Odin

"*Better to be blind than to be burned, for a corpse is of no use to anyone.*" - Havamal stanza 71.

**Odin** (Óðinn) is the Norse god of wisdom, healing, knowledge, death, frenzy, magic, war, battle, hanging, royalty, and runes. He is also the king of the race of gods known as the Aesir.

## History

Odin was the son of the giants Bestla and Borr. With his brothers Vili and Ve, he defeated the giant Ymir and built the world from his body and created the first humans, Ask and Embla.

In his fear of being killed and his curiosity, he wandered across the Nine Worlds in various disguises. In one of those wanderings, he cut off his eye and was hung against a tree for nine days.

He oversees half of all people who die in battle -- the einherjar -- as his valkyries escort them to his hall of Valhalla. There, the einherjar feast and are trained for a future war against the demons, Ragnarok, which eventually leads to Odin's demise in battle. He rules over the celestial realm of Asgard, where his race of gods, the Aesir, live and govern the natural forces of the universe.

In one story, the ancient king Gylfi meets three hermits, Harr, Jafnharr, and Thridi (High, Just-as-High, and Third), seeking their advice and knowledge. The three men were actually a composite manifestation of Odin.

Formerly, the giant Loki was his blood-brother, but in his desire to unleash more chaos Loki became an enemy of the Aesir.

## Appearance

Odin is commonly depicted either as a great king in armour and a cloak, or as an elderly man in long robes, a long beard, and a tall pointed hat. His disguise as an elderly man is his best-known disguise.

One of his manifestations is Jolnir, the god of the Yule festival. He leads the Wild Hunt -- an army of celestials and ghosts who pursue monsters across the night sky -- and he leaves gifts to those who leave offerings for his steed Sleipnir.

## Personality

Odin is very unpredictable and capricious, like the weather. At one moment he can help people, and at another he enjoys watching their ruin.

He never tolerates losing. Odin may be calm and brooding in one moment, and in another he can be fierce and reckless: reflecting the meaning of his name, "fury".

## Relationships

He has many wives, but his most prominent wife and consort is Frigg, the goddess of magic.

His children include Thor, Baldr, Vidarr, Hermodr, Vali, Heimdall, Hodr, and Bragi.

His pets are the ravens Huginn and Muninn (who tell him about the events of the worlds) and the wolves Geki and Freki.

## Names of Odin

* Alfǫðr - Allfather, Father of All, Creator of All
* Fjǫlnir - Wise One, He Who Conceals
* Hár, Hávi - the High One
* Grimnir - Hidden One, Masked One
* Jólnir - Yule One, Bringer of Feasts
* Rúnatýr - God of the Runes
* Runni Vagna - Mover of the Stars

## In the Rabydosverse

Odin is a popular god among the Nordic peoples of Jerde. While many people pray to him either to enter a fury-trance in battle or to seek wisdom, the ancient Baesorthar venerate him as their patron deity and role model, seeking to pursue knowledge by any means necessary as he did.

One grand ritual used in divination was by hanging the devotee's skin on hooks from a tree: as other nations regarded it as too extreme, only the most dedicated men underwent the hook-trance to channel the god's knowledge. There were other rituals used to commune with the god, to be given his arcane and esoteric wisdom: for instance, some Celestials simply knelt or raised their hands as they entered into a trance. In some cases, the very knowledge itself is too incomprehensible and too powerful, that its very presence can burn a mortal's mind and soul, driving them mad.

### Eimarin history

"*Ondarandas, do you know what you have done? Great amounts of precious lives, dreams, potential, discoveries; all wasted for your vain rituals, even if they had been done in My name. Stop your extravagance now, and return to the Plan. Ignore as you tend to do, and I shall leave you to your own devices.*"

- "the Allfather's last words, before His disappearance"

At the early years of the universe, Odin visited the royal court of the Eimāranda Empire to leave gifts, share terrible secrets, or teach them powerful spells. He was regarded as the greatest of all guests for the Eimarin emperors, and one of their race's creators: Odin created some of the Celestials as His auxiliaries against the monsters of the Void. One reason why He was involved with the Eimarin Celestials was that He wanted to make sure they do not unleash terrible, careless spells that would allow the Void to devour the Galaxy and His creations.

