Fenris

Fenris during the Norland War

### Notable Details

part of Bedran pantheon, predates all known galactic civilizations, dormant since the disappearance of Bedras

*"The Hound of Man is not enough. I pray to you, Wolf in the Night, cunning companion of the Lord. I pray to you because fear has made my arms weak. I ask you for rage to make them strong again. Kill the Hound in my heart, and grow strong on the meat of its bones. In its place, give me the Wolf."*
- Bedran battle prayer to Fenris

*"It never troubles a wolf how many the sheep may be."*
- The World Eater

**Fenris** (known in Bedran mythos as **The World Eater** or simply **The Wolf**) is a sapient biomechanical entity that has sworn fealty to the Bedran Royal House. Older than the Beraltians, the Enmerkar or even the Yithians, the origins and nature of Fenris is a mystery as old as galactic civilization. After remaining dormant for over seven centuries, the World Eater has awoken with the reappearance and ascendance of Lady Amato and once again stalks the stars.

## History

*I am Relict. I was ancient when the universe bled and trembled in epochs forgotten to all but myself. When your kind first came down from the trees to wander upright in the tall grass, I had devoured worlds beyond counting and gulped their stars like water! When you first looked up to trace the constellations, I was the shadow in the sky! Tell me, tiny flesh: Of what consequence is a creature like YOU to a being like ME?"*
- Excerpt from *The Binding of Fenris* by Palatine Bedras (allegedly)

Where Fenris came from or who created it are a mystery. It was of ancient make long before the Kith left their natal world. What little is known comes from the Wolf's own words. It named itself "World Eater". Once there were others like it, but Fenris is the only one known to still exist, making it THE World Eater of the modern age. The Bedran first encountered the World Eater during their age of expansion. A slumbering giant coiled inside a hollow dwarf planet. In their stumbling, they awoke the monster. Wrathful, the World Eater swatted away the fleets and numbers sent against it and set forth to consume the local stellar volume. It may well have destroyed them had Bedras himself not intervened.

The Palatine Lord arrived in his ship and submitted himself before the World Eater, suing for clemency. The World Eater, in its rage, swallowed the ship whole. The crew perished, but Bedras himself lived. From within the cavernous gullet of the beast, he spoke to it. And the World Eater heard him, and spoke back.

For twenty years, the two conversed. The only record of what was said was penned by Bedras himself in *The Binding of Fenris*. The book received only limited publication and was later decried as heresy by the Cult of Bedras and banned. The sole extant copy known to exist resides in the personal library of Emperor A222. Beyond this unattainable source, no further record exists of the twenty year-long dialogue between the Palatine Lord and the World Eater. In the end, the World Eater spat Bedras out and swore its allegiance to him. Bedras named the construct "Fenris", the Wolf, in honor of a myth originating from his own reality. In the Bedran mythos, Fenris became a God second only to Bedragare himself.

In the millennia to follow, Fenris served faithfully. His immense power and bulk protected the Bedran time and again. Fenris created the tunnels under the surface of Wi that the planet's population resides in by boring through the crust and singlehandedly destroyed the planet Nez during the Norland War. His wisdom, though often cryptic, granted the Bedran insight into sciences and technologies they did not know were possible. Fenris is remembered as a champion of the Bedran and a loyal servant of Bedras.

When Bedras disappeared, Fenris was in orbit over the planet Atreides. A pilgrim flotilla was following the beast and monitoring it in real time. At precisely 010.131.2120 ABA, without any warning, the World Eater coiled into itself and went dormant. Its lights went dim and its shell ceased to give out heat. It became cold and inert and completely unresponsive. Though it is not known precisely what happened to Bedras, the moment that the World Eater went dormant is widely considered to be the same moment that whatever happened to Bedras occurred.

The World Eater's orbit proved unstable and Fenris fell from orbit three years after entering dormancy. Fenris entered the atmosphere on the planet's night side and produced a fireball bright enough to outshine the sun on the day side. The World Eater impacted in the remote wilderness of the planet's northern continent, causing earthquakes and firestorms that ravaged everything for hundreds of kilometers around it. Though the force of impact was tremendous, Fenris was completely unharmed. Its body uncoiled during the fall, resulting in it being draped across the landscape. There Fenris remained for 700 years. A temple was erected before the World Eater's mouth and the dormant beast became a major stop for pilgrims.