Ardeschi folklore

This is a list of characters in the pop culture and folklore of Red Ardesch, and supposed ghosts associated with Red Ardesch and its slain armies.

## Ardeschi pop culture

* Boesarlo Vonnedarnso - a pilot who appeared in a TV show with lessons. He had male and female lovers.

## Ardeschi folk characters

* Danrusolto - a folk tale and a love story between two men
* Spento - a woman who was killed, and who returned as a ghost to avenge her death and kill her murderers. Her weapon was a knight's longsword dipped with blood.
	+ In the Ardeschi version, her neck was covered with blood, and her weapons were changed to a chainsaw and a coffee jug filled with wrath. The Red Ardeschi government also replaced her husband with a girlfriend.
	+ After the collapse of Red Ardesch, her character was later used as a festive costume by women to scare or fight in mock duels with their friends.
	+ Various remakes known as "The Blood Knight" are popular among young women and men for the characters' armour and personality. To a lesser extent, some remakes were also popular due to blood and sex appeal to men.

* veisse - sorcerer, wizard, seer
* veitar - seer, wise one, wizard, mage, ascetic

## Ardeschi mythical characters

* Rueche - messenger of the god of harvests and death, Sylpeno. Depicted as a pumpkin-headed rider of a black horse who steals the third member of any group to be a scout of Sylpeno's dark underworld.
	+ Multiple Rueches are known as gleihcoknar.
* Viltinmo - a grey-robed wizard in a pointed hat, supposedly a bringer of secret knowledge or coming disaster. The god of sorcery and knowledge. Syncretised with Odin in some countries.
* Elgirze - two men who ride on elks. The gods and guides of hunters.
	+ Sometimes depicted as the heralds or chief sons of King Kernonne.
* Maehcartil - a man in dark robes whose eyes burn like fiery stars. Sometimes the god of death, in southern Ardesch.
* Chortoglex - the green knight of the Tenth Age.
* Haarstaglos - the black knight of the Tenth Age.

### Gods

* Azejon - king of the solar gods
* Dazelgon - king of the sky, thunder, and all the gods. Even Azejon, the sea gods, and other divine rulers bow to him as their ultimate judge.
	+ Every month, the highest gods sit in a great council to determine great actions to benefit and protect the world. The Ardeschen New Year, from ancient times to now, is celebrated with several actors dressed up as those gods in a televised drama.
* Sylpeno - god of death and harvests
* Vaimaaros - god of the northern seas
* Velturnos - god of the southern seas
* Vessurnar - god of fire
* Finaare - death goddess, destroyer, devourer
	+ Source of the curse: "Doffinaar" (go to Finaare/destruction)
* Valmaros - god of the west and war. He rules over the hall of Polaarus.
* Vilaros - god of the east and war
* Elbantoros - god of the hunt, luck, and games
* Kunomaan, Kontomandos - hunter god who rides on a deer
* Nermandos - sea god
* Trunaglar - the green god of nobility and high classical art
* Sornares - goddess of forests, water, and the moon. The unicorn is her sacred animal. She is often seen wearing a crown or a veil, and raising a sword or a glass of holy water.
* Four Fey Kings and Queens
* Kaldairae - goddess of fairies and magic. Daughter of Trunaglar and Sornares.
* Tandaaros - god of royalty, gold, luxury, and beauty. Son of Trunaglar and Sornares.
* Azolox - god of ash, fire, volcanoes, drought, and the tropics

### Syncretised gods

* Skulia - Skuld, the Norse goddess of the future. Revered as the keeper of knowledge and the mistress of technology.
* Kernono, Kernonne - Kernonn, the Goidelic god of war and the hunt. Often depicted as a man with the antlers of a deer, holding a spear. Revered by commoners for good luck. He is believed to live within the mountainous forests of northern Ardesch.
* Holta, Solta - Holta, the Goidelic mother goddess. Sometimes she is also the goddess of justice and vengeance.
* Helios, Helire, Hcelire - the sun god of Archonia, a popular hero in Ardeschen folklore.
* Athanaia - Athena, Archonian goddess of order, civilisation, and science. Rival of Artamis, goddess of frenzy and the forest.
	+ Local names include Asensare or Sanaria.
* Artamis - Artemis, Archonian goddess of chaos, desire, sensuality, madness, and the forest. Rival of Athanaia and her love of order.
	+ Her rivalry with Athanaia, and fights against each other, were a comedic story in regional folklore. It may be compared to Tom and Jerry, but with magical goddesses.
	+ Local names include Artinera and Tirante.
	+ Artamis is seen as more insane.
* Histia - Hestia, Archonian goddess of diplomacy, the hearth, fire, and light.
	+ In the goddesses' rivalry, she tries to stop the two from fighting.
* Avroditia - Aphrodite, Archonian goddess of love, obsession, and playfulness.
	+ Likes to play pranks to the other gods, especially by angering both Artamis and Athanaia.
* Haarino - Ares, Archonian god of bloodshed, war, and honour.
* The romantic dramas between him and Avroditia were so popular that in Ardeschen myths, Haarino and Avroditia were the father and mother of the first humans. They did not make humans from clay or dirt as other gods did, but they made love.
* The other gods, including the gods of Ardesch, created other humans as spouses when the children of the two gods grew to adulthood. This was to ensure that their mixed bloodlines would create stronger offspring.
* Efastion, Fastiono - Hephaestus, Archonian god of the forge.
	+ Popular legends and video games depict him and Helios battling demons in the underworld and the Void. Helios is the brains, and Hephaestus is the brawn with his magical weapons and even guns.
* Saixion - Warrior woman.
	+ Possibly a predecessor to Spento, who became a popular festive costume.