But the god Himself was not impressed by the growing cruelty of the Celestial Empire, so He left behind other spells that sabotaged the Celestials' rule. When He no longer visited the Eimarin royal court, the Celestials began to panic, fearing that their civilisation is doomed by the Gods to ruin. In later times, He visits the mortal plane, secretly manipulating the events of history to his enigmatic plans.

One tribe of Eimares venerates Him as their king and creator, Wodanaz.

### Freyrgardians

Ever since the Fifth Age onwards, with the coming of the Freyrgardians, sorcerers and arcane practitioners across the Galaxy began practicing Celestial rituals to commune with Odin himself and other "wisdom deities" hidden in the depths of the Void. At times, they received lost information; some were given strange magical gifts; and some were driven insane by the excessive knowledge flowing into their minds, even rashly attacking anyone nearby in a frenzied bout of inspiration. Several more were literally burned alive by the excessive information and magic flowing into their souls.

The Hāvamal, the teachings of Odin collected into a philosophical book, was the sixteenth and last volume of the Golden Tome. The Golden Tome was a collection of ancient legends and traditional accounts written by the surviving skalds and wise folk among the Freyrgardians after they broke away from Rynavont slavery.

An aspect of Odin as the god of death and war, Skalpey, was worshipped by the Galactic Norse as a war god. His weapon is a scythe.

In popular culture, he is depicted as Sleipnir's rider, keeper, and adoptive father, a better parent than the monstrous Loki.

As Odin tends to be associated with wisdom and secrets, some alien races associated Odin with their more fearsome gods, such as Naeloros (the Igarin god of insanity and enlightenment) and Ska (the Malendor god of cosmic horrors and abominable knowledge).

### High and Beloved God of the Malendors

Alongside Makravalas and Lumbariz, Odin enjoys a high honour in the Malendor Supercorporation as one of the Three Kings. Two religions of that empire venerate him: Hänsjařo and Ôzrintar.

Ôzrintar is the Malendor version of the Odinpath, which differs from its Norse and Freyrgardian counterparts. It has heavy Eimarin influences, and its worshippers tend to scientists and researchers. Their way to worship Odin is usually not with blots, but with research and discoveries.

At some later point in Malendor history, Odin refused to allow His greatest temple to be rebuilt on Holy Novantir, even though the planet was a sanctuary to Him. He was unhappy with the existence of the walking cities, as He warned the inhabitants that one day, the dwellers in those cities will oppress and destroy them. Years later, Odin's warnings came true as Novantir was torn between warlords who ruled from the walking cities.

With the Kyrvotin Invasion destroying the warlords, the survivors remembered Odin's warning and began tearing down the ruined walking cities to rebuild their world. They started to develop magical powers, and ancient temples all over the planet lit up with strange energy. Odin was pleased by their repentance, and has given back their magic for following His instructions!

The worship of Odin in that part of the Galaxy continued into modern times, as Novantir (now known as Hadnara) is under the protection of the Milavon Celestials against cannibalistic invaders. Its magic still thrives to this day, like the Hadnarian civilisation that venerates its bestower, Allfather Odin.

### Malendor worship

#### Darkness and Light Become One

Devotees of Odin from that civilisation believe that He grants everyone two main gifts: inspiration and frenzy. In Novantirna culture, "inspiration" is interpreted as "creativity and innovation in peacetime"; and "frenzy" means "to allow one's own rage to start a rampage against your enemies, and to execute justice against the forces of evil". However, they must also practice self-control to ensure the better gifts (like art, creativity, advancement) will not be lost to savage rage and ignorance, and therefore displeasing their Gods in the process by their own corruption.

This duality, between order and chaos, science and destruction, and discipline and wrath, is also expressed in the Malendors worshipping Odin as both a god of light *and* darkness. Odin represents the light of civilisation, creativity, and understanding; and darkness for his ferocity and association with secrets, horrors, and destruction. By embodying both aspects of the Allfather, the Novantirnas can learn to make better decisions reflecting the reality of this world.

