Baba Yaga

10/04-2001

Many have asked me why I chose to use a name from a russian fairy-tale on a character in Clanlord. If you have read the tale, the first time you see the name you get this reference at once. A moment of out of character reference, like Entil´Zha and Babylon 5 gives you. I no longer think of Babylon 5 when I notice Entil´Zha, but I did at first. Or Sleipnir for that matter. When I first saw that name, I just knew I had to meet him by the way. Someone in Clanlord had been reading about the Nordic Myths. Woo! I was curious to find out whether it was a nordic player or not also. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was a guy from New Zealand...

But yes - Babajaga, or rather Baba Yaga as she is called originally. I loved this fairytale as a child, and the first time I had to pick a name for a character in a game, I don´t remember which game it was, I picked Babajaga. And I have used it ever since in every game where I have the option of naming the character. Everything from Realmz to Fallout to Diablo to Baldur´s Gate. I have had gaming as a hobby for around 10 years now, and the name Babajaga has been with me all the time. Whenever I have the option, I play her as a mage. That´s what she usually is. That´s what I have always perceived her to be. I play her in the AD&D group we sometimes are able to get together also. As a mage, vain - obsessed with trinkets, but not as bloodthirsty as the CL version of Baba is. You can´t be like that when your HP is around 13 you know...Instead she is an aspiring thief, always wanting to open locks, even when the guards are about...She is also always an Elf if I have the option.

When I started playing Clanlord, I didn´t even blink an eye when I wrote Babajaga as the charactername. New game, old character. But I did have a trouble finding out what class was best suited for her. I thought a long time on the Mystic class, being the closest to Mage in Clanlord. Before the game went commercial, I had one testing dummy, another character I tried on the Mystic path to see if this was something for me. I found out there was no way in hell I would be able to play as a mystic, relying on others so much when my usual playing time back then was with around 30 players online. And all the time-related quests just annoyed me, as the number crunching ones. It´s much easier to play a fighter from Europe, especially in the early stage of character development. I could just take her out and go bump into things. No need to wait for an escort, or shares. These days, my choices with Baba is more limited if I want to take her somewhere challenging, but thats another story. So, instead of being a mystic of profession, she became a fighter but a mystic at heart.

Some years ago I read this book called " Women dancing with Wolfes", a book written by a pshyciatrist and Cantadora, storyteller. I don´t remember her name, but the book was a very good read. It dealt with different myths and fairytales, as all these were meant as not only something to get the child to sleep, but as a source of wisdom. A fountain of ways to deal with different aspects of life. All this from a feminist point of view. The author analyzed many different known fairytales, including the russian one about Baba Yaga. And it made me laugh when I read it, as in her analysis she pointed out that Baba is the "Wild Woman" in every woman, the strong, daring and wild womanly beast. Which sort of fits the Clanlord Baba rather well....