Question: I know you killed Fenris in your own story, but in other stories after Ragnarok, what would you think of having the wolf as a god that joined the Aiser and created his own Scions? After all, the other pantheons are most likely alive and well, so the remains of Aiser will need all the help they can get. What do you think a Scion of Fenris the wolf god would be like?
Well, I think you'd probably want to set him as a god of the Aesir, not the Aiser. "Aiser" is actually the Etruscan word for gods, and I have to imagine that an Italian wolf-god would differ from a Norse one. ;)
I don't see why Fenrir couldn't join the pantheon proper, provided that it made sense in the story and that he had good motivations for doing so as well as the pantheon for accepting him. Particularly in a post-Ragnarok world, he might have a better time doing so as the number of Aesir remaining to dislike him would have significantly decreased... but then again, since that's partly due to him and his children killing a bunch of them including Odin, it might still be challenging, especially since Vidar would still be around and he is unlikely to be the wolf's biggest fan. Still, Hel might be on his side, considering their blood relation, and I could see it working out (particularly with the help of persuasive God PCs!). Titans have jumped the fence to become gods before (Sun Wukong being the most obvious example) and vice versa.
As for what he'd give potential Scions, however, that's harder. I'd assume he'd grant Animal (Wolf), seeing as how he is the father of all wolves, and probably Epic Strength, since he was so strong that the gods had to go have a specially-made magical chain forged just to hold him. Past that, however, there's nothing else in particular in his myths to give him as an associated power, so Scions might find him slim pickings for a parent.
A lot would depend on how he got to godhood and what he did along the way in your particular game; if he happened to, say, rescue several of the Aesir from his own children, you might be able to add Guardian to him, or if he runs about causing mass destruction everywhere, perhaps Chaos. If he performs some new, impressive myths along the course of the story that takes him from Titanhood to godhood, you could consider looking at those for things that might grant him new associated powers; without those, he's really just a one-trick pony-wolf.
I'm talking about the part of the story in the Ragnarok supplement where the players make the deal for Fenris to live in the ironwood with the troll wives where he is removed from Ragnarok and part of the nine worlds, "more like a wolf god than a primordial force of destruction" pg 212. Fenris never participated in Ragnarok at all and most of the gods he hated are dead anyway, so I think he would be welcomed since he never killed anyone, and now that Tyre and Odin are dead he would be willing to try being a god in the new world. Maybe I could do a god write up and send it to you?
ReplyDeleteHe might indeed be welcomed under those circumstances, though I'd keep in mind that he's still sort of a boogeyman for the Aesir and the fact that he didn't end up eating Odin may not be enough for some of them (after all, he hadn't hurt anybody [i]before[/i] they tied him up, either; they were just afraid that he might). If his conversion to god is just a result of him opting out of Ragnarok, though, I'm not sure what else you could give him as an associated power beyond the first two; he really doesn't do or represent anything else.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly could send it to us - I'd love to see it. :) It probably wouldn't be added to our pantheon page, as we don't want our players getting confused (hey! we killed that guy!), but I'd definitely be interested. You could also post it here in the comments if you'd like, to let more people get a look at it.
I have your E-mail address, So I'll send it to you when I finish it.
DeleteIf you would give fenris an additional purview, chaos seems like a good bet, as the commonly accepted view amongst us asatruar is that the story of the binding of fenris is one demonstrating the need for self-discipline.
ReplyDeleteas a stretch, maybe some of loki's purvues might me reasonable, arguing that fenris inherited them, but did not use them in any legend that is extant.
I also base this last idea on the fact that epic strength is not sufficient to kill a god as powerful as Odhinn is supposed to be. That is to say, merely being the biggest, strongest wolf is not enough, and therefore he could reasonably argued to have other abilities that allow him to ( temporarily) triumph.
'd be hesitant to give him any of those. I can see Chaos, but it's a stretch; in fact, considering that he didn't even break any laws prior to his binding and only performs one vengeance-fueled action afterward, he's not particularly chaotic at all. I could see claiming that killing Odin destabilizes the entire Aesir and the world at large, but it's still not really something I'd ascribe to him; Chaos is about causing riots, insanity, confusion, and those just aren't things Fenrir ever does. I definitely wouldn't grant him things based on just being related to someone who has them; by that logic, every son of Zeus would have Sky (none of them do) and every son of Odin Mystery. Who a god is related to seldom has much to do with what they're the lord of, in most mythologies.
DeleteWhy wouldn't Strength be a problem for Odin? Beign crushed by a creature with Ultimate Strength would be quite the unfortunate event for him, as for anyone. As far as killing Odin goes, his death is pretty much almost fiat anyway - Fate says he's going to die, so he's going to die. That's the problem with Fate in Scion; prophecies have real weight. If Odin was operating under normal rules, he could just resurrect himself with his Ultimate Stamina as soon as he died and be no worse for the wear, but I'd assume that Fate will prevent that, too, because otherwise there's no point whatsoever in him being so worried about the whole thing.