Nortår

Nortår (Northern Gods in Traveler’s Tongue) is a religion created by Þorir, a Nortfolk. Long ago, the people of his ancestor's village fled from Northeim as it was freezing over. A miscalculation, however, led to them sailing far astray, to Eldham instead of Rathnir. The long journey was much more than they had prepared for, and few survived. The ones who did got more children, and their tribe lived for thousands of years, hunting, fishing and gathering for survival, but slowly, they died off because of a disease they were exposed to because of travelers from Rathnir. Þorir eventually ended up as the last surviving member of his family, his immunesystem having survived the disease. Wanting to secure the survival of his and his family’s legacy, he wrote up family traditions into a new religion: Nortår. He viewed this religion as the most pure and true to Nortfolk tradition of all religions ever founded by Nortfolk, even more pure than the Church of the Six Divines, as Nortår changed very little since they sailed away from Northeim compared to the Church of Six Divines, because of his family’s nomadic and isolated lifestyle. After writing down the centuries old traditions of his family into a comprehensive religion, he started roaming Eldham to find a nation of Nortfolk willing to convert to Nortår. He travelled far, preaching and leaving monuments as he went. Finally, after many days and nights of sailing, walking, preaching and building, he arrived in Eiendom, a small settlement of Nortfolk, he sought out their leader. They talked a while, and the leader found Nortår to resonate with him, and so, he was willing to accept the religion and let Þorir build a temple in his land.
Nortår Gods
Nortår is a polytheistic religion with 3 groups of deities; The Odin, The Vardir and the Hul.
The Odin is the main group of deities. In Nortår, the Odin are the founders of Rathnir and Eldham. They live in a great hall in the clouds. They use netherite frequently, harnessing its magical powers, powers that appear in a lesser form on our plane of existence as enchantments. There are 5 Odin gods.
* Daggrøn, the creator of Nortfolk, bearing infinite wisdom and knowledge of all possible timelines. However, he does not know what timeline will end up being unravelled, and which ones won't, as the future is a mystery so great that it is believed, according to Nortår, that it is unravelled only by time itself.
* Sandur, the god of the skies, controls the weather and the stars to communicate with people of the Nortår religion. Many people make a profession out of trying to find out what the stars and weather mean.
* Aspir, the god of gregariousness, pride and honor, well liked by all his fellow gods, is said to have been the driving force that made the first Nortfolk create civilization.
* Dødserk, the god of death and war, used to be a Vardir, but after many eternities of fighting, he ascended to the level of Odin. Now, he is in charge of the Vardir armies, leading his men into battle, fighting bravely on the frontlines with them.
* Hað, the god of fertility and life, works endlessly to get all types of life, whether it be grass, humans or anything in between.
The second group of deities is known as the Vardir. The Vardir are people who have died on earth as believers in Nortår. They feast with the gods, and fight the Hul constantly, becoming reincarnated in case of death. However, if a Vardir isn’t fighting fearlessly and relentlessly, he or she will be banished to our plane, as half dead incarnations of Hul in the deep forests and caves of Eldham and Rathnir. There are 3 especially prominent Vardir, however;
* Safðyr, a berserker who fights utilizing the supernatural powers of Netherite to channel his strength and spite through.
* Kampår, a commander who leads shield walls into battle, outsmarting and out mastering the enemy with cunning and skill.
* Nuldir, a shieldmaiden who has mastered the magic of Netherite, using it to break any steel against her trusty shield, and cutting through any armour with her blazing sword.
The third and last group of deities, the Hul, are empty, soulless creatures, forced to live in darkness and fight the Vardir to the death in fear for all eternity. The creatures of Hul were once humans, who died a cowardly death and lived a cowardly life, and were therefore only accepted by the Hul, and not the Vardir. Hul are about the size of a human, but they are not humanoid. They are all different, however there are a few of them who’re stronger and more fierce than the rest. These are the real deities of Hul;
* Kor, the leader of the Hul, a slow, slimey, disgusting 4 headed creature made up of guts, is a hivemind of the first dozen Hul. Kor can lead all the Hul remotely, taking control of their inferior minds, however, this also makes Kor experience the pain that the frontline fighters feel. With time, this telepathy made Kor go completely insane, with all of the pain it had to feel 4 times over, once for each head.