#### Sacred Darkness

In Hänsjařo, the Novantir religion, Odin is worshipped as the god of knowledge and science, in honour of his creation of the Celestials and his guidance to its leaders. Very often, Odin is referred by Malendors as "the Star God", alongside other Aesir and Vanir deities, both for creating the Celestials and His association with the cosmos. As He is associated with outer space and the endlessness of knowledge, midnight is considered as His ideal time, the time when anyone is more closer to His divine, magical influence. He is also worshipped as the source of the Malendor Supercorporation's love of art and creativity, as He is one of the gods of inspiration. He is venerated as one of three high gods, the other two being the storm god Makravalas and the machine god Lumbariz.

#### The Eye is Holy

Losing an eye, whether in battle or in a disaster, is considered an auspicious sign that the One-Eyed God has chosen a person as His agent; but stabbing your own eye is considered blasphemous, as it symbolises challenging Odin and opposing Him.

In honour of Odin's sacrifice, the eye is considered as a sacred organ to Odin in Novantir religion. Eating an eye is considered a great blasphemy, as it is a double offense: desecrating the dead, and cursing the Allfather by damaging the eye.

When Novantirnas conquer enemy lands, some of their subjects would offer them eyeballs. They were not allowed to be plucked from living or dead people (as those sacrifices will be immediately rejected), but kept somewhere else as a collection or in jars. Those eyeballs would then be enshrined in temples, where their spirits would be sanctified and blessed. If the eyes happened to be found from a victim, they would be put back to the victim's sockets and instantly healed with the Malendors' advanced technology if the victim is alive. If the victim is dead or lost, the eyes will be burned as an offering to the victim's soul.

Blind people are treated with great kindness among the Novantirna worshippers of Odin, as doing so reflects their god's willingness to help the outcast and the lost. They were offered to be given new eyes, whether mechanical or organic, but even if they refused the new eyes, they were still treated as though they represented Odin in His struggles.

### Offerings

"*Allfather, Lord of Knowledge, I offer my old tome to You. It has served my grandfather and my father well. Having worn out over the ages, I have painstakingly copied all of its contents, up to the last dot and footnote. Now, I release it to the fires, so it shall ascend up the stars to Your Throne. Like the saints who preserved the beauty of this plane, so shall I drown into the sea of knowledge that pervades all life and all the stars. I thank You for Your help and Your guidance, so I offer this old book to you, my most beloved treasure. Thank You, Great King!*"

- a prayer by an artist. After he spent a whole month recording everything inside to a databank, his old diary was burned as an offering to Odin.

Every year, a yellow book is printed with the discoveries of the year. The contents must be read to an audience, who gather at the temple to write down everything recited by a priest, and then the book is presented and burned as a sacrifice to Odin. Only by writing the contents down, and also broadcasting the discoveries, can the book ever be fit as a sacrifice. To Novantirnas, this is a celebration of new knowledge being added to sapientkind, instead of an act of censorship, as from the flames, the knowledge is believed to ascend to the celestial libraries of Valhalla. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of the ritual, whenever the broadcast is disrupted, riots broke out in some planets as the annual discoveries are not shown.

Likewise, books, databases, and anything containing information are considered sacred to Odin, and devout Malendors pray to consecrate those objects. Damaged books and data devices are usually destroyed or burned as sacrifices to Odin, and only if the objects are truly broken beyond repair. Doing so is considered either as thanksgiving to send the records to Heaven; or to mourn the loss of the records by "cremating" them.

In one old legend, there was a man who was very sad that his databank was ruined, and much of the information inside was lost forever. So, when he melted it as an offering to Odin, he wailed and cried, banging the ground and cursing himself for his failure. "Forgive me! Forgive me!" he howled, but before he could beat himself up, an old man stopped him, and assured him that his grandfather would be happier to see him do better. His virtuous life would be the greatest legacy his grandfather would ever have, more so than any monument or even his own name remembered. In many versions, the old man was actually Odin, who was not happy that His student would nearly destroy himself instead of finding a better way to honour his grandfather.

To underscore their veneration of knowledge, Novantirnas even restrict when to burn books or what books to burn, so only one's personal treasures or ritual files can be sacrificed or disposed. Banned or forbidden books are not burned to prevent them from being given any respect, but simply and angrily torn to pieces; to burn them would offend the Gods, as it elevates whatever blasphemies there as an offering, releasing something unholy to Heaven.

