones and follow the shepherd. At dawn, Nestervnik will open the earth with his staff and lead the dead away so that they can find peace. If you encounter living remains of animals in the forest at night, do not stand in their way. Be silent so that the dead can hear the call of the staff. Stay away from the forest dead. If you stand in their way or are caught by Nestervnik, you will not be able to escape. He will kill you with his dead eye and lead you away. You will go underground with the forest cattle, and everyone will forget about you.

#arkonarussia #arkona #ruslan knyaz #russian folklore #slavic chthonic #fairy tail #dark art #art #dark aesthetic #bestiary #pagan folk

Part 2

Vreteten (turnskin).

He is neither a man nor a beast. A turnskin in a goat's skull. As soon as the full moon rises, he appears out of nowhere and goes hunting to eat his fill before the waning moon. He spins counterclockwise and takes different forms: he grows wings, he turns into a beast with a human head... He screams like a man and never takes off his goat skull, because the skull replaces his face. During the day, he runs through forests and forest edges, catching animals and birds. At dusk, the monster hunts people. He turns into an old woman or a dog, hides the skull in thick fur or under a hat and waits on the trail for those who cannot sit at home. If you do not lock the cattle in the barn at sunset, Vreteten will leave only bones and hooves. Many tried to catch him, but all was in vain. As soon as they caught up with the monster, it fell through the ground. Do not walk in the forests during the full moon, stay home. But if you spot a creature in the goat's skull in the dark, keep quiet and don't let it see you. If it does, it will definitely catch up with its prey, because human flesh is the sweetest thing for it.

#arkonarussia #arkona #art #russian folklore #slavic chthonic #pagan #pagan folk #dark art #dark aesthetic #fairy tail #sergey lazar #bestiary

These drawings turned out so big that they didn't fit into my scanner... In 2023, the Arkona group released the album "Kob". This music inspired me to create a small bestiary. Four images, also inspired by the new stage images of the band. The drawings are made with charcoal pencil and blood. The references to the font are taken partly from the poluustav (manuscripts in ancient Greek and Slavic manuscripts), partly from the old poem "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (Слово о полку Игореве). I did not plan to place it here, but I will try to roughly translate the text (my English is very bad)

So. Part 1.

Rudaya (witch of the bloody swamps).

There is a salty fog over those swamps, and the water in the quagmire is thick and red. Animals do not walk there, birds do not fly. You cannot hear the crunch of branches, the rustle of leaves. You can only hear the hungry gurgle in the duckweed. Neither the sun nor the moon are visible there, either day or night. In the scarlet twilight, the mistress wanders along the loose wet hummocks. She wanders silently, so as not to scare off her prey - an unwary traveler or a lost animal. If she spots you, she will command the living swamp mud to entangle your feet and drag you to the bottom. Once you hide under the duckweed, you will dissolve. There will be nothing left of you. This quagmire is like a porridge of flesh. The mistress is one with it and cannot leave it. But with each meal, these deadly swamps spread wider and further. If you are lost in the forest and smell blood in the air and red moisture begins to settle on your skin, walk away from there backwards. Otherwise, Rudaya will grab you by the back and drag you into the swamp.