Freyrgardian mythology

**Freyrgardian mythology** is the mythology of the Freyrgardians, a cloned race of Norse humans who live at the central part of the Galaxy. It was derived from the Norse mythology of their Jerdiskar ancestors.

## List of deities

The Norse gods of the Freyrgardians' ancestors are known as "the High Gods" to differentiate them from these syncretic deities.

### Ansuvir

* Odinn, Vodnaraz (Odin) - the king of the Heavens; and the lord of wisdom, science, and death. He also represents the inevitability of fate, motivating the Freyrgardians to be righteous to make things better before doom comes.
	+ Confirmed by records left behind by the Celestials and the Novantirnas, He is also known for being the creator of that bygone galactic civilisation of fallen gods, who rebelled against Him.
* Frijaraz (Frigg) - the queen of the Heavens; and the lady of magic and prophecy. She represents the possibilities of the future.
* Heimdallaz (Heimdall) - the warden of Asgard's main gate. His excessive brightness also made other civilisations depict him as a god of fire, as if he is continually wreathed in holy flames.

### Vanir

* Frejo (Freyr) - the national god of the Freyrgardian civilisation. The lord of summer, good weather, good harvest, riches, achievement, and good health. Consort of the jotunn-giantess Gerith (Gerdh).
* Njoras (Njord) - the god of the sea.
	+ In Freyrgardian folklore, Njoras had two jotnar wives, Katmari and Astruida. He was also associated with chariot races, large families, and multiple-partner romances and harems. Opposite-sex romances (usually several wives around one husband, or several husbands around one wife) are especially favoured in Freyrgardian society as pleasing to Njoras.

### Cthonic deities

The Freyrgardians also call them "Rokkar".

* Sali (Hel) - the goddess of the dead. The mistress of peace, whether in the fruit of a righteous life or to prevent destruction.
* Grovjana (Groa) - a star-mage. Originally a witch, her association with stars made the Freyrgardians elevate her to a star goddess. She and her husband Aurvandilaz were venerated as the patrons of authority, who can bestow a ruler's authority or take away authority from unworthy or unpopular leaders.
	+ Daughter of the witch and star goddess Alfhilaz, mother of the moon deity Gramaz.
	+ In one legend, Grovjana was the strange woman who appeared to the leader of the Rynavonts. Angered by his harvest of stars, Grovjana struck his face with her diamond sceptre, causing him to lose six of his eyes and vomit slaves' meat. The meat and eyeballs grew legs and ran away; in other legends, the meat became into six humanoids that bred and produced a primitive tribe of pirates.
* Aurvandilaz (Aurvandill) - a star-god. Associated with comets, which are considered as his signet ring. He or his wife Grovjana might appear to a monarch, president, or leader, either to declare them worthy rulers, or take away their authority and leave them to be punished by their subjects.
	+ He and his wife Grovjana are usually depicted as a king and queen clad in glittering blue robes.
* Mondagunna (Móðguðr) - the jotunn woman who guards the bridge to Helheim, or paradise. Because she was considered as a counterpart of Heimdall, she is worshipped by the Freyrgardians as a beautiful goddess who protects and leads the righteous to peace. She is sometimes venerated as the guardian of the lost, and people who are stranded or caught in dangerous storms pray to her.
	+ Freyrgardian artwork of this jotunn depict her as a golden giantess armed with a shining or burning mace.
	+ One festival involves playing music in E flat minor and dancing in front of shrines to her. At the end of the sacred dance, the Rite of the Lost or Rite of the Found, several people in red and blue robes burn chickens and cakes as their sweet offerings to her.

### The Lords of Courage

A trio of deities associated with masculine aspects.

* Donar (Thor) - the red-bearded god of thunder and electricity. His weapon is the hammer known as the mjolnir, and he rides on a chariot pulled by two great rams.
	+ He represents aggression and fury.
	+ Because of his association with carpenters, smiths, and farmers, he is also worshipped as the god of technology and machines, alongside his father Odin.
* Jori (Tyr) - the noble god of war, later associated with chivalry, discipline, and concentration-focus.
	+ He represents conscience, bravery, and restraint.
* Balto (Baldr) - the bright god of light and happiness. In spite of his beauty and his kindness, he is a brave warrior who led his soldiers against monsters and evil people. He was tricked by Loskar into being killed, but he and his wife Nanna were reunited in the windswept paradise of Helheim.
	+ He represents hope, idealism, and courage.

## Unique deities

See also: Lysandrean mythology

In addition to the Norse gods, the Freyrgardians developed various cults to newer deities over the thousands of years of their civilisation.

