Lithuanian Mythology, Culture, etc.

Well, it’s not totally a Baltic setting, there is also some Slavic folklore (I’m also Polish, but only a little bit), Celtic folklore (I’m Irish), and Norse folklore in there as well. And, there’s Australian Aboriginal and Natuve American folklore in there as well (I live in Australia and have an Australian citizenship and passport though I don’t feel Australian, and I am American and Canadian and was born in New York). I also have some Asian stuff in it as well and the Arthurian tales have a big part in the world as well... but everyone uses different mythologies and the,es in their world and I’m going in a tangent so I’ll stop. It’s just worth noting that I didn’t just use Baltic mythology althoug that’s the main part of the world.

It was also a little hard to make a a Baltic inspired world as there was just not much material to go on, so there was not much of a ‘mood’ of Baltic mythology like you get with Norse mythology and Greek mythology and Chinese and Indian mythology, etc. so I had to ‘fill in the gaps’ so to say with cultures nearby Latvia and Lithuania that I know influence Baltic mythology (Finnish, Norse, Germanic, and Slavic mytthology) to create a ‘mood’ or ‘feel’ for the world and fir Baltic mythology in general. I took from Celtic mythology as well even though it wasn’t really nearby Latvia and Lithuania.

Anyway, now here’s what you asked for, sorry fir such a long ‘foreward’ but I sort if needed it if you were to understand the settinf fully.

So here’s the ‘back if the book blurb’ as you called it:

To the very north of the world lie the Balzak kingdoms. In the west there are the three Gramd Duchies that are the remnants if the ince powerful kingdom - The Kingdom of Lietuva. Those three Grand Duchies are the Grand Duchy of Liet, the Grand Duchy of Liev, and the Grand Duchy of Nuov. To the east lies the great Kingdom of Livonia. To the very north lies the Fisherman Kingdom of Lohong, a small kingdom of a couple villages near the sea, whose people came from across the sea, and whose kings are proud fishermen. In the northern tundra, 5e very north of all 5e Balzak Kingdoms (except for Lohong, which is beside the tundra) live the great and fearsome orcs - red eyed with tusks, and with hair all over. Not orcs are evil, and many of them are good people but mostnof them are. They live in tribes - the tribe of the bear, the tribe of 5e deer, the tribe of the raven. Their kings wear two horns kn his helm, the symbol of kingship. Their males are six to eight feet tall, whereas the females are only four to five feet tall, however it is only the females who can wield great magic. The orcs believe in the Dreaming if the world and the spirits which reside in everything and their great Orc warrior gods - Odin, Thor, Loki, and others.

The humans of the remnants of the Kingdom of Lietuva and of the Kingdom of Livonia believe in the Dreaming and the Rainbow Serpent as well, but they have different gods. Saule, Mēness, Perkūnas, Laima, and Māra, as well as the two ‘rulers’ of the pantheon - Dievs and Velns. Saule and Mēness is th goddess and god of the sun and moon. Perkūnas is the god of thunder and lightning and carries a hammer and is called the Smith of the Sky. Laima is the goddess of luck and determines the fate of men and women up until death, where Laima chooses whether they live or die, and sometimes argues with Dievs, the ruler of the pantheon upon their fate. And finally Māra is the goddess of women and childbirtth amongst other things, and stays by Laima’s side when a woman is giving birth. Dievs is the ruler of the of the pantheon and Velns is the god of death and 5e underworld.

Before the Kingdom of Lietuva therw were many different warring kingdoms in its place until the first and last king of 5e Kingdom of Lietuva unitednthem all into one kingdom. This was King Mindaugas of the Golden Hall, or King Mindaugas of the Golden Hoard. He lived until his sonm birthed from his half sister, an evil witch, rebelled against King Mindaugas’ court and out poison in his drink so he would die. The kingdom went into chaos, and although King Mindaugas’ son was killed and and hus army pushed back, there was no clear heir to Mindaugas’ throne so then became the three Grand Duchies, based loosely on the dukedoms that existed in the kingdom beforehand which were in turn based on the kingdoms and that existed before Mindaugas’ kingdom. That happened around two thousand years ago, and King Mindaugas’ famous golden hall and his golden city are lost to the wilderness, and his golden treasures are scattered across the Balzak Kingdoms and in the orc lands amd perhaps even in the lands to the south and to the east and to the west of the world...

There are also the elves, who dance their eternal dances in fey forests and live for a thousand years and are semi-divine and are somewhat strange to humans. And there are also the Hillfolk, who dwell in the Hollow Hills and craft magnificient wonders and are strange to humans the same way the elves are, and they are small creatures - only three to five feet tall in hight, are great warriors, and have little fawn-like horns on their head. These are also called gnomes. There are also halflings and dwarves as well.

That was a little longer than I thought it was going ti be and probably longer than you wanted it to be! It is woth noting that I like the old-school way of gaming a lot, so it’s a low magic world and there aren’t really many elf kingdoms or gnome kingdoms, and the emphasis is on the humans. The dwarves have kingdoms, being similar to humans, and the halflings have their peaceful shires oe they live with humans in cities. The halflings are more like Tolkienesque hobbits and have furry feet and aren’t very adventuresome.

Anyway, I still need more unformation of Baltic mythology! And I hope you enjoyed the description of the world.