Gustav - Gustav was a villager from the town of Hamlin (based on the real town of Hamelin) in Saxony, Germany. Born circa 1260 and died around 1335, it wasn't until his rebirth in the Mythlands that he came to realise he wasn't real, but instead a Suportee.
Suportee's make up the majority of the Mythlands population - they are the background characters, some nameless and others with their own identities and never seen backstories. The entire village of Hamlin were supporting characters in the story of the Pied Piper, though they themselves had no idea their existence revolved around this seemingly isolated incident in their lives.
As the legend dates from the 13th century and could be based on true events, it's possible that Gustav and others are copies of actual villagers from Hamelin. The story entered the world of literature from several sources:
Circa 1384, Decan Lude of Hamelin was said to have possessed a chorus book containing latin verse purporting to hold eye witness statements. The 15th century Luneburg manuscript (circa 1440-1450) gave further details but the plague of rats was first mentioned in Count Froben Cristoph Von Zimmern's Zimmerische Chronik (the Zimmern family chronicle) published between 1559 and 1565.
Other accounts continued to follow but the most famous is the one written by The Brother's Grimm as part of their 1816 collection 'Deutsche Sagan.' and it from this and later Disney adaptions that people most know the tale of The Pied Piper.
As for Gustav, he was a witness to these events at age 24 but went on with his life thereafter - upon his death he then awoke at the start of the Mythlands, with his youth restored. Believing himself to be in Heaven, Gustav soon abandoned that notion when hunger and cold and the need to take a bowel movement happened. He was fortunate to have already started to do so, when he first spied a giant cat (The Yule Cat) and in his own words 'If I hadn't already been squatting down, I would've shat my britches!'
As the decades passed, Gustav went from being an ignorant and superstitious peasant to someone well used to the inhabitants and ways of the Mythlands. He lives near or in the Magic Forrest, an area that is in some ways similar to his place of origin in Germany.
Lucrezia Borgia - While there have been many fictional versions of Lucrezia, the reborn original from the real world is the one we meet in The Mythlands. Born in 1480 and died in 1519, she is most well known as a scheming Italian noblewoman, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and notorious poisoner.
Adapting to the Mythlands over decades, Lucrezia began to understand the workings of the lands and the concept of dopplers. Determined not to have her essence diluted by pale imitations, Lucrezia has systematically killed any of her dopplers who have shown up. She possesses a magical way of detecting them, which could be an indicator of how she came to work for Loki, in return for such power.
In the Mythlands Lucrezia facilitates the breakout of the Gingerbread Man from Colditz Castle and goes on to loyally serve Loki and the Glass Cat in their schemes.
Devious, intelligent, beautiful and manipulative, Lucrezia is an expert poisoner and often uses her looks to entrap men into doing her bidding, or into a position of weakness where she can finish them off by poison or a dagger in the heart.
The Gingerbread Man - Though variations of the Gingerbread Man's story date further back, the story as we know it first appeared in print in the May, 1875 issue of St Nicholas Magazine (A popular American children's magazine, published monthly from 1873 to 1943). The author is unknown.
In the Mythlands, despite being made of hardened biscuit that would break the teeth of anyone attempting to bite into him, the Gingerbread Man got tired of being chased by thrillseekers and creatures trying to devour him. Suffering a complete psychotic break, he began to hunt and kill anyone who had gone after him - his violent behaviour escalated and fueled by drugs, sex with prostitutes and women of low moral character, and alcohol, the psychotic shortbread as he was known, began a decades long cycle of violence and criminal behaviour.
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Mythlands: THE HEIST
FantasyOnce more, the Hare is up to his old tricks ... but has he met someone even trickier who is about to talk him into doing something, very, very stupid. From the domain of the Mythical Creatures, across the border to the land of the Aesir and on...
