The Einherjar

The Einherjar know differently.

Runes are best prepared beforehand, from slices of branches of fruit- bearing trees. The ash is sacred to Odin, and as such should not be used except when the caster directly wants his influence felt on the Work in question. For best effect, the rune should be consumed as part of the working, by burning or whatever means is handy.

However, as many random rocks in Scandinavia and Minnesota attest, rock also works, if the work is to be one that should be binding for extended periods of time. In an extreme pinch, the Einherjar may simply trace the rune in the air, but this won't work as well. An interim measure is to carry a belt-pouch of pre-prepared runes and use them non-destructively.

In short, rune useage (if permitted by the ST, who is even mightier than the Wanderer) is done by the method that is both the most fitting and expedient to the Work at hand. If you'd like to use Spirit 3 to step into the Umbra, the best way would be to burn an ansuz rune, the next best would be to draw it in blood on a mirror, but if the HIT Mark is really trying to give you a bad day, Odin and the ST may allow sketching it in the air to work. IF you're concentrating REALLY HARD and they both feel hospitable.

They're also used as a quick-and-dirty (as opposed to augury, which is slow and messy) divining technique. Pick (an arbitrary) number of runes from the bag, toss them out, and, all tea-leaf like, guess the answer to your question from the position of what's there.

Einherjar also use blood for the life sphere (ideally, the blood should be smeared on the rune you're planning to use for this), drumming for Spirit. An Einherjar's Sanctum will probably involve heavy use of hunting trophies, bearskin rugs, some runes, and so on.

The Einherjar and the Get of Fenris tend to have, shall we say, opposing world views set within the same mythological framework. Basically, an Einherjar, while immune to the Delirium, will probably get bent out of shape and nigh-unto obsessed should one of the Get interfere with hir plans. However, it does happen that you'll find the sworn of Odin and Fenris's get working together: if the other side, gods have mercy on their souls, presents them with a common threat, especially one that compromises the Norse pantheon and general worldview. As this pantheon has fallen quite out of fashion, this won't happen often: more likely it's a Get-eat- Einherjar world out there.

It is whispered that the Einherjar learned some of their best Spirit-sphere tricks from the Get, but unless you'd like to find the wrong end of a drinking horn inserted in an uncomfortable appendage, it's best not to mention it.

Einherjar like to have a good time. Really, it's in the contract. You will find them partying down with the Cultists (swapping psychedelic mead recipes to boot), drumming with the Dreamspeakers, and feeding the local Verbena tree. They will, because they have to. They're small. In all things do they try to adhere to a set of nine Traditions that you'll also find among the Asatruar (Norse- pantheon-worshipping pagans, or as they prefer, 'heathens') (if you want I'll chase down the list).

Some highlights:

• Hospitality is a virtue. Period. Should your dreaded enemy come to your hall, and need shelter, you put him up. You do NOT poison his drink, stab him in bed, or anything else. You let him sleep there, give him a good meal, and send him on his way. However:
• Gifts expect return. If the aforementioned enemy shacked up with you tonight, he is in turn expected to do something in return of equal value at some other point. Not only return, but return of something equivalent. This can get tricky.
• Odin has never, EVER, had a provision about 'only in self-defense,' 'only if it doesn't hurt anyone,' and so on. Smite what needs smiting, but gifts still get cheerfully returned, if you see my point.
• Ragnarok is coming, you know. We're all going to die, the Frost Giants will renovate, but after that there will be a shining New Age. Oddly, this fits perfectly in with the Gothic-Punk milieu.
• Courage is highly regarded. Stupidity isn't. Know the difference.

Organization: Einherjar are loosely gathered into small organizations of a few mages at a time, called a 'troth.' Troths' Chantries tend to be at the house of whoever the membership decides to be the leader this week, although the troth as a whole will take custodianship of a Node if one exists that they may claim. There is no central authority, and little hierarchy, although age and experience garner one the most respect in Einherjar circles.

Meetings: Varies by Troth. Usually something like monthly or weekly, but who can say? A meeting of a troth of Einherjar will probably borrow the name 'moot' from their Asatru brethern. This usually consists of much feasting, and a horn of (some alcoholic drink) being passed around the table as people make toasts and take sips in succession until it appears they've all had enough, or people start slipping under the table. This gets the whole trad painted as drunkards, but that's not universally applicable, either. Hard partiers, now, that is more justified (eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow is Ragnarok).

Initiation: The candidate is often given a sizable mailing list to take down to the local university's research library: Einherjar are somewhat reconstructionist, although steps are taken to prevent over- anachronism. Of the pagan (heathen) faiths, Asatruar tend to be the best studied, a trait that doesn't go away jsut because you happen to find out where the real magick comes from. A personal relationship with the Gods, especially, of course, Odin, is to be encouraged and cultivated before the Awakening, which is said to make said relationship more intimately personal than most people would really like.