(L) - Lysandrean deity

* Trisar - god of fire (L)
* Thusaril, Thusar, Tussar - god of learning and knowledge, depicted as a scholar clad in blue-green robes and holding many scrolls in his arms. Considered a son or student of Odin. (L)
* Halfamunds - eight-legged horses descended from Sleipnir. Mutant halfamunds are produced or given as gifts to kings, emperors, and presidents. (L)
* Ilis - god of light
* Ilas - goddess of light
* Irjan - god of alien suns and diplomacy (L)
* Heskir - daughter of Hel, supposed judge of the dead. In some traditions, Odin is syncretised as the judge of the dead, similar to those in other Galactic religions.
	+ She is Modgudr's assistant.
* Wyemon, Vjemund - god of the forge, technology, and agriculture (L)
* Torilson, Torissa - god of the forge. He has a red beard. Sometimes syncretised as the son of Thor. (L)
* Velte - goddess of women and the forge (L)
* Vrana - goddess of time (L)

## Characters

* Smau - a piece of meat vomited from the Rynavont emperor after he was whacked by the star goddess and witch Grovjana with her diamond sceptre.
	+ To the shock and horror of the other Rynavonts, the meat on their plates - made from slaves and clones - came to life and ran away, growing limbs and splitting into humanoids as they fled.
	+ Smau fled to the mountains, where it split into three men and three women. The humanoids mated and created their own tribe, a primitive people that became space pirates.
	+ This was interpreted as the origin of another race of Norsefolk to the east of the Freyrgardians, a primitive tribe of clones that wore almost little clothing when they were not using spacesuits.
* Uldinar - The other pieces of meat that fled from the Rynavont feast. They became into more naked humans, who then mated and produced more primitive tribes, the same uncivilised Norse peoples that the Freyrgardians found and assimilated into their kingdom.
* Oys - The six eyes that were beaten out of the Rynavont emperor. These eyes became into six mages in splendid robes, who were then taken by the einherjar as students of Odin.

## Beings

### Star people

* stjarno - star-people
	+ They were either the fallen Imarisk demigods from the dawn on Galactic history, or their wicked remnants that terrorise the Galaxy by pretending to be usurper and tyrant gods.
	+ For oppressing and harvesting countless creations of Odin, their creator and His einherjar abandoned them to their debauchery. Eventually, desperate from losing their immunity, the Imariskar began to kill each other, plunging the Galaxy into a dark age of chaos.
* Imariskar - the Celestials of the first of all civilisations, created and sent forth by Odin to defend the Galaxy. Instead, they rejected Odin and slaughtered many creations, angering their maker, Who abandoned them to their own ruin.
* stjarnharrjaz - star-spirits that serve Asgard as its warriors. Different from the mortal einherjar and other star-people, the stjarnharrjaz are merciless and cold.
* tungglo - various civilised star-people that live in floating cities.
* stjerrendo - wilder star people and barbarous star spirits who revel in murder and debauchery.

### Animals

* halfamundoz - the descendants of Sleipnir, six or eight-legged horses that are faster.

### Demons

* ginungfjandar - demons from the Void outside the universe.

## Helheim and Valhalla

One unusual aspect of the Freyrgardian religion is their views on Valhalla and Helheim. Their contemporary Jerdiskar counterparts resorted to cruelty to a quicker passage to Valhalla, and fear Helheim as a miserable, cold wasteland; their views are inverted in Freyrgardian religion.

To the Freyrgardians, Helheim is a paradise where the peaceful go to live in bliss and beauty. On the other hand, Valhalla's daily deaths and resurrections, if not the possibility of getting killed in a brawl, made it seem more like a horrifying hell. Eventually, half of all people who die fighting (whether in battle or in a brawl) end up there, although they might look forward to showing themselves as refined soldiers as they did in life. Their honour might make Valhalla a better place, where all warriors end up putting their celestial training and their after-deaths to good use to protect the living and the universe from an early destruction.

That did not mean that the Freyrgardians are afraid of war: on the other hand, they believed that the righteous among them who die as warriors will return from Valhalla to protect them as heavenly guardians. Although they would prefer to avoid starting a war, it also made them more willing to kill their enemies, to return the death that their enemies would attempt against them: by dying in battle in Freyrgardian hands, enemy warriors might end up in Valhalla. At first, they might enjoy the thrill of battle, violence, drinking, and praise, but as time and ages go by, their boredom and frustration will make them frightened of this place, making them practice targets of the einherjar for showing even an ounce of fear or rebellion. It is turned from a warrior's paradise into a murderer's ironic hell!

### Saleimaz

#### Funerary rites

Helheim, praised in funerary hymns as Saleimaz, Salaranda, Salai, Sauloi, or Saloria, is not feared by the Freyrgardians, but welcomed as a paradise. That is why when a good Freyrgardian dies, his funeral is not necessarily a sad event, but a joyful departure like a second or third birthday; that is when the deceased's soul will meet their ancestors.

During the funeral, it is permitted to cry to help the loved ones let go of their attachments and continue with their lives. The deceased is bathed in fragrant water, dressed in white and gold-thread robes, and is brought to a pyre with wreaths and flowers around their coffin on a cart. The priest reads the righteous deeds of the deceased, and then the loved ones light the body.

