A to Z of Witches. B

B is for Baba Yaga

And Father Nyaga!

So I have talked about Baba Yaga, her infamous hut and her less infamous mortar and pestle in the past.
In fact one post on her, was later mis-translated into "Father Nyaga".  Later I had the thought that was an old wizard and more or less counterpart to Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga has had a long career in RPGs.  Baba Yaga's hut has appeared in every version of the D&D game since the beginning.  Baba Yaga herself is said to be the adopted mother of the witch Tasha who would later become Iggwilv.  She has even appeared in other RPGs like the World of Darkness line.

Baba Yaga is a tricky one to capture properly in stats.  She is more plot point than character the characters in a game can confront.  She always has more spells and more ways of getting out of situations that should be allowed a non-player character.   She is old and powerful and stats would never do her justice.

In my games where she has needed to turn up I usually make her into a Makava or a Wood Hag.  I typically increase her ability to that of a 30th level witch (regardless of system).

Father Nyaga
I took Väinämöinen to be the model for Father Nyaga. Basically he is Väinämöinen to Baba Yaga's Louhi.
This isn't much of stretch since Louhi in the D&D game is believed to be another form of Iggwilv and Väinämöinen was one of the models for Mordenkainen.

I have to admit that a lot of my inspiration for this character comes from the old Time-Life books, The Enchanted World, esp. the one on Wizards and Witches.  The wizard on the cover has been staring at me for 30+ years and he has needed representation in my games.

Like Baba Yaga, Father Nyaga works best as plot device.  Think about Merlin or Gandalf.  Do you really care what their spells are just as long as you know they are powerful wizards?  Not really.  Father Nyaga works in the same way, only his main "plot point" is aid those that run afoul of Baba Yaga.  I see him with a staff and owl and of course the long, long white beard.  I also have had it my mind that he has darker skin. Either Indian, African or deeply tanned.  I like the contrast of darker skin and snow white beard. I think it would give him a different look that most of the wizards we see, which tend to be very Eurocentric.

ETA:  Anna Tan is also doing Baba Yaga today.  Check out her post.
http://blog.annatsp.com/2014/04/atozchallenge-baba-yaga.html


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