Even after secularisation, many worlds across the Malendor Supercorporation often sing hymns to praise or worship Odin before classes begin, to symbolise the Supercorporation's love of knowledge, science, and inspiration. Odin may not necessarily be worshipped sometimes but has become a symbol of knowledge and advancement.

Nine is considered a holy number among the Malendors, sacred to Odin.

### God of the Crusaders

"*We are Malendors! We are His monsters! We are the monsters He sends to purge evil from the Galaxy. In His hands, we are His swords. His spears, His harpoons, His claws against the beasts of hell! His beams that burn the cruel, his shadows that devour the abominations, such as* you*. And in His divine name, you Terrans and your vile atrocities will all burn!*"

- a curse transmitted from Crusader Fleet Frigate 923.

Many fleets among the Crusader Fleets, sacred navies defending the Malendor Supercorporation's western borders, are dedicated to Odin. Their missions involve rebuilding ruined worlds, promoting science and education, and waging war on supernatural or excessive threats ranging from traitorous warlords to the murderous Imperial Igarins and the cannibalistic Konjors.

In the Seventeenth Galactic Empire, the Celestials devoured magic-users to expand their dominance. To protect themselves, the Novantirnas willingly offered their own magical powers to Odin, and even though they no longer had any magic, they managed to defeat the Celestials with their own technology.

Novantirnas are also proud of their God of Science, in the sense that they were a strange people to the Aesir and the Celestials. Yet the Aesir chose them as Their greatest students, and they were able to harness Odin's gifts for the good of the Galaxy. For that, Novantirnas proudly and gladly refer their own god as "the Monster God", for not only He has armies of monsters and beasts in his service, but He elevates lowly freaks and "monsters" into greatness and enlightenment.

### Nandegakkovians

The Freyrgardians, Norse humans, sometimes regarded the atheist Nandegakkovians as the best agents of Odin, because they were creative and dedicated to preserving all kinds of knowledge. Impressed and pleased by their efforts, the one-eyed god brought some of their best scholars and researchers to his palace in Asgard, where He offered to help their projects. At first, they were frightened by the dim, misty surroundings, and the enormous height of the tall, enthroned being before them, but He reassured that He meant no harm, but only an offer to aid their research. They accepted and were instantly returned to their places, and soon afterwards their vaults were guarded by strange men in golden armour. The Norse even regarded Nandegakko as a domain dedicated to the God of Mysteries.

Although Nandegakko has no state religion, it does have several official temples dedicated to different deities. For example, in the human town of Auzirotri, a book is printed with the discoveries of the past year, after they are transmitted to archives and records across the planet. That temple is also the planet's official temple of Odin, the main centre for the local human and Resparin devotees of the Lord of Knowledge that boasts a great university. The book is burned as a sacrifice to Odin, a symbolic gesture that the knowledge has been added to the collective wisdom of all civilisation. Sometimes the atheist president of Nandegakko attends the ritual to represent Nandegakko (and therefore, all sentient life) gaining more knowledge.

The Resparins, the greater and broader relatives and kin of Nandegakko's people, also venerate Odin as a god of knowledge and magic. They do not fear Him, but they love Him and venerate Him: they believe that they must not fear His bountiful gifts, however disastrous, as greater gifts will await them. Unfortunately, their version of sacrificing discoveries of the year to Odin are considered ridiculously excessive, such as burning piles of wooden scrolls up to the point that they accidentally burned entire villages.

Before classes open, religious Resparins would stand up and recite a hymn to Odin, praising Him as a patron of students and teachers. A teacher or a special student would recite the hymn from a sacred book. This is not practiced in most of Nandegakko, which has an atheist majority, although some popular folk songs were originally Odinist hymns.

### On Jerde

The Seekers of Speki, a secret order dedicated to protecting Daleskarnia's people from threats, worships Odin as its patron god and the inspiration of its pursuit of knowledge. On the other hand, their enemies, the emperors of Rannar and Baesorja, also venerate Odin as their war god; they even murdered millions of people as sacrifices to Odin, usually by impaling them or slicing their necks on their altars. Even as the Rannariskar and their Baesorthar descendants fanatically worshipped Odin, the wickedness of Rannar that led to the catastrophic war of the Fifty-Six Tyrants caused almost all other worshippers of Odin to hate the Rannariskar as the greatest of all traitors.

