Prominent People
While many of the most common figures in Russian folklore are best described as monsters, some of the most monstrous are best described as characters.
Baba Yaga the Bony-Legged
Baba Yaga was probably the most familiar and powerful image of Russian folklore. She was associated directly with both the forest and the Otherworld, and seemed to have direct control over the powers of life, death and animals.
Physically, Baba Yaga was a huge old woman, too heavy even to walk. She filled her small hut almost entirely, and was often found lying on the stove with her gigantic, disfigured nose jammed into the ceiling or stirring the coals of her fire. She sometimes worked a spinning wheel, wove, or herded her flock of geese simply by staring at them. Her teeth and fingernails were made of iron, and she sharpened both in anticipation of her dinner. The sight of Baba Yaga invariably caused fear and revulsion (Fright Check at -6).
Her powers were many; she knew much of the Otherworld, and, if properly convinced, would help heroes find it, and things within it. She was prophetic but extremely cryptic, ensuring that only the clever benefited from her advice. She made poisons and potions, and had access to the healing waters of life and the deadly waters of death. She spoke to and controlled beasts of the forest, and turned her hapless victims to birds, frogs or even stone. She also had the power to create skull-lanterns. If a Russian hid in her house, she could tell by the smell; "I smell a Russian bone!" was her cry. She moved about by flying on a large stone pestle, steering with the mortar and using her broom to sweep away any sign that she might have left in her wake.
Baba Yaga was a cunning shapeshifter who could turn herself into a serpent, a frog, a pig or even a dismembered goat hung on hooks on her hut's walls; when the victim entered her house, the parts of the goat flew off the racks and reformed into the witch.
If forced into combat, Baba Yaga fought with her broom, her mortar and pestle, a fireplace poker, a crooked scythe or her sharp teeth and talons. In any case, she fought from atop her pestle when in her normal form. Baba Yaga was immortal (she was, in fact, a pagan goddess, forced into her monster role by the arrival of Christianity); if she was killed, she was active in the forest again in a few weeks.
Baba Yaga's Hut
The Hungry Witch lived in a small, windowless and doorless izba, made of logs. It stood on two giant chicken legs, and spun rapidly in a yard that contained her geese and horses, and which was surrounded by 11 skull-lanterns on poles with a 12th pole standing empty.
In addition to the fact that the hut may have been alive, Baba Yaga could command it to seal a person inside. Presumably, it could walk out of the yard, but it never did so in Russian tales.
Attempting to force a way into Baba Yaga's hut was a dangerous prospect; it spun at speeds faster than any Russian could possibly run, and (with no visible openings) would sling anyone who managed to grab it into the forest at dangerous speed. To get the hut to stop spinning, the proper spell (a Folk Magic incantation) had to be used; usually something like, "Hut, hut! Still you should be, with your back to the forest and your door to me!" In some stories, the hut wasn't spinning at all, and its legs (if they were even visible) were bent to lower the hut invitingly to the ground.
Baba Yaga's Relatives
In a few stories, Baba Yaga was described as the mother or wife of the largest Russian zmei. After heroes slew the beast, Baba Yaga often appeared to wreak her revenge.
In many stories, she had two or three beautiful daughters, who were cannibalistic, but much more likely to be kind to passers-by than their mother. If Baba Yaga was out when the heroes arrived, the daughters would invite them in and feed them, complaining that they rarely got anyone near enough to talk to before their mother ate him. When Baba Yaga returned unexpectedly (which was traditional), they did their best to excuse the strong Russian smell in the hut.
In a few stories, she had 31 daughters, and in one was the husband of Koschei the Undying.
Baba Yaga's Role
Apart from her occasional role as wife to monsters, Baba Yaga served three primary functions in folklore, and therefore in fantastic GURPS Russia campaigns: cannibalistic kidnapper, gateway to the Otherworld and simple attacker.
Cannibal: In this role, Baba Yaga resembles the witch of Hansel and Gretel. She lived in the forest, and flew through the woods hunting children to eat. She usually found them when they were lost or gathering mushrooms. She carried them to her hut and attempted to toss them in the oven to cook. In many stories, the child managed to trick Baba Yaga into the oven, and in one even tricked her into eating her own daughters first! A party of adventurers could meet this Baba Yaga when the cry arises in a village that a child has disappeared.