### Beings

* aarbune - river wight
* stefaari, stejaari, feaari, faari - beautiful women who devour souls. Many of them are aligned with Finaare, but there are others who fight the devouring goddess.
	+ In medieval times, the stefaari are spirits that are attracted to desperate lovers. They feed on the lovers' minds until they are too obsessed with their lovers to think of anything else.
	+ In the Ardeschen Empire, they appeared as beautiful women in tidy dresses. Although they are very obedient and diligent, they preyed on women's minds and souls, turning their victims into more stefaari.
	+ In Red Ardesch, they represented the dangers of patriarchy and femininity that turn women away from their own ambitions. They also preyed on men and nonbinaries, seeking more souls to eat.
* alodaar - a giant people that built large cities along the northwest. Six kings known among them included Alrikor, Arnovakor, Meeroljot (who were at war against each other), Haari, Odallaug, and Sigedago. The Arnadjanai are considered to be their descendants due to their great strength and size.
* trux - barbarians, wild people
* oltaari - forest wights of deciduous trees
* pieltaari - forest wights of pine trees and colder forests
* taari, tjaare - tree wight
* nisaltori - other forest wights and fairies
* vanlachun - death spirits who bring people into the afterlife
* telixe, telxe - unicorn, a fairy horse

### Ghosts

* noxae - a wraith that lives in shadows, a vampire
* hirxar - wild banshees. Ghosts of murdered youths out for vengeance.
* anxur - ghost of a murderer

### Monsters

* brusta - wild, hairy men. Attendants of the forest lord Kernonn.
* essor - ghouls and hideous people that eat people.
* etne - wild giant
* etnor - savage giants from the mountains who grab and eat people.
* etun - jotunn giant, civilised giant. The etunee are civilised and more intelligent than their savage brethren, as they spent more time being exposed to the divine aura of the gods, enhancing their minds and souls.
* risre - ice giant
* surdos - hellhound, the steeds of Maehcartil and the fire god Vessurnar.
* tursaar, thurisar - giant, demon, monster, brute
* hirriex - banshees. Attendants of a garden of blood roses.
* skuleri - snake-people from the northwest who hunt humans. Mostly female, misanthropic, and solitary, although dozens of skuleri can form hunting bands to pursue humans and beasts for sport. Most skuleri fight using bows, arrows, and javelins.
* zulexi - male snake-people. Unlike their female counterparts, they tend to be more social, appearing more often in bands rather than being alone. They are shared by their skuleri brides to reproduce their kind.
* churolxe - tougher and larger snake-people, mostly the creations of dragons. They tend to guard treasures and ruins for their drukaarce masters or certain gods who appointed them. Curolxee fight using hammers and pikes, and they are very good at forging metal.
* drukaarche - green dragons. Some of these dragons are skilled wizards, creating lesser beings as their minions, such as the skuleri-zulexi and the curolxe.
* vrukaarche - red dragons. These feral reptiles tend to breathe fire and eat lava.
* fruede, fruesos, frusee - ice demons, ice warriors, ice wraiths. Believed to emerge from the north every winter to slay anyone who wanders in the cold.