The Heronoi fear him as the god of madness and destruction, so they mostly avoid him except in some important ceremonies. They also avoid drawing concentric triangles (warakura, or valknut) out of fear that they might invite the God of Inspiration and their own doom. Another reason why the Heronoi fear and even hate Odin was because he was the god of the Rannariskar, their enemies. The murders of millions of victims in Rannariskar temples also made Odin more frightening.

Because of that fear, their Norse friends tried to convince them that what the Rannariskar did was *not* what Odin wanted: what he wanted out of those good Norse and the Heronoi (if not the world) was to see them grow and become strong, gifted, and enlightened, doing whatever it takes to accomplish every possible discovery for his divine plans.

On the other hand, as Odin is the god of outcasts, the mutated blonde Gylharlings and the Waxeroi venerate and embrace Odin as their patron deity, out of their belief that he embraces the rejects of society and saves them from total destruction. One ritual among the Gylharlings was setting up an empty throne of crystal, symbolising the authority and wisdom of Odin. Although the Heronoi were frightened of the Gylharlings at first because they worshipped Odin, they eventually fell in love with them for their beauty.

### Names in other languages:

* Eimarin: Vodnaras, Naranor, Valāpasnar Vodnaras (Allfather Odin), Valikranthod (Great Teacher), Okron Ira (Master of Magic), Naranor (the Wanderer), Jostoi Randarai (Mover of Nations).
* Tuxavin: Oirönor, Naraarön (Grey Wanderer)
* Freyrgardian: Odinn, Vodnaraz
* Lysandrean: Odin, Ondin
* Aspieran: Zorin, Skalpey (Reaper), Thusil (Great Teacher), Jolkarul (Lord of Gifts), Vantarul (Lord of Mysteries), Runavakar (Prime Mover of the Stars)
* Resparin, Nandegakkovian: Áuzir, Ózin
* Novantirna: Ôzrin, Ôzint, Auzir
* Anchanokke: Onzir
* Late Rannarisk: Othinor
* Ataranoi: Otrino, Oironzo
* Heronoi: Orino, Othono, Oironto
* Marnosyn: Ossins, Oxions
* Eosome: Wesano, Vjesano
* Bujanski: Ozin, Otjano

## In the Rinnarverse

### Bright Timeline

Odin's association with knowledge drove the Vetarbroitar to become a more technologically-advanced people, but it also fostered arrogance against the hated Earthlings as "backwards" and "insane". It also caused some Vetarbroitar to break away from the growing fanaticism in their civilisation, in defence of the Thrisveld. When they met again in battle over the fate of Earth, both Vetarbroitar armies invoked Odin and threw spears at each other.

Most Rinnarit Norse pray to Odin as a symbol of their independence from Earth.

### Dark Timeline/19-Canon

The Nordic State, a fascist regime that emerged in Scandinavia during the economic crash of the 2070s, venerates Odin as its primary god. In its inversion of its hated Christian church's doctrines, Odin is elevated to a role similar to Jesus, whereas his enemy Loki is reviled as the Nordics' equivalent of Satan.

The Vetarbroitar, cloned descendants of a rebel Nordic general, also worship Odin as their god of war, chanting his name as a symbol of vengeance against Earth and its evil history. They also began to associate his heavenly warriors -- the einherjar -- as saints and angels, to the extent that they also depicted brown and dark-skinned Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans, and Indians among the einherjar to celebrate their countries stopping the Four Powers of Earth from dominating the world.

The Farsider empire worshipped Odin as its primary god to attract the Norse colonies of the Milky Way until the colonies denounced the Farsiders' excessive cruelty, after which the Farsiders denounced Odin and rejected him. Nonetheless, when some Farsider troops invaded Earth, they bombed the Cathedral of Aachen and tore up Charlemagne's remains as a sacrifice to Odin. These same troops fought other Vetarbroitar, and both sides invoked Odin in their battle for the fate of the planet Earth.

In the Rinnarit Republic, non-Christian soldiers invoked Odin and Shiva in their battle-hymns: Odin to honour the Norse, and Shiva to honour the Khmer influences in Rinnarit culture. When Ivan York went to Earth to destroy the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan and punish St. Ambrose's remains by smashing his bones to pieces, he was greeted with a hero's welcome in his return to the Rinnarit Republic. His supporters and troops praised him as a "champion of Odin", but he died of poisoning contracted from breathing the irradiated Italian air.

