I found that I’d rather pursue researching Arctic Mythology more than Travel/Touring because I can incorporate it into escapism. I found an abundance of different tales and creatures that maybe be good for a starting point in a gamifiable story. In this im going to go over some of these.
Mahaha is a creature that resembles an emaciated frozen eskimo, they’re dressed in torn Eskimo clothes. Their skin are blue because of the cold and frostbite. The unique behavior about these beings are that they tickle their victims to death, the creepiest part of this is that when their victims are dead they have a smile on their face.
Qallupilluk. The Qallupilluit. are said to be ocean creatures that steals children through cracks in the ice, this was often a way parents would scare their children to come inside. There’s no explanation to why they steal children. Some people say that it’s because they’re lonely. Others think it’s so they can eat them. Some variations of Qallupilluit mythology say that the child stolen will either die or turn into a mermaid to live underwater with the Qallupilluk that took them.
Tariaksuq are known as shadow people, they’re humanoid creatures associated with shadows and invisibility. It is said that, they are basically the same as any other human being. They have houses, families, weapons, tools, and more. The unique thing about this being is that they are not visible by looking straight at them. When you look directly at them they either disappear into a separate world which they occupy or they are only seen for the shadow they cast. They only become visible when they are killed.
Tuniit are large humanlike beings, they’re said to be shy, and less intelligent than normal inuit people but they’re extremely strong. It is also said they’re the First Inhabitants in the arctic but were easily scared off by the dorset/inuit people. There’s research to say that they actually existed as there’s object and remnant that’ve been found. I like this because of how similar it is to the stereotype of big bodybuilders nowadays.
I don’t see the point of reciting more as they’re all in my research folder. I’d like to maybe incorporate some of these creatures and stories into today’s cultures and create a game from that. For example in the tale ‘The Giant Dog’ it’s about a man who had a giant dog that he could ride. The man who owned it had a wife, they weren’t able to have kids, so the man gave the dog an amulet that he would’ve otherwise given to his child. The dog grew so big that it ended up eating people so they had to flee to different places. A way I could implement this into a game is that I could modernize and maybe under exaggerate the story, so that it’s about a couple who can’t have kids, so they adopt a dog, the dog then could be so badly behaved that it would end up biting someone. Because the couple viewed the dog as their child they flee so the dog cant be put down, I know it’s a bad idea at the moment but maybe I’d be able to develop it into something better if I go ahead with this topic.
Because I was so interested with this topic I decided to briefly dive into current research for science in the arctic. I could then maybe couple a story with a group of researchers stumbling across these creatures. Or possibly with the melting ice caps from global warming it could uncover these creatures.