## Characters and heroes

* Laeknavid - the first king. He was a very cruel warrior who enjoyed killing many people, but he was supported by his warriors as they wanted to dominate his enemies. He built the first city, Lauporix, and slew the great wolf Ohconde. He was known as Vailokras, the Wolf-Lord, both from his wolf pelt and his bloodlust.
* Tystatoed the Lawgiver - he ended the savage early days of the three kingdoms by writing laws, and began true civilisation.
* Seven Green Knights of Old - seven heroes given the powers of the gods. Their names were Alkarues, Rusarlos, Schoneras, Saarades, Zirkonas, Churolox, and Vaarondros.
* Schoneras - a knight who rides on a red dragon.
* Saarades - a knight who rides on a burning horse.
* Churolox - a knight who rides on a burning horse.
* Vaarondros Peldulon - a peasant from the Tenth Age who became a knight. After his death, he was raised by the noble god Trunaglar as Chortoglex, his greatest champion. He rides on a unicorn.
* Seven Green Brothers - seven friends who became green knights. Apprentices of the seventh of the Seven Green Knights: their leader became the Eighth. Their names were Baarnaneu, Valtareun, Koornidor, Vulkontir, Brandamires, Naloxari, and Tursalo.
* Herimann - the king who unified ancient Ardesch's peoples into a civilisation. He became a sun god after his death who sometimes intervenes to protect his people from destruction.

## Locations

The Ardeschi believe that people go to different afterlifes from dying in different causes. For example, people struck by lightning go to a certain paradise, people who die from disease go to another, and people who drown go to a third.

* Nine Fairylands
* Polaarus - a heaven for warriors who worship Azejon and Valmaros. Known for its golden hall.
	+ In Polaarus, warriors feast on roasted pork and rich grape wine. They are trained in combat, read ancient tomes, and forge metallic weapons for the gods.
* Hcornarod - a heaven for half of all warriors who die in battle. Known for its silver hall.
	+ Hcornarod is similar to Polaarus, except it is more vulgar and violent. Warriors who end up in Hcornarod fight and kill each other, only to be revived to feast and kill again.
	+ This heaven was more popular among warriors than Polaarus.
* Asarad - the paradise for people who are struck by lightning or who get electrocuted. It is a city of gold located between Polaarus and Hcornarod, where warriors from both halls pester the locals as they get drunk and fight on the streets.
* Nurmixa - the paradise for people who die from diseases. It is a lush garden with cities of marble.
* Eltarinta, Eltaricha - the paradise for good people who die from old age. It is a temperate, windswept land where it is always autumn.
* Ombadra - the paradise for people who drown. It is a sea with many islands.
* Furnure - the paradise for people who die from blizzards. It consists of a snowy land with lots of trees and aurorae.
* Aduann. Duane - Hell, the damp realm of the wicked dead.
* Melbjokar - the holiest site to Herimann, first emperor of Ardesch.

## "Ardeschi ghosts"

See also: Ghosts of Ardesch

These are named because they were associated with the armies of Ardesch that attacked the Gauvajut Empire and its neighbours.

Vozonids and Gauvajuts believed that these spirits are doomed to threaten the living world, as their undead nature twisted their bitterness against the Gauvajuts into a genocidal hatred of all life on Jerde. Their goal (for the worst of their type) is the total extinction of all living creatures, leaving a barren planet inhabited only by ghosts and wraiths who carry their war against the rest of the Universe.

* Kilcharnoz - His character is sometimes used in birthday parties to invoke the *chellarcha*'s powers to bless the young guest with activeness and wealth. He was the ghost of a painter.
	+ A popular love story involves Kilcharnoz and Miasmari (Beanmouth) as lovers who died together as their city was firebombed.
* Princess Beanmouth - Although she would frighten anyone who approaches her, it is believed that her presence attracts insects and bats that pollinate crops. She was the ghost of a dance coach.
	+ Her other names include "Tuhkanzai Meimueza", or simply "Meimeza". It was close to her living name, "Miasmari".
* Akhakuri - An angry outlaw from the Gauvajut Empire who fled from being forcibly "cured" by eating the Rho-Pill, as he stubbornly held on to his conditions.
* Irvanoz/Iriwanuas - Another angry outlaw who bombed detention centres to bring people away from being "cured" by the Rho-Pill and into the Eastern Enclaves. He was once a scientist who refused to remove some conditions from people.

