Name: Bonnie Essence: Questing Tradition: Einherjar
Nature: Caregiver Demeanor: Rebel/loner Mentor: Deborah Parson
--------------------------------- Attributes ---------------------------------
Strength: OOO Charisma: OO Perception: OOO
Dexterity: OOO Manipulation: OO Intelligence: OOOO
Stamina: OO Appearance: OO Wits: OOO
--------------------------------- Abilities ----------------------------------
Alertness: O Drive: O Computer:
Athletics: OO Etiquette: Cosmology: OOO
Awareness: OO Firearms: Culture: OO
Brawl: OO Leadership: Enigmas:
Dodge: Mediation: OOO Investigation:
Expression: Melee: Law:
Intuition: OO Research: OOO Linguistics: O
Intimidation: O Stealth: Medicine: OO
Streetwise: Survival: OO Occult: OO
Subterfuge: Technology: Science:
---------------------------------- Spheres -----------------------------------
Correspondence: Life: Prime:
Entropy: Mind: O Spirit: OOO
Forces: Matter: Time: OO
-------------------------------- Backgrounds ---------------------------------
Arcane: Allies: Avatar: O
Destiny: Dream: O Familiar:
Influence: Library: OOO Mentor: OO
Node: Resources: Sanctum:
Talisman:
----------------------------------- Other ------------------------------------
Arete: OOO
Willpower: OOOOO
Quintessence: OO
Paradox:
Then, one February some years ago, at the annual Pandeicon (a convention for Pagans, Magicians, and like folk from all over the region and country), a couple of her more-into-it-than her friends suggested she go to a seidh ritual later that evening.
She dithered over it. The program said it would involve whole-audience participation in a group ritual, at whose climax whoever wanted to could ask questions of a succession of (self-proclaimed?) seers and seeresses. By the end, she'd decided not to go: it sounded waaaay too creepy for her, dilettante that she was. Sounded like a good time to visit a hospitality suite, pick you up when it's over, let me know how it went.
Bonnie and the friends she went to the con with went to the brew pub aroud the corner from the hotel for dinner, hopping into the elevator to return to the convention, when several interestingly-dressed people came in. In and of itself, interestingly-dressed people are standard fare at a convention, but this particular group needed people to help get things out of their car. Being a helpful sort, she agreed...
... Hey! How was she to know they were helping the coordinator of the seidh ritual unpack her car?
By the time the high chair had been set up, with its bearskin draped over the back, people had begun to filter in, and it was far too late for Bonnie to quietly slip away to another part of the convention.
She didn't *quite* know what to make of all the drumming and chanting. Yes, she'd been to public rituals before, but they were a lot *better* at it. Without noticing, Bonnie slipped, along with the rest of the audience, into a trance, each aiding the seeress along her inner journey where questions would be asked, and answered.
For these weren't some ordinary group of Nordic-seeming Pagans. This was a small group of the Einherjar: Mages dedicated to Odin (by whatever name you may choose to grace the One-Eyed Allfather, he has had many, and will have more). Their seidh was a safe little set piece for outsiders, and one by which they could vette potential new members. A splinter group of, perhaps, the Verbena, Dreamspeakers, or even Kinfolk of the Get of Fenris, the Einherjar devote themselves to Odin and collect many acolytes from the Asatruar, as well as do other Norse magickal sects.
The leader of the Enherjar enclave was a fond friend of one of the South Bay's Verbena, who in turn had been Bonnie's gateway into the local Pagan community. Anne had, herself, been eyeing Bonnie for possible acceptance into the Verbena, but the auguries had never *quite* seemed auspicious enough for her to reveal herself to her young friend. When Deborah's message came a week later, though, asking if Anne thought Bonnie would make a good Einherjar, Anne consulted her familiar, and gutted a chicken. Unfortunately for Anne, the signs and omens pointed very clearly that Bonnie would be best served among the followers of the Valfather than her own tradition.
But we get ahead of ourselves, and Bonnie herself got left in ritual with a few dozen other people. The shamanic-type journey, led by Deborah, beckoned the rapt audience-participants ever deeper into the Wood between the Worlds, and the Nine Worlds that lay beyond the Midgar without. Deeper they delved, on into Hel. The audience was to wait outside the gate, while the seers were to enter within, and gather the answers for those who asked.
