UnReal World RPG - The history in Finland in brief as background the game

The history of Finland in brief

It is said that Finland has always been in the border, between East and West. It is also said that most of finnish people (or at least the genes) are from the West, but that our language is from the East.

The first inhabitants of Finland were stone-age people, who settled in after the ice-age. According to archaelogical findings, a strong and personal finnish culture formed in the 400 - 800 A.D. This was the time of the middle iron-age. The Finland was not part of the european middle-age; the finnish people had their own religion, own culture and no kings, popes, or rulers like that. To put it short, the finnish people were free pagans living on the edge of Europe, providing high-quality furs to the medieval market.

In the 1155 Sweden made the first crusade to Finland. So began the invasion and occupation, which was part of constant warfare between Sweden and Novgorod. During the following centuries Sweden slowly occupied the most of Finland. Later Sweden lost Finland to Russia. In the 1800's finnish national consciousness became to rise again. Kalevala, the epic composition heavily based on finnish folk poetry, was published. Kalevala soon became the symbol of finnish culture; it showed that finnish people have a culture and identity of their own. Some ethnologists thought along devolutions lines; they dreamed that once there has been a great finnish culture, which then has slowly deformed, and of which the Kalevala is the last which remains. This dream of so called "Kalevala-culture", pure finnish culture, is a mere myth, but a beautiful one.

Of course the finnish culture has always had many relationships with other cultures, so it is impossible to find phase of a totally "pure" finnish culture. And no one can say what was the folk-lore like, when swedish invaders came. Some theories say, that finnish folk-poetry reached its' full blooming only in the 1800's, at the very same time when the folk poetry was actively collected. Still other theories say that some of the themes of Kalevala date back to the stone-age. All in all, it is clear that for centuries there has been a finnish culture with its own personal spirit.

This spirit of finnish culture was revived in the late 1800's, when Finland was struggling for independence. Artists, like Sibelius, Gallen-Kallela and Leino all were inspired by the old folk poetry, the myths handed down from our ancestors. Finally Finland became independent in the 1917. Situation changed, and slowly but painfully the finnish culture tried to find its' concrete independent character.

Now, in the times of European Union, it seems that the finnish culture is getting stronger again. Musicians and movie makers, artisans and craftsmen create contemporary culture based on finnish roots. UnReal World is clearly a part of this cultural wave.

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