Germanic paganism

## Gods

* Woden: the father of gods as well as the god of wisdom, war, and death. Symbolized by the ring and the spear. He can be conflated with Tawil at’Umr.
* Frig: mother goddess, wife of Woden, and protector of animals, also a healer. Her symbols are a sheaf of grain and a necklace of amber. She can be conflated with Shub-Niggurath.
* Thunor: the god of weather, foe of giants, and protector of the weak. Symbolized by the hammer and often considered a “friend of the common man.” He can be conflated with either Nyarlathotep or with Nodens.
* Ēastre: a fertility goddess, of dawn and spring, after whom Easter is named. Her symbol is the hare. She, like Frig, can be conflated with Shub-Niggurath.
* Tiw: a god of justice, vows, and leadership. His symbol is the sword. Tiw can be conflated with Gla’aki, whose vows have a certain justice in them.
* Hama: a vigilant god who guards the rainbow bridge between Midangeard (earth) and Heofen (heaven). He can see into any world and hears everything. Can be conflated with Yog-Sothoth.
* Ing: the green man, a god of fertility. He can be conflated with the Green Man avatar of Nyarlathotep or the Green God worshipped in Varrenni territory.
* Niht: not a god per se, and not worshipped, but Niht created existence in conjunction with Eallfaeder.
* Eallfaeder: another creation deity, Eallfaeder worked with Niht to bring about existence.

## Paganism in Practice

Unlike Christianity, Germanic paganism is not a unified system of belief with consistent rules and an unchanging holy text. Each Saxon tribe has its own sacred rites, many of which have been lost with the coming of Christianity. Christian authorities speak of animal sacrifices and of a caste of priests who lived according to a set of strict taboos, forbidden to touch weapons or ride stallions. Wooden or stone idols to the heathen gods, as well as to animal spirits like the stag or the serpent, stood at the heart of English villages or in lonely and sacred spots.

Unlike Christians, who bury their dead in church cemeteries within their towns and villages, pagans tended to locate cemeteries nearby (but not in) their settlements. Many of the graves in these burial grounds contain grave goods such as spears, amulets, keys, drinking vessels, jewelry, or even gold coins. The graves of the wealthy and powerful could be even more elaborate, with richly-dressed beds for the deceased’s eternal rest or even boats to carry them into the next life. Large grave-mounds marked the location of royal or chiefly tombs, many of which remain visible. These mounds serve as meeting places or landmarks for many Saxon communities.

Not all burials are so richly furnished. Many have nothing at all in their graves or simply the buckles and pins from the clothes in which they were buried. In other cases, someone has taken care not to provide for the deceased’s journey to the afterlife but to protect the living from them; these people are buried face-down or weighed down in their graves with heavy stones. Such measures are a means to prevent the dead from returning to harry the living.

### Practitioners

Saxons draw fine distinctions between different types of practitioners. The male title is listed first, followed by the female.

* Dryman/drycge: used magical apparatus such as cauldrons, crystals, and wands.
* Galdre/galdoricge: sang or chanted their rituals and spells.
* Lyblaeca/lybbesstre: potion makers.
* Scinnlaecca/scinnlaecce: summoned spirits and conversed with the dead.
* Witega/witegestre: soothsayers and prophets.

If a practitioner performs magic out of hate, spite, greed, or another negative emotion, they’re called a wareloga/haegtess. This isn’t really how the magic is performed, but instead why the magic is performed. To many people, though, these different kinds of magic can all be summed up with one word. A wicce (or wicca, if male) is a witch, someone who uses magic to harm others. Despite witch-burnings being far in the future, the Church condemns witchcraft and those who find themselves accused of it may be shunned, taken to court, or even attacked by their neighbors.

## Walkers in the Night

Nightgenga (walkers in night) and sceadugenga (walkers in shadow) are interchangeable, generic Saxon terms for all monsters and beasts encountered in the darkness. They can be werewolves, ents, nicor, thrys, or elves. The unquiet dead are especially feared. Púcel is also used to describe likes of goblins, trolls, and other creatures encountered in the wilderness. Púcel are known as pookas or pucks.

## Wyrd

Wyrd is the Saxon concept of inexorable fate. A man’s fate is written and there is no way around it. The events of the past color the events of the future, and vice-versa. If you behaved inappropriately in the past, wyrd will weigh heavily upon you and your future undertakings will not go smoothly. However, if you turn a new leaf, your future actions can overturn your past misbehavior. Wyrd should not to be confused with the idea of predestination. Saxons are influenced by wyrd and many feared it, but they are not controlled by it.