Bonnie travelled with them, and, while Deborah said several times that those who were not seers should not enter, when she caught the glimpse of Baldr's table beyond the gate, she wanted to join the seers! But a gentle force stopped her, and a voice says, low but clear, 'The time is not yet. Wait awhile.' So, she stayed outside, with the questioners, and asked a question or two of her own, which we'll get to later.
When Bonnie next visited Anne's house, and started babbling about how cool Deborah Parson's seidh ritual was, Anne lent her a copy of a fictional trilogy Deborah had written, a re-telling of the saga of the Ring of the Niebelungen.
Deborah paid the bills for her Work as one of the Einherjar by being a writer of fantasy. Those in the pagan community tended to notice that she didn't really hide being a Norse Pagan all that well, although of course the whole Einherjar thing was kept safe under *both* cover identities.
Bonnie curled up with them, and didn't emerge from her bedroom all weekend. Deborah was an excellent writer, and, moreover, well... there's a section in the second book of that trilogy that covers part of a seidh ritual, using the same chants as had been used at the con a few weeks earlier. The original ritual had had such power over Bonnie that she had to try very hard to avoid falling into a trance as deep as the one that had claimed her in a meeting room at the Oakland Marriot... and nearly succeeded, too.
When she finally returned to herself, though not Awakened as other traditions would say it, she had a rather clear idea that there was more to Deborah, and her group, than met the eye. Within days, she had gotten a message to her soon-to-be mentor through Anne, and Deborah was happy to invite her to her house in Berkeley.
Soon after that, in a ritual whose specifics are known only to this small Tradition of mages, Bonnie was Awakened to the Einherjar. Wotan Himself came and spoke to her, in her most vulnerable time, and she swore her life to him, for such is the vow of the Einherjar: that their lifes belong to the Valfather, and are His to take, at His will.
Bonnie's library consists of many rare and out-of-print mundane books about the ancient Norsemen, both in English and in a couple Scandinavian tongues (probably Norwegian and Icelandic, both of which she can stumble through from cognates with Old Norse and a English/Other-Language dictionary). These probably aren't of much interest to the others in the Chantry. There's a small section with charcoal rubbings of runestones and some interpretations offered by Bonnie and her Mentor (ditto). Other mundane books include all works her Mentor has published for the common press (duh).
What other mages *would* care about are Umbral travel diaries that Bonnie has compiled for public consumption (yes, she has a private stash too, but the things in those diaries are too ticklish to tell and/or involve personal conversations with passing deities, you know how that is), as well as a compilation of the choice bits from her Mentor's same library. These include basic explanations of how the Near Umbra looks, many of its more common denizens, suggestions and guidelines on 'stepping sideways' (usually referred to among this trad as 'crossing the woods'), and so on. All in all, an excellent resource for the up-and-coming student of the Spirit Sphere.
Also in the magickal portion are the books her Mentor has published for *non*-public (I must resist the temptation to type publick, I will I will I... oh, I just did) consumption: some of these are for the general mage population. The few that are for Einherjar consumption are in Bonnie's private stash, not that most would care because they're written in Old Norse to help keep people's noses out. There are also extensive works on divination (with obviously a focus on runes), runic magick, and a couple beginning books on the Life sphere. There's a Mind section, too, but as this is not the Einherjar's specialty, it's not as robust as the Spirit section. Obviously, Deborah hopes Bonnie will turn her studies that way soon: all of these are from the Mentor, not the student. Bonnie herself had been convinced she possessed a twinge of telepathy before Awakening, and is now a little embarrassed after having seen the *real* thing. She'll get over it: Deborah's a rather stubborn old bitch (her own words), and a hangup like that will stop no student of *hers*.
Deborah Parson is a Master of Spirit and none-too-shabby in Mind (note those public performances that work all too well, and more than one person has come out all wobbly-kneed from her reading a chapter from her latest book), and her books reflect this. Doubtless she will lend more books to Bonnie's library as things wear on. She's got plans for the next few already, really, as soon as her student is willing and able to comprehend their contents. As outlined above, she'll try to guide her student into further studies of Mind, then Life.