House Odinskyn
House Odinskyn are an extinct, legendary noble house originating from the northern isles and beleived to be the mortal descendants and family of Odin, the god of Aesir. Ruling from their lost and fabled city of Aesirgrad, the Odinskyn were founders of the First Kingdom of Aedrinar and are beleived to be a partially mythological house. Including Odin, House Odinskyn would field 4 high kings, equalling houses Lightbringer and Thornstrom and beaten only by houses Coldstar, Ragnar, Wintershield and Redhands.
The majority of the Odinskyns would be wiped out in the infamous blood feud with the house of Yngvild, leaving only a few scattered survivors and heirs. The original royal family of Aedrinar, High King Ulfgir I would create the Jarlsmoot precedent to elect monarchs when he was dying with no heir - which saw the Odinskyn family fall from grand power into simple Jarlship, and quickly fade from the record entirely.
Although the noble house may have never existed at all, their mentioning in numerous ancient myths, sagas and chronicles such as the Tyrfing Cycle, the First Blood Feud, the Saga of Hjalmar Yngvild, and their role in establishign precedents such as the elected monarchy still make them a notable great house of Aedrinaran history.
Symbols
There are no surviving banners or symbols of the Odinskyn still surviving, but in descriptions from historical sagas and legends their banner is beleived to be a black raven on a sunburst - the same as the banner of the first kingdom.
Assets
Aesirgrad
Aesirgrad was the home settlement of the Odinskyn and one of the few true Aedrinaran settlements existing during the First Kingdom of Aedrinar. Its location has been lost to most, but common myth holds the Raven Clan still know of its location and guard the ruins from outsiders to their people - with only those chosen by the gods or those who follow the old ways being permited entry with the permission of the chief and seer of the clan.
Aesirgrad was the capital of Aedrinar until the death of Ulfgir I and the first Jarlsmoot. The city was either left to their distant cousin, Thjornmar, as the new head of the family or the entirity of the House of Odinskyn were permitted entry into Valhalla, leaving the city to the Kingseyes. Aesirgrad would remaind the traditional heart of the first kingdom, with Arngrim's halls housing the subsequent Jarlsmoots.
The city is beleived to have been built largely of wood, clay and wattle with a stone keep built from the torn down ruins of Forgotten Gods temples serving as the home of the Odinskyn alongside a grove/shrine to Odin around the castle. This keep was meant to be the grandest of its time - with vaulted ceilings and arches. Depending on the legend, it was either built by Loki , The Derro, or the Ice Elves.
Aesirgrad fades from the historical during the Great Division after the death of High Queen Idunn the Irreplaceable. The sagas of Idunn describe Aesirgrad as abandoned, grey, and cold by the end of the Final Jarlsmoot - but it is unclear if this means the city was already abandoned or was just poetic imagery. In what few chronicles survive, Aesirgrad's population decreased due to war, harsh winters, and climactic changes in the northern isles that made their nights unusually long compared to the rest of Aedrinar.
Tyrfing
Tyrfing, a magical sword originally weilded by the God Tyr and then enchanted by captured dwarves, was won by High King Arngrim Odinskyn and passed on through the family line until it was lost during the Great Division period. A symbol of the house's glory, this encanted blade would shine a light when drawn and was capable of cutting through any material. The blade was even capable of killing gods, allegedly, and by the time it was lost it was said to carry a curse.
The Tyrfing Cycle begins when Tyr lost his blade battling the beasts of the forgotten gods, somewhere in the south of Aedrinar or around Furunheim. The blade was later found by a captain named Svalfram who claimed it for his own. Svalfram captured two dwarves, Durin and Valin and forced them to further enchant the already powerful weapon. The dwarves warned Svalfram that the blade would commit three great evils, and even kill the captain himself. Svalfram ignored their warnings and founded a petty kingdom - and in some retellings of the cycle is beleived to have slashed at Odin with the blade.
High King Arngrim would sail to defeat Svalfram, and depending on the tale was either sent by the Derro, Odin, or simply happened across Svalfram's realm. In a battle, Tyrfing would cleave through Arngrim's sheild and get stuck in the ground. This allowed the High King to chop the hands off Svalfram, claim the blade, and kill him with it. Arngrim then claimed the sword and Svalfram's crews and holds as his own. Svalframs own daugther would marry Arngrim, impressed by his deeds and they would have 14 sons of house Odinskyn.
Upon his death, Arngrim granted the blade to his youngest but strongest sun, Angayir Arngrimssen. Angayir would become an adventurer, sailor, and the personal shieldguard of his elder brother, High King Yorvik. As the weilder of this sword, Angayir was in every key battle of his brother's reign and had toured the realm with him when it came time for tribute.
Whilst on these tours, Angayir saw Ingeborg Malmsdottir and saught to woo her. Ingeborg declined and instead married Hjalmar Yngvild. Angayir was enraged he had been passed over, and seeking to 'proove his worth' he challenged Hjalmar to a battle to win Ingeborg's hand. Gathering all his brothers, they met on Ingeborgs island, most likely Gudshard, to battle Hjalmar. Hjalmar was a famed berserker and warrior, unbeaten in battle - and was accomponied by his equal and blood brother, Odr the Brave. in the 14 vs 2 battle, all the songs of Angrim were slain, including High King Yorvik I. Angayir, weilding Tyrfing, was able to mortally wound Hjalmar before he died to the berserkers hands.
