Torgny

The Winter Herald

The White Witch

The Conquest Herald

### Sub-domains

Catastrophe, Ferocity, Blood, Duels, Ocean, Ice, Ice (3pp), Monsoon, Seasons, Storms, Blizzards

### Sacred Colors

White, Blue, Red

**Torgny** is a daughter of Arden, and second born child.

## **History**

Torgny became the patron of coastal raiders. In the coldest seasons, when food is scarce, and crops refuse to grow, farmers turn to raiding during the winter season. With Torgny heralding the winter season, coastal raiders began to offer tribute to her for fair passage across the sea and successful raiding, as well as a place to return home to when the season had ended. Not the most valiant of the children, she did join several plunders which saved many of the Gerons from starvation in the winter.

## Rituals

**Ritual scarification:** Inscribing permanant marks onto the skin. They should be magic scrolls and runes, or marks of worship.(divine and arcane scrolls)(or mundane artwork) By the time ones life ends (for a witch that should be a few centuries) one should be covered head to toe with scars.If by this time one has already been covered head to toe in scars, they will restore the flesh in a ritual of healing,and then start again.

**Vital Offerings:** Vital Offerings:  offer up the vital organs of enemies within the book of grudges.  The hearts of cowards and deserters, the eyes of orcs, the ears of elves, the tongues of goblins, and the hands of dwarves are all common offerings.  They can be offered at alters or simply used as prayer offerings. They should be offered whenever made available.

**The dance with the dead:** This ritual involves the binding of a spirit, soul, ghost, or fae into necrotic artifact. Skulls, bones, undead, etc. This ritual requires the learning of the dance, and the permanent summoning of an undead.

**Desecration/Veneration of the Dead:** Enemies that fall in battle are to be respected and offered the burial rituals that their kind deserves. Those that die in cowardice, or with their back turned, will be beheaded and their soul left to wander. Honorable foe varies between alignments. Alternatively one could conduct a ritual to transfer the soul of the dead to the barge of the disgraced so that Torgny herself might deliver them to niflheim.

**Sacred Alchemy:** The consumption of the berserker mushroom, and the concoction of solstice eilxers. The harvesting of berserker mushrooms is important to dedicated followers of torgny, as it increases a warriors strength and pain threshold, sending them into an uncontrolled rage. Solstice elixers are created seasonally but not consumed. They are created with seasonal ingredients, and offered on the solstice of every season.

**The song of calling/quelling storms:** All witches know the song that can call the storm. Even if they cannot call/quell the storm, they know all of the words and somatic motions that are involved in the song. The song is called to end a violent storm, or call upon the wrath of Torgny. Most battle shamans know only the song of calling storms.

**Blood in the snow:** The offering of blood in fresh snow. Blood in the snow must be intentional, the act of accidentally spilling blood into the snow is simply not good enough.

**Communion:**  Basic advice and foresight can be granted from torgny by offering a sacrificial hare and a freshly plucked frost petal flower. Sacred brews can also be created for a communion ritual.

**Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall Passing:** passage rituals. All are shamanistic recognition of the seasonal passing.

**Passage of Grasses:** Before setting out on a journey, it is customary to bring dirt or grass from your homeland, to remind you of what you will return to. If you are not coming home, it is a rite of passage to leave the foliage in the sea on your last departure.

**True Ice:**  Some witches have discovered how to create true, unmelting ice. It is a rite of passage for high tier witches to discover this ability.

**Offerings:** Torgny accepts many offerings that are relevant to her domains. Trophies of war, clutches of raided silver, vitals, and sacrificial boats. One could hypothetically create a storm, or catastrophe in her name, and it would qualify as an offering.

**Homecoming:** The only pilgrimage with Torgnies rites and rituals. The passage of warrior to raiding grounds and then back home. Symbols of Torgny are discarded before the warrior returns through the threshold of their home. Doing so is a sacred event. Some take many years to complete the pilgrimage. Leaving the listed offerings at the doorstep of the home will include the family in the passage of seasons, and grant a strong harvest, and safety from the following winter. While the warrior is away, he prays that his homestead is spared by the winter. Such is the purpose of rituals and offerings along the voyage.

**Slavery:** Slavery is neither endoresed or condemned within Torgnies following. Some believe in the rite of homecoming and releasing slaves, while others, keeping the loved ones of fallen warriors, or the fallen warriors themselves is a way to disgraced dishonorable (or in most cases, simply the losers) foes.

## Directly Contacting Torgny

There are only a few ways to contact Torgny. The highest degrees of coven witches, and shamans are able to converse with Torgny freely, but this is not the case for many of her normal followers. To directly converse with Torgny one could attempt to make theyir way to nifleheim, and join her on her raids and endeavors there. Although doing so requires high level planar transportation, or dying a dishonorable death. Even in this case, she may not wish to converse with those that seek her out. The last way is to offer a cursed or desecrated weapon or armor of an enemy of at least +3 value, alongside a living Almiraj, or mythic arctic hare. alternatively, one could find and speak to the rabbit prince to arrange a meeting instead of a +3 weapon and Almiraj.