SInce we are currently doing Oddities for an Enchanted Forest here at d-Infinity.net, I thought I would post a BASH datafile that is in keeping with that theme. It also ties in which our recent discussion of Field Work and Research for RPGs at d-Infinity Live.

I worked out the Grene Knyght for my New Centurions superhero campaign. When the heroes took it on the road and visited London, they found that they had stumbled into the return of magic to Britain - a Magical apocalypse that killed millions and transformed millions more into twisted monsters of legend, all while allowing the Formorians of Irish legend to pursue the Faerie from the Summerlands into our world. Because the Fey of both Summer and Winter Courts had lost their homes in the onslaught, the survivors of the battle were led to Britain by the Grene Knyght, who had become the unwilling Lord of the surviving fey.

Now if you don't know the Grene Knight, or would like a refresher, there is no better source than 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', edited and glossed by none other than J.R.R. Tolkien. if you don't read Middle English [and this dialect is a bit more challenging than high school Shakespeare] or you would rather get the 'Coles Notes' version, have a look at the wikipedia page which hits the high points but misses all the AMAZING BITS. Or have a read of the original text with a prose translation, page by page, here, and get the full monty, as it were.

You can look through the above at your leisure, so I won't repeat the plot of the poem here. Suffice to say that the Grene Knyght is a dark figure with aspects of the devil or trickster, especially as reflected by the Devil as Huntsman of Souls, a widely understood notion in the Middle Ages [See The Wild Hunt, or editions of the 'Canterbury Tales' for further discussion on this point]. The Wild Hunt has all sorts of pre-Christian echoes throughout, and the Grene Knyght partakes of them all in some measure. he makes a terrific villain, or even an anti-hero in the vein of Elric of Melnibone or Kane the Kinslayer.

The Datafile for The Grene Knyght is attached. As is that of his sidekick and mount - the Grene Horse of War.

Art is The Green Knight by the incredibly talented William O'Connor.