In December, Rinnarits and Bigtonians celebrate Yule by mock battles and races between two teams, one dressed as ghosts and monsters, and the other as Odin's legions of heaven.

## Trivia

* His weapon is the spear Gungnir, which never misses its target, but flies towards it.
* His symbol is the valknut, a triangular knot that represents frenzy, death, and eternity.
* His rune is the odal rune (ᛟ), which symbolises inheritance, tradition, and nobility.
* "Odinism" is a term used for the worship of Odin, although generally it (along with Asatru and Heathenry) is used for the Norse religion in general. Specifically, it is usually used for the more right-wing or racist versions of the modern Norse religion, and due to this risk, the author considered thinking of another name to represent Odin-based religions in the Rabydosverse.
	+ The Malendors and Eimarins practice religions based on the worship of Odin, resulting in bizarre, alien forms of the Odinpath, or Odinntrú: Malendor and Eimarin/Celestial. Unlike their Norse counterpart, both "Odinntrús" use very different rituals to worship the mystery god. Eimarins use magic; and Malendors use science, research, and artistic expression. And unlike the notorious forms of Odinism, Eimarin Odinntrú sometimes includes mortal worshippers who learned magic; and Malendor Odinntrú is practiced by scientists of various races and species (instead of just human Norsemen and grifajes Novantirs).
	+ Some Waxeroi practice a form of Odinntrú, but it's a mixture of Norse and Heronoi (Mycenaean) rites.

* On 6 September, the author decided with this resolution:
	+ Odinism changed to (the) Odinpath, Odintru, or Odinntrú
	+ Odinist (worshipper) changed to Odinmandi (plural: Odinmendur), Odinnemandi (plural: Odinnemendur), Odinlaerandi (plural: Odinlaerendur), and Odinstudent or Student of Odin. Nemandi (shortened to mandi) is Icelandic suffix for "student", and "lærandi" means "learner".
	+ However in December 2021, he decided to use "Odinism" again to represent several cultures' specific devotion to Odin rather than to other deities.
* The Malendors and their Novantirna ancestors worship Odin as the bringer of civilisation, and the One Who drove them to greater acts of courage, inspiration, creativity, innovation, and justice.
	+ Aspects of Novantirna Odinism include belief in two main "gifts", inspiration and frenzy, interpreted as "innovation in peacetime", and "vengeance in wartime". Another aspect of duality in the main god, Odin, is depicting Him as both a lord of justice and a capricious force, representing the volatile nature of knowledge and creativity and the need for self-control to avoid the worst extremes. This is represented in religious iconography as light (for civilisation) and darkness (for destruction and/or understanding reality).
	+ In some way, Odinism among the Novantirnas is more similar to syncretic folk Buddhism. Just as Buddha is venerated as a bringer of enlightenment, so do the Novantirna aliens worship Odin in a similar manner.
	+ Malendors tend to capitalise pronouns referring to Odin, in the same way they also do it either to the Three Kings or to their pantheon. Whenever He is mentioned in a group of gods, the plural pronouns of the group are also capitalised.
* The greater role of Odin in the background lore of the Rabydosverse's setting may have been inspired by his depiction in the Marvel films, Assassin's Creed, and the God of War games.
* One amusing superstition among Heronoi is not to celebrate birthdays at night, to avoid being eaten by a cake-like ghost known as a kaxare. Kaxaremai also appear to people who are destined to die and go to Valhalla; but people who break the superstition or stumble upon a hungry kaxare will end up getting swallowed whole. Every victim of the kaxare immediately ends up in Valhalla, seen as a horrifying fate in Heronoi mythology.
	+ To Norsemen, on the other hand, this is truly a happy birthday. That is why they celebrate birthdays at night, so the kaxare will take them straight to Heaven!

## See also

* Shiva, another god of knowledge and enlightenment
* Perun, Tarhunz, other god-kings
* Freyr
* Svarog, another deity associated with knowledge
* Naeloros, another god of knowledge and horrors
* Faneson, Frinqar, other fearsome deities