Nasni

Nasni’s love is erratic, cold and beyond most people’s comprehension. To some from outside the ways of Thulm and the Horned Goddess, she may seem uncaring completely; a destructive force, bent on turning everything she touches to ice but those dedicated to her know different.

Nasni teaches her followers many things; how to survive, how to turn chance in your favour, how to weather the harshest of storms and how to live and die well. Death and insanity is only what Nasni is most well-known for. Her embrace kisses every human on the planet whether they like it or not. It is to her that everyone returns in the end. What most people fail to see is Nasni’s compassion and mercy to those who are in pain and how she is a driving force to do something with your life, to do better.

Nasni wanders the world with Ekivitr trailing behind her. Many say she's looking for something, many say she's lost, others may say she's beside herself in grief. No one quite knows the reason but her crying can be heard on the howl of the wind.

There are few things which calm her and a few which enrage her. Offerings of blood taken with consent, bones of those killed in her name and serpent related items are always very well received as are highly crafted weapons or items made of metals.

Nasni would never see her people needlessly killed for any reason. She does not want those she deems unworthy to join Jokull before they're ready. Before battle, the fighters are blessed and prayers are said in order to alert her that they may be coming and to make them worthy of her. If someone is murdered by another before their time, rites must be performed on the corpse in order to make them worthy of her, or she'd come down on the Thulmian people with an icy iron fist.

Ekivitr and Jokull
Ekivitr, Nasni’s veil, blankets the most northern reaches of Thulm, in an area above the great ice plains of Isavollr and Isafeldr called Jokull. Jokull is the Nasni’s land of the dead and all souls return to her halls at the centre of Jokull. The cold temperatures are harsh and unforgiving to any life that enters it. Get too close and Nasni will snap you up, holding you tightly until you give your last breath to her

Nasni’s Iconography
Next to her veil, Nasni’s greatest trademark is her horns. They pin her veil in place, protruding from her like deadened branches. When they collide with any object, they let out an almighty crack, causing the sky to flash and tremble, hiding itself away under darkened clouds.

Snow, ice and wind are all trademarks of Nasni’s presence. She is said to be present in every reflective surface, from which she watches closely. Those who do not want Nasni to claim a dying person would cover all reflective surfaces or dull them with a sooty paste in order to keep her from seeing them.

Of the animals, snakes and squirrels are among her favourite, but all horned animals are said to be aspects of her. This includes sheep, horned winter-lizards and bull but especially albino or white deer.

Aspects of Nasni
Nasni has many aspects and appears in many ways. She chooses her form carefully; she could appear as a beautiful woman with gentle deer horns tangled in rags or a wizened old lady, adorned with bone charms and soot, the veil hanging from the horns of a ram. She could even appear as a one of her sacred animals; deer, snakes, squirrels and other horned animals. One should be always kind, for you never know when you may be entertaining the Goddess.

Órvalfeigr
Dispossessed younglings without any prospects for a safer, healthier or more prosperous future - For whatever reason - Become tempted by the call of the mythical "Drum Of Destiny" named Forlognir which is believed to by amongst the collection of Nasni's where she holds her icy court.

The Órvalfeigr are all doomed in some way: Many bear the burden of terrible sins and crimes against their clan and the gods as heretical oath-breakers whilst others are diseased and dying of awful and incurable ailments, or from emotional wounds which cannot be healed. Many victims of ill fortune and poor decisions hear the calling of Forlognir that rings out to them with the offer of a single albeit grim hope.

Warriors of the Órvalfeigr are led by dedicated summoners, special to Nasni known as Fostra, who seek out and gather as well as lead the Órvalfeigr into battle. Bands of these damned children of destiny go where this is war - Over land or sea - Desperate to meet their ends at the end of a blade or monstrous beast instead of a bed or cold floor. Many do not wish their presence although it is always difficult for some commanders and tacticians to refuse the doomed their dying wish if it is to aid them in battle.

Forlognir can sometimes be heard and even seen by those brought from the brink of death itself, Nasni choosing it not to be their time; and they describe it as a dire instrument the size of a small mountain made of the bones of creatures that look akin, but not alike, to human beings where the skin stretched across the top is made from the sewn-together souls of the evil and sinful dead. The relic has a mind of its own, as the priests say, and it wishes only to serve Nasni. The power of this relic can, in theory and with Nasni's approval and sanctioning, be called upon directly to channel the energies of despair, death and release from life as part of a great ritual. Such a feat is disputed to have ever been achieved, however, but both debates over the veracity of differing accounts rage ever on.

With many thanks to Kit Hardcastle.