Ragbard

God of revelry

Ragbard with his one jeweled eye, currently glowing yellow to represent his joy

**Ragbard** was an alcohol-drinking, singing adventurer, and serves as the Nordheimr god of revelry and festivals. Despite his mythological origin describing him ascending to godhood, he has always been worshipped as a Valgardian from inception, rather than a mortal. The fact that none of his dedicated priests care about the confusion and murky origin is a strong metaphor for Ragbard's hazy, chaotic role in the pantheon.

## Origin Myth

Once upon a time, there lived a singing dwarf called Ragbard, who went on many adventures, but always got into a lot of trouble (even though he means well) and got out through luck or creative, alcohol-fueled bouts of ingenuity.

He loved ale more than anybody else in the entire universe and for all of time, and once drank so much that all the ale in the world had run out. Gorhelm came down personally to tell the dwarf, who was sober now that the world was still recovering from its ale crisis, that he had been dishonourable and would not be allowed into Valgard.

Fearing that he would lay in Hol forever and never be allowed to be drunk again, he made a deal with the trickster goddess Eylok to put him in a spell that would let him stay alive until the end of time, so that he would live forever and not suffer in Hol. He would give her his eye, and it was replaced with a magical, blindingly bright jewel that, at the stroke of midnight, would change its colour, which signified putting him in the same state forever, alive and well.

He gladly agreed, and cut out his eye in a painful process, and placed the jewel into his socket. He decided to celebrate by getting extremely drunk (unfortunately the world had run out of ale, so he had to make due with other alcoholic beverages), and he partied and danced and sang pub songs with his fellow celebrators. Then midnight came, and he was stuck in his permanent state- completely drunk and singing. Now, Ragbard can only talk in rhyming song, and his consciousness has a limited range from tipsy to completely knocked out, never sober. He also has a magical left eye which changes its colour every hour and has a blindingly bright light, making it hard to see around him. Due to his very unique and immortal lifestyle he easily ascended into godhood.

Despite the fact that this is his only mythological relationship to Gorhelm - one that is adversarial - he is also somehow considered to be the (possibly adopted) Uncle of the holy Valgardian family. There are no myths around how this came to be, yet worshippers of the pantheon all accept this as fact.

Theories abound on the exact nature of Ragbard and his origin and placement in the pantheon, and how it came to be. One theory believes that his adventurer tales, and the ascension origin story, all came years after Ragbard worship had already been established and as the Uncle of the pantheon, not before - which is why it is contradictory. Some theories even attempt to explain that the adventurer stories weren't initially about Ragbard, but about nameless comic relief heroes, which then merged with him afterwards. Priests of Ragbard refuse to explain, claiming that attempting to do so goes against the mysterious spirit of Ragbard.

## Worship

Ragbard is primarily worshipped by a selective group of hedonist adventurers and minstrels, though he tends to be considered highly by the general population at special occasions and celebrations, invoked with large binges of ale. His more dedicates followers believe in spreading maximum enjoyment, bringing fun to every situation, and contributing to the arts for a better society.

   The origins of Ragbard's priesthood, Ragbard's Companions, exists in mythology, as his ever-present traveling companions and hard partiers, who sometimes become relevant to assist or challenge him. To this day, all priests consider Ragbard to be a personal friend and companion, and talk about him as such, as if they were among this same group of companions from mythology. Ragbard's Companions always carry with them large casks of alcohol, which they freely give to other travelers to keep the fun flowing.