Not Really Hellboy Fanfic
O Dearest Better-than-Google: I'm looking for reference material in the (pre)medieval studies vein. Suggest!
I am writing something that may be very loosely described by "Hellboy fanfic in a 10th Century AU". That's not *actually* a very fair description, but it's the half-sentence version. It will be a character profile for a fellow that lived in the late 10th century near the black sea, and who, on hitting that age finds out that he's the village's cursed child, will grow horns & sharp teeth, may be fated to bring doom and destruction on at least his little corner of the world, and sets out to prove the prophesies wrong, even if they're not. Classic adventuring setup, eh? ICO + Hellboy.
I'd like to do this as well as I can. What should I read? Things about tenth-cent eastern Europe, Bulgaria, curses or devils, dusty corners of Christian mythology, etc.
I am writing something that may be very loosely described by "Hellboy fanfic in a 10th Century AU". That's not *actually* a very fair description, but it's the half-sentence version. It will be a character profile for a fellow that lived in the late 10th century near the black sea, and who, on hitting that age finds out that he's the village's cursed child, will grow horns & sharp teeth, may be fated to bring doom and destruction on at least his little corner of the world, and sets out to prove the prophesies wrong, even if they're not. Classic adventuring setup, eh? ICO + Hellboy.
I'd like to do this as well as I can. What should I read? Things about tenth-cent eastern Europe, Bulgaria, curses or devils, dusty corners of Christian mythology, etc.