Dvatnir

Representative of the more destructive side of divinity, Dvatnir is a deity concerned with tragedies, with the cold, and with the many things which end lives. The deity’s presence is felt most strongly in the White Lands, but it is undeniably everywhere, even in the far north. None, aside from maddened cults, worship Dvatnir out of choice. Instead, all worship is appeasement, the hopeful begging from mortals hoping to avoid the deity’s titanic wrath. Dvatnir has demonstrated a willingness to respond to these requests, and will often avoid the path of creatures who have provided it respect and subservience. Those who do not, however, especially within his domain, are mercilessly slaughtered, their bodies never again found.

### The Snowstorm

The Snowstorm is undoubtedly the most famous of Dvatnir’s manifestations. It reveals itself as a frostbitten ox, trapped within the confines of massive gusts of frozen wind, which carry for miles around the rotting creature. The Snowstorm is lord of all things cold, from ice and snow to winter and freezing. Its arrival portends the coming of winter and it is said the migration of this creature, moving from south to the north, is what causes the passage of seasons. How this relates to Nïo, who is the deity of seasons, is unknown. The Snowstorm has physical presence on the material plane: there are simply too many stories from all over the world that claim to have witnessed the passage of the frozen ox for it to be simple coincidence. None of the stories ever claim to have gotten close to the ox itself. Those who attempted this feat likely never got the chance to share their perspective. The only active worshippers of this manifestation are either tribal communities of the White Lands, hoping to avoid the harshness of winter, or those who utilize the cold and ice in their magic.

### The Lord of Tragedy

The second of Davtnir’s manifestations is the most cruel: the Lord of Tragedy. This aspect holds dominion over famine, collapse, tragedy and bad omens, and its presence is a manifest for incoming disaster. It represents itself as an emaciated giant, with ebony-black eyes, and a slobbering, broken jaw. All around the creature flows rivulets of snow, all of which are coloured a distinct black, like piles of falling ash. All over the world, the symbol of the black snowflake is a portent for incoming doom. This manifestation is actively worshiped by one famous cult, known as the Anticipants of the Black. These crazed lunatics believe that chaos and the unravelling of civilization is the proper way of the world, and they work tirelessly to destroy communities from the inside. It is said they make their home somewhere in the Lower Steepes, but that they have members all over the world.

### The Final Breath

The last manifestation of Dvatnir is an entity known as the Final Breath. This aspect of the core deity is an unknown one, due to the fact that its reach or dominion has never been deciphered. What the Final Breath controls, or even what it looks like, is a mystery. All that is known about it was deciphered from ancient texts found within ancient ruins. These texts describe the entity as being exactly what it sounded like: a physical representation of the final breath taken by every person in existence. Obviously, there is nothing further on the subject, for there are no means to record the exact nature of one’s final breath. Due to the undefined nature of this manifestation, it has no large group of followers at its beck-and-call, only a few, select individuals, who somehow connect with the inevitability of taking their last breath.

Dvatnir is a difficult deity to worship, for it isn’t very forthcoming about the things it believes or considers anathema to itself. Some things are self-explanatory: Dvatnir and its worshippers are often opposed to heat and warmth. Others, however, aren’t so decisive. Dvatnir represents the cataclysmic sorts of endings, but it's uncertain whether its followers should endeavour to cause or avoid these events. Some would argue the futility of trying to stop the inevitable is part of the deity’s demands, while others would argue that causing cataclysms gives Dvatnir more powers. It is often easier to find tragedy in the instances of natural chaos, not when it is forced. Additionally, there are questions about Dvatnir’s relationship to death. Though it clearly resents order and civilization, does it also wish the end of all people? Or does it desire people? Could Dvatnir exist without civilization, without something to work against? Perhaps these questions might never have answers.