Post your oracle elements here!

Regenerative Culture Social Technology
#1

I wrote enough elements to fill up a deck of cardsā€¦almost. :slight_smile: Starting with the Diamonds suit:

Ace of Diamonds: A great stone, upon which climbers receive propheciesā€¦
Two of Diamonds: Two of the Chiefā€™s finest Scouts, intent on chaosā€¦
Three of Diamonds: A peerless hunter, sworn never to take more than his need, or lose his soulā€¦
Four of Diamonds: A shamanā€™s apprentice, jealous of those who have a Spirt Guideā€¦
Five of Diamonds: A white ghoul, infamous collector of corpsesā€¦
Six of Diamonds: A beloved mummy, wrapped in cedar-bark blanketsā€¦
Seven of Diamonds: A lake, sprung from where she died, a girl tender and gentle as a fawnā€¦
Eight of Diamonds: An old fisherman, asleep in a boat, but far away in dreamā€¦
Nine of Diamonds: A plaintive and lonely loon, once a disobedient boyā€¦
Ten of Diamonds: A haunted Lake, full of spirits that test any visitorā€¦
Jack of Diamonds: Three sisters, silent, quick, and watchfulā€¦
Queen of Diamonds: A warrior, wielding coppersword and cougarskin cap, jealous and ready for loveā€¦
King of Diamonds: A younger brother, poet and prophetā€¦

#2

An aside:

So, I donā€™t claim to have done a perfect job, but if you want to jump in, the ones above offer a good seed already, I think. Pithy and short, but with enough motivation to go somewhere. Can you feel it? The stories almost want to start writing themselves.

And again, the elements contain objects, locations, characters and events, often combining two or more of each.

#3

Another aside, before I start the Hearts suitā€¦when I asked for your Elements, I didnā€™t mean for the Cascadian oracle necessarilyā€¦letā€™s make them for our own bioregions, and share what weā€™ve written! Also, do we want stories about adventure, horror, or the past, the future, the dawn of creation, or the dreamtime right now?

Iā€™ve borrowed ideas for all these elements from Jan Yoors book, Gypsies, and from Phanton Waters by Jessica Salmonson, just soā€™s you know. Next I plan to plunder Martin Prechtelā€™s books, Coyote Was Going There, and more. Charles deLint might make some good stuff too, along with Neil Gaimanā€™s Neverwhere (ā€˜London-belowā€™ā€¦hrmphā€¦letā€™s do Portland-below!! Or Seattle-below!)

Ace of Hearts: Rainā€™s daughter, beautiful sorceress, in ermine pelts and long white hairā€¦
Two of Hearts: A company of families, split apart, compelled to travel into the four directionsā€¦
Three of Hearts: Papa Coyote, pushed to act against his human childā€™s foolishnessā€¦
Four of Hearts: A clever Elk, leading a frustrated hunter far afieldā€¦
Five of Hearts: A great bearā€™s spirit, offered some of its own flesh in thanksā€¦
Six of Hearts: A giant, appearing and disappearing amongst the whirling snowā€¦
Seven of Hearts: The grandmother of all drums, stilll and silent, deep in the womb of the hidden caveā€¦
Eight of Hearts: A wounded Deer, cruelly abandonedā€¦
Nine of Hearts: A gazing beast, tragic and wiseā€¦
Ten of Hearts: An isolated place, dangerous to huntā€¦
Jack of Hearts: Signs of Power, carved into the rock-face by ancient handsā€¦
Queen of Hearts: A watching face, painted by ancientsā€¦
King of Hearts: Once a Great Lake, full of voices, now a hot Desert, where the spirits meetā€¦

#4

Spades!

