> How, one should rightly ask, could a khrafstar like the snake possibly be associated with good fortune?
For a while a running joke in Persian Wikipedia community was to call software "bugs", _khrafstar_s.
The use of "bug" for engineering defect (a use that predates software by around a century) shares Middle English etymology with bugbear and bugaboo, both of which relate to evil spirits/creatures and annoyances. Khrafstar is not unreasonable as a translation.
I wish there were more games based on Persian lore.
Like how Al-Qadim was an Arabian-themed setting for D&D.
Or just more movies about the Persians, where they’re not evil etc..
Go straight to the source, Iranian cinema is awesome and widely available.
An easy starter is last year's "It Was Just an Accident", which was nominated for a couple of Oscars. It goes from being hilarious to offering a deep reflection on vengeance vs reparation.
Kiarostami and Farhadi are also two great directors to explore.