Chantry: No. This tradition is de-centralized, with no real internally imposed hierarchy, as I said. You'll find a troth in most major cities, a few in wilderness areas, but each is an independent thing. There are a couple umbrella organizations, usually working in the shadow of an Asatru umbrella organization, but don't expect that to carry much authoritarian weight. Einherjar are independent, fiercely so.

Acolytes: Asatruar, SCAdians, anyone with the right attitude and sufficient dedication to things Norse. Unfortuantely, this has included Neo-Nazis, and yes, some of them DO get Awakened, tending to give this small trad as a whole a bad name. The Neo-Nazis, however, form a small minority, although in a trad with no central authority minorities such as this gain a disproportiionately loud voice to the sufficiently sensitive.

Sphere: Spirit

Foci:

• All: Runes. This can't be bought off entirely: when sufficient points have been spent, the mage merely goes from needing physical manifestations to just needing to make a gesture of the rune in the air. It was good enough for the Valfather, it's good enough for you. The favored physical manifestation is slices of a tree limb (so each rune has His Eye in it, get it?), but if another form would be more fitting to the Work, then that's also acceptable.
• Correspondence: The author will resist an urge to have all Einherjar carry teeny tiny Viking longboats on their person. 8-P
• Correspondence & Time: While not necessarily a focus, Einherjar have been known to appreciate a good horn full of mead or two before working with these Spheres: they tend to be a strain on the brain. This gets them snickering comparisons to the Cultists of Ecstasy, but it's not the same.
• Entropy: Einherjar tend to take a dim view of overuse of this sphere, believing it smacks too much of the son of Laufrey (you won't often hear them come out and say 'Loki,' either), and as such haven't developed much of a focus for it, except that the rune used to Work the spell must have its physical representation destroyed as part of the job.
• Life: Blood. Usually smeared on the rune or used to darken the engraved rune on the wood. Can be prepared beforehand, and blood can be used to help power any spell involving runes. Einherjar try to use knives for this at home, but in the field will carry a few lancets around when knives would be conspicuous, as well as rudimentary antiseptic preparations... they're dedicated, not stupid, although some argue that not leaving the question of infection to Odin bespeaks insufficient dedication.
• Spirit: Drumming or other means of accessing a trance state. When this is bought off, it's more likely that the mage has simply got quick mnemonics in place to slip under quickly than that they totally have no need for a trance state: modern reconstructions of the old ways tend to have a preference for shamanistic practices. Drumming is the most common, and most commonly accepted (signs of Dreamspeaker influence?). Flogging yourself will get you looked at very strangely at the next meeting of your Troth, for instance. It doesn't have to be a big drum, or necessarily a drum per se: they're nothing if not adaptable, so a ticking clock, metronome, or fingers on a table will do. Rhythmic sound is the key here.
• Concepts: Asatruar reconstructionist, SCAdian taking it VERY seriously, University librarian, and, as much as the mainstream of the trad hates to think about it, Neo-Nazi skinhead.

• Celestial Chrous: All Gods are ONE?! Yeah, sure. Please do go tell the Son of Laufrey and Mjollnir's Wielder that they're actually the same thing. I'll be somewhere else.
• Cultists of Ecstasy: Almost as good at throwing a party as we are, but they never seem to notice that life isn't a total party, and that there's times when more serious work is needed. I'd not mind one at my back if it weren't for that.
• Dreamspeakers: Their ways are similar to ours, but our beliefs diverged wildly from theirs some time ago. There is, alas, a certain New Age element among them that we find a bit too sweetness-and-light for our tastes.
• Euthanatos: Harbingers of Ragnarok and the chaos accompanying it! Still, they are as concerned with retributive justice as we, so stay out of their way.
• Hollow Ones: 'twill not be long now, 'ere Fenris swallows the sun, and these are proof. Damn diletteantes, absorbed in their own childish games. Sort of like the Euthanatos, but without the redeeming qualities.
• Order of Hermes: Only slightly more priggish than your average ceremonial magician, not that that's saying much. Would be all right if not for that stick that was obviously inserted in their nether regions upon initiation, but don't say that where they can hear: they have no trouble wielding Zeus's spear.
• Orphans in general: Often, these need a little care and guidance, and then they'll work out fine. Odin never said He was the only God in the worlds, nor that His was the only true path. To that end, taking an Orphan under your wing, if they want it, is hospitable, and of the virtues.
• Sons of Ether: First cousins of the Technocracy that threatens to swallow us all! Too interested in developing their own ways to get back to what was old, or at least what is real. Plus, they themselves are no fun at parties, although their gadgets are often great fun. Get one to do your lighting and other effects next time.
• Verbena: Another Tradition that mirrors ours, in a way. These I would be happy to have fighting at my back. Tied for best brewers with the Cultists... and us, of course! Some Wiccan influence of late seems to have weakened them somewhat, but their blood is old, as is ours, an burns strongly still.
• Virtual Adepts: Good heavens! These people visit reality less often than the Cultists of Ecstacy. Don't piss them off unless you really didn't need credit cards anymore, though. A couple evenings with me would show them the realities inside that are more true than the ones they create.