This will be my scottisch ssa. A tough guy who hunts werewolfs in place of deers.
He just needs a cool name.
Very nice model superbly painted.
A name suggestion - Wulver Sealgair
Wulver is a werewolf type creature fro the mythology of the Shetland Isles (it is not usually evil though) but it is the closest I can get
http://www.bletherskite.net/2010/10/23/the-scottish-wulver-the-kindly-werewolf/Sealgair is Scottish Gaelic for "hunter"or "predator"
So literally - Werewolf Hunter
From: Saxby Jessie (1932). Shetland Traditional Lore. Edinburgh, Grant & Murray. ASIN: B000O9XQ6M.
A Wulver is a kind of werewolf described as a man, covered with short brown hair but with a wolf's head. He lived in a cave and kept to himself and was not aggressive if left in peace. He was apparently to be seen fishing.
The ancient Celts believed that the wulver evolved from wolves, and that the Wulver symbolized the intermediary phase between wolf and man. Wulvers were considered to be kind hearted and would guide lost travellers to nearby villages. The wulver was an evil-looking, but harmless creature that looked like a man with a wolf’s head. The last reported sighting was early in the 20th century.
There are conditions such as hypertrichosis (excessive hair growth over the entire body) which would explain the Wulver. There is also a mental disorder called clinical lycanthropy, in which an affected person has a delusional belief that they are transforming into another animal, although not always a wolf . It is a rare condition. So were wulvers just a poor human with a condition that made them outcasts? It is a genetic condition and a place like the Shetlands centuries ago would be quite isolated and families would marry into each other passing the genes on. This would also explain the kind heartedness of the Wulver, not the aggressive werewolf of legend, but a man outcast due to his inherited condition.
Also in the Irish Gaelic tradition the Faoladh which is a shapeshifter is a benign creature.
http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/1203825The Irish werewolf is different from the Teutonic or European werewolf, as it is really not a "monster" at all. Unlike its continental cousins, this shapeshifter is the guardian and protector of children, wounded men and lost persons. According to some ancient sources, the Irish werewolves were even recruited by kings in time of war. Known in their native land as the faoladh or conroicht, their predatory behaviour is typical of the common wolf, not beneath the occasional nocturnal raid on local sheep or cattle herds. If attacked or surprised while in wolf form, they usually simply run off because this causes them to shift back into their more vulnerable human form. However, after changing back into a man or woman, evidence of their lupine adventure remains on their bodies. If wounded, the injury remains. If they kill a sheep or cow, the telltale bloodstains stay on their faces and hands.
The most famous of the mythical Irish werewolves are the people of Ossory (modern day Kilkenny) whose legends live on even today. Among other lingering tales, the Ossory folk were documented by none other than Giraldus Cambrensis who, in the year 1185 transcribed what was no doubt a much older, oral folktale. According to Giraldus, the Ossory werewolves worked in pairs, male and female. A chosen couple lived as wolves for seven years before returning to human form to be replaced by a matched set of two others. During their time as wolves, they fed from the herds but this was taken as their due for watching over wandering children, healing the wounded, and guiding lost strangers to safety.
Despite the fact that this is a pre-Christian folk belief, the Irish werewolves eventually gained a reputation for being under a curse from either St Natalia (St Nailè) or, naturally, St Patrick as punishment for some vague transgression committed long ago. If you read Giraldus' account of these creatures, it is easy to separate what may be the original tale from his preachy commentary at the end.
20 May 2013, 12:39:38 PM