Lempo - the Finnic god of Fertility, Fire & Fighting

I could have written a lengthy tirade on comparative mythology, folklore, magic etc. (I do have an academic degree therein, you know) but instead opted for this (somewhat) brief posting. For further information on the subject, don’t PM me, unless you happen to be a RPG publisher or something resembling it 😉

Lempo aka Lemminkäinen (various renderings of the name into English could include “the fiery/lusty/loving one”) can be regarded as the Finnic fertility/fire/war god. Never mind what the Kalevala tells you about him…reducing the character to the status of a “mere” hero. I have based my take on the decades and centuries of scholarship on Finnic folklore, as befits an obsessive Judge and shut-in nerd of questionable sanity.

A bit of background: for a while now, I have been running a DCC RPG campaing set in mythic Europe, more precisely in the Nordic countries. A mixture of historical and fantastical lore, featuring Finnic/”Kalevala” stuff, the Germanic/Scandinavian mythologies and whatnot. The time period in question could perhaps be “our real world” during 800-1200 CE, with the added utopia of the monotonic monotheistic religions never dethroning our more…organic and balanced ways. Romantic enough for you? 😀

Anyway, I hereby present my write-ups (based on the format in the splendid DCC RPG resource Divinities and Cults) for the god Lempo, in both Finnish and English:

Love,

MM

DCC deity – Lempo, God of Fertility, Fire & Fighting

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DCC jumaluus – Lempo, Tuuppailun, Tulen ja Tappelun Jumala

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Header illustration by Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808-1873).