|
[ Back to essays and letters | Back to Insula Maledictus ] Isle of Man and the two Ordersby Profanus, follower of Tytalus While I have been concentrating on my unsuccesful experiments in the laboratory, my sodales here in Insula Maledictus have discovered an interesting matter; there in fact exists an organization we in Order of Hermes call "Order of Odin". It is a secret order of norsemen who have had the courage of discarding the teachings of christianity by worshipping the old norse gods. I have here gathered all I know about this organization. The norse conquerors brought their religion few hundred years ago as they settled on Isle of Man. Even when converting to christianity, they kept their old religion alive, in case the new christian god would prove to be weak. Over the years, as church grew more powerful, the old religion had to step aside and it was diminished to a secret organization of few. The common folk and clergy have almost forgotten the religion, and have only their rumors and legends about it. The main force keeping the old faith alive are the vitkir, norse wise men, or wizards if you will. The term wise men would be the most accurate, as they act as councellors to their patron nobles and hold no real power over magic. This lack of real magical power is perhaps the reason that the clergy have left them in peace. Rather than wielding magical power themselves, they all upon the power of Runes. The runic powers seem to be subtle, more like blessings and curses, rather than raw magical energy manipulated like our spells. Wether the power comes from the runes themselves, their ancient gods or surrounding magical auras is not clear to me, but the fact is that they do not possess the gift as we do. This makes my feeling towards them a confusion of admiration and pity, for they have the courage to defy christian faith but on the other hand no real magical power to fight the church. If only we could inspire same kind of courage to our sodales, we would have the strength to defeat the church for good! The real objectives of their Order is not clear to us, but it is clear that our covenant's presence here is not wished. They might be the main reason why previous attempts to establish a covenant on Isle of Man have failed. They protect their areas rather fiercely from the Order of Hermes, which they consider a serious threat.Why they think this way is quite obvious; we come on their territory, take their vis, and interfere with the community whose ruling class they have been. In other words, we are the invaders and they try to protect what is theirs. This makes them even more difficult opponent, for does not a man fight most fiercely when his home is threatened? This situation is the reason I so much appreciate my sodales here; they seem to take this battle for territory seriously. Incrementum ex certamine, I say! The key word in this conflict, as it seems to me, is nobility. The vitkir have the norse nobles, even the King, on their side, and they do not have any restricting code about interfering with mundanes. But I have heard that there is also two noble families who are more of celtic heritage and do not follow the advice of vitkir. This could be our key to victory. And I must admit, even though I still disagree publicly, that the good relationship my sodales have forged with the church might be also helpful. We just have to be careful that the clergy does not turn against us. This time you would not be saving me from the execution, Master. There is still much to be learned about the norse, but once we defeat the Order of Odin on this Island, we are able to do it elsewhere in vis-rich ares as well. I will let you know more facts as I learn them, and in the next tribunal we might bring this subject to open debate. Your filius, Profanus |
||