Hjalmar gave a death song, and the only survivor of the battle, Odr, would build the brother's barrows to house the belongings of the slain sons of Arngrim and cremated their bodies. He took Hjalmar back to Ingeborg so she could participate in his funeral, but she is said to have died from the shock of seeing him defeated - thus completing the first evil deed.
Tyrfing remained in this barrow for the next 16 years whilst the Yngvilds and Odinskyn battled in a blood feud across the kingdom. After the feud was complete, and High King Gunvor was proclaimed by the first Jarlsmoot, did an Aesirgrad woman named Bertha come clean about the father of her daughter, Hervor. Bertha said Hervor was the daugther of Angayir. Their story proven by oaths and investigation of priests, Hervor travelled to the Brother's Barrow to claim Tyrfing. The spirits of the brothers warned Hervor about claiming it, but she took it anyway, and the ghosts disapated.
Hervor would become a travelling jomsvikingr, battling across Aedrinar and would marry a petty king named Hormund. They had two sons, Heigerd and Angayir Hervorssen. Upon Hervors death - Heigerd and Angayir battled for the right to weild the legendary blade, and Heigerd accidently killed his brother in the struggle, completing the second dark deed.
Heigerd would succeed his father as petty king, and formed a new kingdom known as Gotha. Heigerd became a cruel king, and whilst on a voyage, his crew mutinied and murdered him with his own blade - completing the third eveil deed of the blade. The ship was capturedby Heigerd's son, the third Angayir, and he reclaimed the magical blade. Angayir was amongst the last known weilders of the blade, as it was lost somewhere in the southern hold when he was slain by the Chief of the horse clan in their.
Supposedly, the blade was claimed by an adventurer and would be lost when that adventurer died in the Derro mines during the flight of the dragon. The weapon may still be there to this day.
History
Origins
House Odinskyn originate during the War of the Forgotten Gods and First Kingdom period. Whilst Odin is commonly decreed as the first High King of Aedrinar, their heir Arngrim would take the house name of Odinskyn and the house name has been retroactively added to Odin's reign. Likely a settled off-shoot of the Raven Clan who settled in the village of Aesirgrad, one of the few true settlements of ancient Aedrinar, the family became the heirs of Odin on the material plan and rulers of his kingdom on Prima Terra.
Kingship
Arngrim Odinskyn would become the first non-diety High King of Aedrinar, and the second recorded high king in all of Aedrinaran history. Their exact relationship to Odin is unknown and varies depending on the retelling, but they were either a trueborn son, bastard son, cousin, brother, or nephew of the god. Likely a general in the war with the forgotten gods, Arngrim was probably guarding the Rainbow bridge from cultists when the gods ascended.
Arngrim would rule for 37 years, and won the blade Tyrfing from the petty king Svalfram, having 14 sons by Eyfri Svalframsdottir. The eldest, Yorvik, would succeed Arngrim and rule as the third high king of the nation. The family would battle with the mysterious Frustmadr, a frost entity and their ice followers who emerged from the heart of the heart of the earth and vanquished them for good. Yorvik, alongside their siblings, would be slain by Hjalmar Yngvild and Odr the Brave during their battle to impress Ingeborg Malmsdottir. Yorvik's son, Ulfgir would succeed him.
High King Ulfgir I would have a shorter reign than his predecessors at only 15 years. He would start the Odinskyn-Yngvild blood feud, in what is essentially a civil war between the two houses. Ulfgir's heirs would be claimed in the battles, and upon an injury he recieved at the hands of Odr the Brave, Ulfgir called the rulers of Aedrinar together at Aesirgrad to decide a new high king as he was dying. To end the feud, Ulfgir asked Angjir Yngvild to slay him after a choice was made.
The few remaining Odinskyns were not chosen as the next high king at this first Jarlsmoot, but rather Gunvor Skyborn of Haastur was elected - ended the Odinskyn kingship for ever. Some tellings say the last of the Odinskyns were called to valhalla, and their lands left to House Kingseye, but the most commonly beleived outcome is a cousin of Ulfgir I, Thorjmar, became the new head of the family and ruler of a diminished Aesirgrad.
Successors
The Odinskyns start to vanish from the record during the reign of Gunvor. The only known Odinskyns are the line of Angayir through his hidden daugther, Hervor and her sons as weilders of the legendary blade Tyrfing. Other members of the family, or mentions of their family's longships and bersekers, breifly appear in chronicles and sagas datingto the early period of the Great Division, but it is unclear if these are later additions or if several other myths and legends have been crossed.
Hervor Angayirsdottir would become a Jomsviking during the reigns of Gunvor and Idunn the Irreplaceable and eventually settled down, forming the Kingdom of Gotha. Hervors last heir, and the last known Odinskyn, was Angayir the Third, the final known weilder of Tyrfing. Some Gothan chronicles claim Vyrmir Angayirssen Odinskyn would become the new king of Gotha, but as the Gothans are long lost to history this cannot be proven.
It is mostly likely the few surviving Odinskyn after their blood feud with the Yngvilds married into more powerful houses and clans and gradually lost their idenity, or when they abandoned Aesirgrad they returned to the Raven Clan and were refolded into their tribal ranks.
Comments