Some scholars believe that the children-eating aspect of Baba Yaga is related to a positive aspect of earlier versions of the legend. Baba Yaga was representative of the wise women common in Old Russia. An early healing method of these women was to place a sick child on or inside the stove, in the belief that the heat would restore health to them.
Gateway: Baba Yaga was the keeper of uncountable bits of occult lore, and any quest to find the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom could lead adventurers to seek her out. If she was treated with respect, and any tests she put to the characters were passed, then they earned advice or even magical assistance. Her horses were often magical, winged or eight-legged, and could be bargained for with some risk (see Generosity, p. 89). In some stories, she was just plain kind, in others, she was a monster that any false move could send into a hungry rage.
Attacker: In many tales, Baba Yaga was a horrifying, supremely powerful being who swept out of the forest to level a village or slay a wandering hero. It is this role that the GM should approach most cautiously. It's the easiest to run, of course, but there aren't many parties that could stand up to Baba Yaga.
Koschei the Undying
Koschei was a demonic figure, a skeletal or semi-skeletal man with a coarse, bristly beard and a foul expression. He was the Russian equivalent of the generic Death personification of many cultures, although he didn't reap souls, or possess any "instant kill" powers.
Koschei lived in the Otherworld, where he had a small herd of goats and a comfortable house. His primary goal was to find a wife; he was frightening and inhuman but fell in love easily, and appeared as an abductor of would-be brides in Russian folklore.
He was a powerful, immortal sorcerer (who, like most immortal sorcerers, was killed in every story in which he appeared). If wizards are a real force in the campaign, Koschei has dozens of spells at high levels; his precise magical abilities were never clearly defined in the tales, but they were considerable. In addition to his skills as a wizard, Koschei granted extra lives in exchange for help!
Koschei's immortality came from the fact that his soul was separate from his body. It resided in an egg (or on the point of a pin) which was hidden in a remote corner of the Otherworld. Anyone possessing the egg had Koschei in his power. He began to weaken (taking 1 fatigue every 10 seconds), turned sick and immediately lost the use of his magic. If the egg was tossed about, Koschei likewise was flung into walls, onto the floor and so on against his will. Crushing the egg (sometimes specifically against Koschei's forehead) killed him. Alternately, Koschei could be killed by having his skull smashed in by the hooves of a magic horse (usually one obtained from Baba Yaga).
Koschei's Weakness
The egg, often hidden within a series of animals inside a box, each animal ready to bolt when a hero revealed it, was not Koschei's major weakness. This was women; Koschei tales always centered on a heroic conflict over possession of, or by, a woman. The women he fell in love with could woo him into doing nearly anything, including revealing the location of "his death" (the egg) after some preliminary lies on his part.
Very often, Koschei was found as the prisoner of a woman whom he had tried to seduce. In a game, a PC's potential romantic interest could have a closet which she warns him never to open. If the character looks inside, he finds a pitiful, starved-looking man chained to the wall, hanging by one rib from a hook, or in some other tortured state. He only begs for a drink of water.
It takes three drinks of water to free Koschei. After the third drink, his power and strength is restored, and he breaks his bonds and runs off to find the maiden, gleeful to have a chance to woo her again. If his rescuer is suspicious of the chained man and withholds the third drink, Koschei offers up to three extra lives to him. Later, if the hero tries to destroy him, Koschei is resigned to simply killing him a few extra times!
Koschei's Role
As presented in Russian folklore, Koschei was a one-note demon. However, Koschei can also be played as a tragic, comic figure. Realistically, would any sensible romancer want to continue pursuing a lover who kept a dehydrated man hanging by a hook? Certainly, Koschei can't be permitted to abduct women, but saving women from Koschei can sometimes be viewed as saving Koschei from women.
Grandfather Frost
An old man with a long fur coat and hat, a large beard bristling with ice, and cold breath that could crack a man's body, Grandfather Frost was a very direct analog for the cruel Russian winter. Like Baba Yaga, Grandfather Frost was derived from early pagan religious practices, and was seen in folktales as a sprightly old codger who delighted in bringing deadly winter each year and keeping it in place as long as possible. He did, however, respond to kindness, as the most popular story about him reveals:
A poor fur-trapper married a mean but beautiful woman. They each had a daughter from previous spouses, and the stepmother hated the fur-trapper's girl. Complaining that they couldn't afford to feed two daughters, she ordered the trapper to load his daughter on a sledge, take her to the forest, and leave her in the snow to die. Too weak-willed to defy his wife, he did as he was told, crying tears which froze on his cheeks. When he left his daughter shivering in the snow, he quickly crossed himself and fled so he wouldn't have to see her die.