On the third day, the deceased crosses a white bridge, where they cross a cold path into the Field of Plenty, the threshold into the Freyrgardian paradise.

#### The realm itself

According to Freyrgardian iconography, Helheim is depicted as a field where it is always autumn, surrounded by splendid mountains and windy forests. It is centred around the silver city of Eljudnir, the Bastion of the Righteous, filled with libraries of marble and gardens of a million blossoms.

Above its coloured skies, stars shine even at day, and constellations encircle over Eljudnir to remind the righteous of the good and heroic deeds they had done in life. A ring of sixteen stars dance above Eljudnir's spires, representing the crown of stars that the goddess Hel wears.

Yet even with the beauty of Helheim, it is considered very unnecessary for a person to spend their whole life preparing for the afterlife. Those who do enter Helheim, but fail to finish whatever they need in life, would feel empty in the afterlife.

Therefore, the Freyrgardians continue one virtue that they inherited from their ancestors, even in a very distorted form: "It is better to make your own life meaningful, so when you look back, your help to the world will fill you with joy." Their views were also influenced by their observations of their warlike Jerdiskar kin: eventually, seeing how their artistic, scientific lifestyles contrasted against their belligerent, primitive counterparts influenced them to focus less on battle, and more on peaceful and higher motivations.

### Valahollaz

Valhalla, known locally by names such as Valahollaz, Valakol, Varakorja, Vallolai, or Varorijaz, is instead feared by many Freyrgardians. That does not mean that they avoid all fighting and live as pacifists, especially in a Galaxy full of warmongers, tyrants, demons, and monsters: on the contrary, they try to avoid Valhalla, but if they fight, they have no choice but to accept their doom. They nonetheless believe that they will make Valhalla a better place by behaving like gentlemen, so Odin might send them to the living world to defend their loved ones from Asgard.

Like their Jerdiskar counterparts, Freyrgardians believe that anyone who dies fighting, unless they are the other half of all slain fighters or they are too evil, will end up in Valhalla. But they also add that what you do in Valhalla also makes your future better or worse, before your eventual demise in the Ragnarok War of the far future. In Valhalla, the soul who goes there becomes an einherjur. There, you must not show any sign of fear, immaturity, frustration, or selfishness, or else the other einherjar will use you as a target for their practice. As a result, Freyrgardian warriors and soldiers are more disciplined, both to avoid being tortured in Valhalla and to direct their efforts to aid the needy.

Another lesson learned from the tales of the einherjar in Valhalla is this: "You must continue to be honourable, whether in life or in death. You must always improve yourself."

#### The realm itself

Valhalla is depicted as a desert, a golden palace with spears forming its fortress walls. There, the warriors of the dead are trained in exercises or they fight as the sun sets. The lucky few who survive the fight may take a second feast, where they might talk about their past lives and what they learned and encountered in their expeditions. When the sun rises, the slain einherjar return to life, and all wounds are healed.

Luckily for the einherjar, a day in Valhalla is longer than a terrestrial day, giving the saints more time to enjoy some past pursuits, such as reading, studying, art, and music. Furthermore, many einherjar sent on expeditions are brought back to life no matter how far they are from Valhalla and Asgard, even in the deepest hells, unless they are damaged beyond repair.

The Freyrgardian legends also add that around several nonillion einherjar (of many races, species, and even genders) will survive the Ragnarok War. Together with the blessed people of Helheim, they will help the Gods rebuild the universe into a better paradise than the past worlds.

### Effect on relations with Jerdiskar

The bizarre view of the afterlife angered the Jerdiskar - seeing the Freyrgardians mourn a warrior's ascension into Valhalla, and celebrate his brother's entrance into Helheim, made the enraged Jerdiskar see them as deranged cowards. The Freyrgardians answered back that the Jerdiskar were so obsessed with war and cruelty, that they missed out on the more beautiful and higher things in life.

When a war broke out between a Freyrgardian paladin and a Jerdiskar warlord, the former threatened the latter: "See you in Valhalla. I am sure that by your attitude, you will find more pain than glory there!" Months later, the warlord's retinue were troubled by visions of their master. He was in Valhalla, but he was being used by the angry einherjar as a victim of their tortures, as the saintly legions scolded him for his arrogance. True to his opponent's word, the noble Freyrgardian led his own heavenly regiment that included the warlord's former men!

## Syncretism

In the Fifth Age, the Freyrgardians encountered the more-advanced Carvasari civilisation, the ancestors of the Novantirnas. They were surprised that the Freyrgardians worshipped the same gods as them, but in very different and bizarre ways: so did the alien Carvasaries, who mostly venerated Odin as their god of science.

The Freyrgardians' gods were later venerated by the Heronoi and the Resparins. The former turned to more prettier deities like Freyr, while the latter sought the wisdom of Odin to find meaning and preserve all that is beautiful in a brutal universe.

## See also

* Bujanski folklore
* Novantirna mythology