Ace of Spades: A mountain, easily anoyed, thrower of bouldersā€¦
Two of Spades: A sudden storm, wrathful and focusedā€¦
Three of Spades: The Moon, lured to Earth by words sweet and magicalā€¦
Four of Spades: A sorry prophecy, hard to hear after so many happy ones have come to fruitionā€¦
Five of Spades: A bonecleaner, and the nice white skeletons she leaves behindā€¦
Six of Spades: A drowning, easy to predictā€¦
Seven of Spades: A reunion of old friends, intent on finishing work long left undoneā€¦
Eight of Spades: A girl leaving for her first Vision Quest, proud and frightenedā€¦
Nine of Spades: A Salmon-boy, handsome and glitteringā€¦
Ten of Spades: The last of his people left, the ravaging demon goneā€¦
Jack of Spades: A young man, lost, pulled along many long roads by a mysterious will, to his new Familyā€¦
Queen of Spades: An ancient woman, grandmother to all, full of vitality, venomous to outsiders, bent over the campfireā€¦
King of Spades: A short-stemmed brass pipe, filled with powerā€¦

#5

Clubsā€¦

no clubs. I told you, ā€œenough elements to fill up a deck of cardsā€¦almostā€.

I guess youā€™ll just have to finish itā€¦

#6

A story-games person asked me to go to their wiki for story-game seeding, and post my Cascadian Folklore Oracle on the In A Wicked Age page.

So I did! Ask the Cascadian Folklore Oracleā€¦

#7

Hey folks, you donā€™t have to make a whole oracle in order to postā€¦just post some elements. Another example:

A young fiddle player, she knows her music calls spirits both dark and light, but it gives her so much joy she cannot help but playā€¦

You can thank Charles de Lint and ā€˜Tapping the Dreaming Treeā€™ for that one.

#8

A young man, riddled with doubt concerning his destiny
a flower, of utmost importance, withering away
An angry mob, dressed in black, alienated from their land
An old forest, wounded by the agents of a decadent kingdom

i wrote them without seeing coherency between them, yetā€¦ i can almost feel the story that lives between them.

#9

an unsure girl, on a journey to find what it means to be a woman
rolling hills, said to be haunted by bad spirits
a guild of crones, secretive and secluded
a man, outcasted by his tribe, different and sickly

#10

I lost my original, so I had to start again, but this is what I ahve written so far.

Hearts
Ace - A ruined city, haunted by violence and ruled by roving gangs
King - Barefoot tracks, many days old, leading away from an overgrown farmhouse
Queen - A permaculture city, verdant and sophisticated, hel together by visionary leadership
Jack - A agricultural town, bustling and surviving but precarious and threatened
10 - An earthship community, beautiful but unfinished, waiting, forgotten?
9 - A saced grove, scene to new yet old rituals, centerpeie of new lives
8 - An old-time countryside villa, stuffed with books, gaurded by a dedicated order
7 - A circle of tipis, illuminated by fire, resounding with primal music
6 - A fast flowing river, road and playground to a new breed of nomads
5 - A village, standing out from the plains, home to a hodge-podge of drifters
4 - A snow covered hil, crisscrossed by busy tracks, topped by a standing stone
3 - A massive, thick walled fortress, surounded by fields and ruled with an iron fist
2 - A cliff side camp, waves crash below, the fire still burns, rain falls

Clubs
Ace - Barren desert, transformed by a yearly festival where flames draw wild revelers
King - A red sun rises, illuminating a carven fleeing collapse and misery
Queen - A portable forge, built from an old-time car, maintianed by a traveling tinkerer, part of a band of gypsies
Jack - Silhoueted against the sunset skyline of a skeletal city, a hanglider slowly descends

What do you guys think?

#11

Waaaaay too cool. I love them!

Keep 'em coming!

I came with one last night, taken from the Brian Froudā€™s Runes of Elfland:

A wise priestess, guardian of an ancient treasure box, patiently waiting for the one who can open itā€¦

#12

I donā€™t believe you guys have no Oracle elements bursting to get out. Honestly. Grow some balls and/or ovals!

