Temsel's Othr

Temsel's Othr is a collection of poems written by human scholar Sigurd Njordson in OCC Year -240. It recounts the story of Temsel's triumph at the Battle of Gerard's Way, starting with a series of short poems about the soldiers in Temsel's regimen who fell before his legendary stand, an epic of Temsel's feats in the mountain pass outside Halvard's Crossroads, and finally with a shorter poem about Temsel's return to the battleground after becoming a Spirit. The last section has been turned into an infamous tavern song by various bards who use it as their closing act.

Below is Njordson's original manuscript, with comments by scholar Ragnvald Blackrose

## Buildup

A collection of almost 50 poems comprise the first of three sections. A small number have been selected below:

### Kulmetav

*As the Spirits born not with their gifts //*
*Man is rarely a warrior at birth //*
*The search for strength as old as Jer //*
*To otherworldly powers turn*

*From near-death this fighter came //*
*Turned from Kreven's ranks //*
*His vengeance shifted to his master //*
*Longer his prowess waned*

*Büteel's forge birthed a devil //*
*Its ambition unchecked //*
*Warrior's sword harbored the fiend //*
*Bending to its will*

*In devil's strength the warrior grew //*
*Forked from his vengeance //*
*Bones, flesh, and blood of Kreven spilled //*
*At Kulmetav's feet*

*To the blade he himself yielded //*
*Warriors rarely die a man //*
*Reunited with undeath he vowed //*
*To trade his life for theirs*

### Jack

Blackrose on this section: "This was likely a later edition not from his [Njordson's] original manuscript. In mine own opinion, this version is a formalized version of a bedtime story [he] would read to his kids. It borrows the lyrical structure of The Hunter's Ballad [a nursery rhyme popular in Halvard's Crossroads]"

*Old Jack never fought a day in his life //*
*until the war began //*
*He just collected and studied his bones //*
*He was a peaceful man*

*When push came to shove and all hope seemed lost //*
*Ayikitiruu called //*
*His studies rose with roars and stomps //*
*The old man donned his fauld*

*Beastial spirits swarmed around his wake //*
*Tearing Kreven's apart //*
*Zombies and mummies could not stand for long //*
*until they could outsmart*

*Hundreds undead had met their end again //*
*running close to his beasts //*
*Like Temsel too, the forces knew //*
*To kill from out of reach.*

### Nurv

*From where the browncaps bloom //*
*On the snow above the Rock1 //*
*Cultivating the life where none should grow //*
*the Druid watches those below*

*Unlife preceded its counterpart in worry //*
*As Kreven approached, he stood //*
*Temsel he joined; the abomination he fought //*
*Preserving life's sanctity*

*Summoning icy windstorms; trapping vines //*
*Nurv clashed the undead //*
*A perversion to life's natural cycle //*
*Lich forces continued not*

*Unwavering in courage, one single man //*
*Numbers prevail over brawn //*
*Regiment retreating; Druid withstanding //*
*The browncaps now mark his grave*

1. The "Rock" in question can mean both the mountains around Halvard's Crossroads as well as the Great Silver Rock watched over by the Spirit Hënë. Hënë has been known to influence druids of various types.