* Ørm, a massive worm slithering around in many kilometers of cave system, guarding the home of the Hul, jumping out of the ground and eating anyone attempting to attack.
* Arn, a flying creature of rotten, black bones, controlled by pure instinct, always violent. It is said that Arn was banished to the void, an empty realm, void of anything at all, because Arn did not just attack Vardir, it also attacked the rest of Hul, and so, even the Hul had to banish him in the end.
Nortår Rituals
Nortår rituals are used as a means of communicating with the gods. There are birth rites,where the baby is baptized in blood and officially becomes Nortår. There are rituals for choosing a patron god or goddess, one who you will dedicate your prayers to. The ritual includes having to go to a holy site, the location of which is given to you by a member of the Order or a local priest, at which point you have to place a candle and light it, after which a priest will approve the successful execution of the ritual. 
However, most of the rituals performed are sacrifices. There are many different options for sacrifices, but generally, sacrifices include food, animals, and generally anything that takes a lot of time to get. Netherite is, however, seen as the most expensive and best possible sacrifice to the gods, because after the creation of Eldham and Rathnir, the gods could no longer obtain any more Netherite themselves, and so their only source of this magical metal is through sacrifices. There are also select traditions when it comes to sacrifices. Sacrifices are made through fire, and candles are often used for larger sacrifices, as smoke is what carries the sacrifice to the gods. On special occasions, when someone has done something making them worthy of feasting and fighting with the gods, they may be sacrificed with all of their combat gear, to ascend to the Vardir for a single day before being brought back to our realm.
Nortår Vardirkin
The Vardirkin is an organization of religious soldiers, who act not only as soldiers, but also priests and workers in times of peace. They get their name because they operate like the Vardir, but they're mortal and live in the mortal realm. Admittance is very difficult, you have to be selected by a Vardirkin, at which point a meeting will take place where the soldiers agree on whether or not you are fit to join. The Vardirkin act as an authority on the Nortår religion globally, and host rituals in all Nortår nations. When they are not helping Nortår nations develop or hold rituals, however, they are serving as soldiers for hire. They’re willing to take contracts from all nations, however Nortår nations receive a discount, and they will not take a contract if they have to fight another Nortår nation on a non-Nortår nation’s side. The soldiers of Odin originate from Eiendom, when the founder of Nortår, Þorir, came to the city after travelling all of Eldham as a nomad, searching for people willing to accept his Religion. After gathering all of his thoughts and finally writing the religion, he knew that it wasn’t enough to simply have a minor nation follow it for it to live on, even past his death. He knew he needed some way to protect it, and the Vardirkin were the answer. And so it came to pass that the Vardirkin were the protectors and head priests of Nortår, led by their founder and goði (head of religion), Þorir.
Nortår Nations
For a nation to officially become Nortår, it needs to have a temple. Then, it needs to contact the Vardirkin, at which point the nation and the priests will arrange a time for a ritual. The nation will collect gifts for the gods, and the priests will sacrifice them. This will then make the nation officially recognized by the Nortår gods. For a nation to get a network of Nortår priests, they have to select a single member of the nation who they want as the Nortår priest of the nation. When a priest is selected among the citizens of the nation, the coming priest must be approved by a member of the Vardirkin. The priest is allowed to do rituals, write sagas about the Odin, and appoint scribes to help him fulfill his duty. Current Nortår nations include:
* The Freehold of Eiendom.
Nortår Sagas
Sagas are stories about the deities written by people following the religion. Stories about the Vardir and Hul can be written by anyone with a little imagination and knowledge of the religion, however it is, of course, not guaranteed that they will catch on. Meanwhile, major stories about the Odin that change or add to the religion in major ways are written by Vardirkin and official priests.
Category:Lore
Category:Religions
Category:Traveler's Era