The girl, waiting in the cold, was met by Grandfather Frost, but before he could freeze her solid, she smiled and hugged him, proclaiming him an angel sent from God to rescue her. Grandfather Frost was touched by this, and when the fur-trapper went to collect her body for burial the next day, he found her dressed in warm, golden gowns and covered in jewels; gifts of the wealthy winter-spirit. She forgave her father, and they returned happily. The stepmother demanded that the fur-trapper immediately take her daughter to the same spot. He did so, leaving her alone in the snow. When Grandfather Frost arrived, the girl demanded her share of the riches. Grandfather Frost killed her on the spot and skipped off into the trees.
Grandfather Frost's Role
As a demigod of deadly force who is still open to kind words, Grandfather Frost can play any number of roles in a campaign. He can be a dutiful elemental or even a form of protector, as well as a cruel villain. No stats are provided for Grandfather Frost; he was portrayed as anything from an unbeatable godling with total control of the elements to a simple old spirit with a few magical powers, a sort of "custodian" of the winter rather than its absolute master. The GM should tailor Grandfather Frost's abilities to suit the campaign power level and style, possibly even changing his powers from adventure to adventure.
The Bogatyrs
The bogatyrs were the greatest Russian folk-heroes; super-powerful warriors, some of whom were strong enough to lift castles! They were the main protagonists of the byliny, a series of Old Russian epic songs similar in scope to Beowulf or the Arthurian cycle. Each bogatyr was a larger-than-life hero, a powerful man born usually of a union between a human woman and a supernatural animal. After birth, a bogatyr grew to manhood within a few days, and immediately picked up a sword or an iron club and rode out to smash Russia's enemies. The bogatyrs weren't immortal, and some of the most moving of the byliny tell of their deaths.
Unlike most Russian folk tales (which had undefined or Otherworldly settings), the byliny were set in the Kievan and Mongol Eras, when vast waves of invaders were seen as the Children of Darkness, strange magical terrors from beyond the Russian steppe. The Kiev cycle, largest of the byliny groups, focused on Vladimir (a composite of Vladimir Monomakh and Vladimir I), who sat at home in Kiev as the patron of the other bogatyrs, who acted as his druzhina ("knights").
Among the heroes of the Kiev cycle was Ilya Muromets, who was lame but, due to a series of magical elixirs, could smash city walls with his bare hands, and whose horse could leap over mountains. With his mighty weapon, hundreds of foes would fall to a single blow, and he made many journeys to the Otherworld to meet foes who could at least cause him to work up a sweat.
Other bogatyrs of Kiev included Alyosha Popovich (probably modeled after the historical Alexandr Popovich) and Dobrinya, who battled a giantess large enough to carry him in her pocket. He was defeated after a mighty duel, but then she consented to marry him.
Volga, Mikula and Svyatagor were the older bogatyrs, with Svyatagor a huge giant too heavy to walk on Russian soil. He and his giant horse lived in high rocky mountains in the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom or the Carpathians. Ilya Muromets, who was with him when he died, accepted part of his strength and bore his sword. Volga (Volkh) was a warlord, and Mikula was a kind of super-farmer, clearing vast tracts of land with a single stroke. The various other cycles presented many different bogatyrs.
The Role of the Bogatyrs
Unless the GM wishes to run a bogatyr campaign (an example of Kievan GURPS Supers), these great warriors serve best as legends, and as the source of storylines (see The Breath of Svyatagor, p. 101-102).
In a Kievan-Era fantasy campaign, the GM must decide whether the bogatyr are real. If they are, and the campaign doesn't have a military focus, they can act as occasional NPCs and make things interesting. If the campaign does focus on combat, particularly with the steppe-dwellers, there may be no reason for the puny PCs to exist, unless they are heroes of similar proportions.
For those intrigued by the concept of running very powerful fantasy campaigns, GURPS Bunnies & Burrows provides a simple alternative to the Supers rules. Treat the world as if it existed on the bogatyrs' scale - all bogatyrs are treated as Cinematic (200-300 point) heroes, but a "bogatyr-pound" is equivalent to several thousand actual pounds. Humans have normal DX and IQ, but their ST and HT are in the "Below One" range. This allows bogatyr PCs to be created without any special rules, and giant weapons and gear simply use Basic Set stats, since everything is assumed to be in bogatyr-pounds.