* krego, kregoroz, krygloz - ghosts of Ardeschi soldiers that can be summoned by invoking their characteristics. They appear as skeletons in brightly-coloured crests, infernal armour, and bleak lich-fire. Many of them had a strong hatred of the Gauvajut Empire and its culture, so the kregorosso seek to possess people to plunge the empire (any successor states) into chaos.
	+ Even if said country practices a form of socialism to worship and appease them, the kregorosso will still attack it until they become its direct rulers.
	+ Most kregorosso are depicted as males of different races, skeletons, or fanged monsters, or even as Ontemazei and aliens. They wear uniforms or plate armour, and they burn with blue and green flames.
	+ Among the enemies include human souls and the spirits of nature. The latter, also known as wights, are better at defeating these undead wraiths. They are believed to eat humans and torment their souls, lashing out their hatred against everyone who is alive.
	+ They are believed to be doomed to eternal torment in Hell for their attempts to destroy the Gauvajut realm and slaughter its people.
	+ Although they are commonly mocked in ceremonies, in later times they are pitied as products of their rulers' warmongering, being forced to slaughter people to please their hateful masters and then used by the gods to punish people. Some artists believed that many kregos were tormented by their own anger, torturing and stabbing themselves with their own weapons.
	+ Later depictions of kregosso have blades pierced and impaled into their bodies, eyes, mouths, and sockets.
	+ While Vozonids tend to depict the kregosso as cannibals filled with hate, Siangwaanians and some modern artists portray the kregosso in a more sympathetic light. The latter tend to hold another prayer ceremony, calling upon Buddha or Tarhunz to cleanse these ghosts so they might attain rebirth or paradise.
* leidranoz, leidra, lydravo - leaders, captains, and generals of the armies of kregorosso ghosts, created from the souls of deceased Ardeschi military leaders. Like their subordinates, they also want to destroy the Gauvajuts and their successors, but in later myths they became more sympathetic, seeking release from tormenting themselves in the spirit realm.
	+ Some leidranos fight against and kill each other over losing a boyfriend to each other. This makes them more vulnerable to ghost-hunters, who kill them to stop them from attacking the living.

* raautor - ghostly knights in dark armour who form the leidranos' heavy infantry and cavalry and bodyguards. Sometimes they ride skeletal or monstrous steeds, dragons, or hellhounds.
* Jaduzil - a legendary leidranoz who led an army of pink and blue-haired warriors to massacre the Gauvajuts. Legends state that he was cursed to become a vampire, and was struck by lightning.
* chellarcha - A race of fairies and wights who protect women and children and cause mischief. These ghosts were created from the souls of innocents from the Eastern Enclaves who were killed in various wars and purges. They are well-known for their bean-like smiles.
	+ Because they also attracted hostile spirits such as julluroi and tellaroi, or because of their association with the heresies of the Eastern Enclaves, the chellarcha are often avoided.
	+ The Ruotanese gods Lashvansh and Lurisha were believed to command their own armies of chellarcha to protect the living from demonic attacks.
* julluroi - Wraiths created from heretics who have committed great blasphemies against the Gauvajut gods. Depicted as red skeletons wreathed in hellfire.
* tellaroi - Skeletal ghost warriors created from the angered dead of the Eastern Enclaves and Red Ardesch. They attack the living, seeking vengeance against the Gauvajut Empire for condemning their existence and their identities as "heresies". They have also extended their hatred towards the living and all of civilisation, associating them with the Gauvajuts' actions against them, so they seek to destroy all life on Earth until its only survivors are like them.
	+ In their desire to ensure that their conditions and "heresies" will continue to exist in this world, they also manipulate unborn children and young people to become like them, twisting their DNA to suffer from illnesses.
	+ Sometimes, they also target people with disorders and outcasts, seeking to manipulate them into destroying themselves so they will join their ghostly army.

* raumasho - Ghosts of innocent people and Gauvajuts who "vanished" during the purges of the Eastern Enclaves.
	+ The diner ghosts belong to this category.
* Glysari - The five infernal armies of Ardesch's ghost warriors, based on the five poisons (kleshas) of Buddhist belief:
	+ Mojavidjoz, Mojadjoz - Delusion, lies, confusion, ignorance
	+ Ragaz - Passion, desire, lust, savagery
	+ Duoshoz - Rage, hatred, anger, cruelty
	+ Manuvon - Arrogance, supremacy, tyranny, oppression
	+ Irshai - Envy, jealousy, backstabbing

## Trivia

* The author based Ardesch's mythology on a mixture of Germanic, Celtic, and medieval European myths.
* The folklore of Red Ardesch was based on American pop culture, such as Netflix shows.

### Pronunciation

Letters in bold are official letters in the Ardeschi alphabet.

* **aa** - [aː]
* **ae** - [æː]
* **ch**, **c** - [c]
* dsch - [ɟ]
* **ee** - [ɛː]
* **hc** - [x]
* **j** - [j]
* lr - [(l)r]
* nn
* **oe** - [œ]
* **r** - [r]
* **sch** - [ʃ]
* s'ch - [sc]
* **x** - [ks]
* **y** - [ɯ]
* **z** - [z], [s] before a consonant

## See also

* Ardeschi glossary
* Josolchir mythology