New oracle element:

A haunting and implacable assassin, armed with an immaculate and empty ethic, he ceaselessly follows the trail of the foolhardyā€¦

Yes, I stole this from the movie ā€˜No Country for Old Menā€™

Cā€™mon! Keep posting! :wink:

#13

I fear my thoughts currently dwell at higher levels of abstraction, grasping through the fog to try to find a new ā€œbig picture.ā€ It makes it difficult to focus on the necessary details at the moment. But I wonā€™t spend too long up here, and I know weā€™ll have ā€œAnayokā€ (the name might change, though) and Alleghan oracles from the Fifth World to share here, hopefully sooner rather than laterā€¦

I do have a few elements from Seneca folklore that could fit into the Anayok or Alleghan oracles, though:

[ul][li]Twin villages on either side of the chasm[/li]
[li]A young child hidden away from the monster that destroyed all the rest of his people[/li]
[li]An arrow that sings the song of the bird whose feather fletches it[/li]
[li]An arrow that never misses[/li]
[li]The stone that tells stories of the old word, in return for a gift of food[/li]
[li]A swift runner who races the Whirlwind[/li][/ul]

#14

Sorry, my energy has been focused conversing elsewhere this week (yay conversation week!:)). I liked that one at the end Jason, kind of already had a story built in.

Ten - A strange and twisted dance performed now at the wrong time, for the wrong people
Nine - A glorious, hopeful journey, long and treacherous, to find what was lost
Eight - A solemn holiday to remember the horrors of the transition, violently interrupted
Seven - A boyā€™s first hunt, successful but seeming to portend wider things
Six - The last harvest of the year, everyone is weary, but also tense and fearful

Iā€™m not sure if seven makes any sense.

#15
An arrow that sings the song of the bird whose feather fletches it

Too cool.

Seven - A boy's first hunt, successful but seeming to portend wider things

Iā€™m not sure if seven makes any sense

Oh my god, it DOES! wow. He didnā€™t perform the offering of the gift, and he offended the spirit of the dead deerā€¦

These stories just FLY out of these oracles.

#16

Ha! This one grabs me. :stuck_out_tongue:

OK, at last a spare moment to post a few. . . from various sources of inspiration (maybe youā€™ll recognize some):

A night-loving fir tree, bedeviled by the everpresent glow of streetlights.

A tired watchman at rest in the Citadel, testing the air for dragon smoke in his sleep.

The newly widowed daughter of an incense-maker, dressed in her nephewā€™s clothes to flee the crushing blow of an edict forbidding her from fragrance.

A raft of ghost food, rocketing through the landscape on eighteen wheels to reach its destination just-in-time. . .

A generous tree, holding a magical plum in her highest branches.

The turncoatā€™s envoy, tensely waiting in the pre-dawn shadows of a tomb, coded message in hand.

An spindly orphan girl with the strength of ten men.

#17

An old and wise man, willingly loosing his memories, one by one, until he forgets all. (anyone know from where this one comes?)

#18

The aeon-old soul of a formerly enslaved star, wearing an otherworldy suit of onyx armorl, bent on retributionā€¦

#19

I really like the elements posted on here, and the imaginings they provoke by just reading them.

Some to add to the elemental ways, which I decided to try by using pieces from my dreams as the elements:

[i]- a mountainside covered in a battlefield of fallen giants, who have re-awoken

  • a small fluff of a dog and her companion making mischief while fleeing the authorities who follow their trail of pranks
  • a city set on fire by a volcanic eruption from a dragonā€™s back
  • plotting spirits held captive in a park waiting for the moment to revolt
  • a strange tree with a opening that leads into another land
  • a woman who awakes animalistic powers within others
  • a child underneath a sacred hill, waiting to know birth
  • the warlord wishing to kill a trickster of the forest who rivals him
  • an abandoned town turned into a refuge for a shapeshifting people
  • a black wolf unable to stop himself from attacking others
  • a mother grizzly bear in a tree with her two cubs, concerned by the dangers around them
    [/i]
#20

Wow. I can hardly believe the coolness of your dream elements. Wow. I officially steal them! Just try and stop me! :slight_smile: