Odìmis

The Sea Mother

When the north winds bring snow and ice across the frozen wastes of Neð-Zìrak, and both people and creatures are crowded in their dens and praying for Spring, an old hag in white furs crosses the frozen sea. She walks with a massive staff of tusks in the white knotted fingers of one hand and holds a rope in the fist of the other. Her shoulders are bent painfully under the weight of the gory parcel that she’s borne from the heart of the frozen reaches. She is the Heart of Winter, the mother of ice, snow, and freezing winds. She is the Piercing Wind, seeking out and “adopting” the very young and the old. She is the White Witch, the ancient sorceress who hunts, conquers, and butchers the great beast, only to have it regrow and escape back into the northern reaches each Spring.

Identity

  • Title(s) – Sea Mother, Ice Witch
  • Influence – Sea, Winter
  • Appearance – Large white hag dressed in arctic furs and carrying a three-tusked staff

Attributions

  • Symbol – Three-Tusked Staff
  • Focus – Ivory
  • Color(s) – Blue, White, and Gray
  • Element – Water, Ice
  • Animal –

Cult

  • Center of Worship – None
  • Scriptures –
  • Leader – None
  • Priesthood – None
  • Orders – Odìmoz Hàrdū
  • Aspects – None
  • Touched – None
  • Holy Days –
  • Friends – Dwürden, Ogdar Jorn
  • Enemies – Grū
  • Sayings –

Introduction

Odìmis is believed to be the daughter of King Zirak and his daughter Szarha Arha. At an early age, the bastard was sent to live on the shores of the northern sea. There she grew to adulthood, isolated from the world but for a single caretaker. Upon the King’s imprisonment, the new First Queen (her mother) sent for her daughter, but Odìmis refused to return. Years later, at their mother’s request, her half-brother Jorn set out for the distant shore to retrieve his half-sister. When he arrived, he found the ruins of his sister’s hut and a small grave for her caretaker, who had died many years before. Nearby, on the frozen shore, an Ogdar watched. Believing that the monster had killed his half-sister, Jorn raised his spear and charged the sentinel. The Ogdar knocked the spear aside, grabbed the young man’s hand, and lifted him into the air. “Odìmis has been waiting for you,” the ogre announced. The creature set Jorn into a boat and rowed him out to sea. Soon, they came to a snowy island where his sister waited upon an ivory throne. Though not much older than he, she seemed ancient to his eyes. Her cold grey eyes bore into him, the darkest feature of her alabaster face. White hair spilled across her shoulders, melting into her arctic furs. To either side of her throne stood a tribe of tusked Ogdar Jorn, attending to their Queen. “Our mother calls you home,” announced Jorn. “The King is buried deep within the earth.” Odìmis answered, “I have no mother nor family in the southern land. They prey upon each other like animals, thirsting for blood and land, killing without reason, ignorant of the dangers that would devour this world. Important wars are being fought, invisible to the eyes of Mortals, and should any of those lines fall, all will be lost. That is how tenuous our hold has become. The wars of the Yrūn mean nothing. They are games when compared to the True Struggle. Zirak was a fool and all his progeny must answer for his actions.” As one, the monstrous Ogdar nodded their approval. Jorn was moved by Odìmis’ words and promised to support his sister in her endeavors. After swearing fealty to the Sea Mother, he was given an army of Ogdar to secure Ice Crown, the Horn of Nazur, and the Sōlòrnri Peninsula. These lands formed the ancient Nāzàri kingdoms of Kȳrim and Nūzhir.

Odìmis’ power is believed to be greater than Jorn’s despite them being half-siblings. Odìmis was Zirak’s daughter whereas Jorn was his grandson.

The Struggle

The Legend of Odìmis is not clear on how the exiled bastard of King Zirak and Szarhà Arha became the Ogdar Queen. She is already part of the True Struggle when visited by her half-brother and nephew, Jorn. The encounter does little to define the Struggle except to say that it is widespread and tenuous. At the end of the tale, Jorn agrees to aid Odìmis in the Invisible War, and is “granted” a portion of Zirak’s conquered lands to defend. Ostensibly, the defense of those lands has nothing to do with the Eylfāe or other races, as Odìmis makes clear that those struggles are but “games compared to the True Struggle”. What then is the Invisible War? What enemies could be so terrifying that “should any of those lines fall, all [would] be lost”?

The chief enemy of Odìmis is usually portrayed as the Grū. While the Nightfallen have plagued the dreams of mankind for Ages, most consider them more a nuisance than a threat. The Grūag, scholars who study the creatures, believe otherwise. Their scholarship indicates that there is more to the Grū than people realize, or want to know. They claim that the Burden of Odìmis, that monster which is slain, dismembered, and regrows each Spring, may be a Grū. Expeditions to the Odìmoz Hàrdū monasteries have frustrated the scholars, as the order is tight-lipped on all matters regarding the Struggle.

The Cult

The Odìmoz Hardū are a very small group, scattered across a handful of remote monasteries. The monks of this order believe that the True Struggle is tied to the mysterious Favor of Gur-Undrü, a pact known to very few outside the Dwürdèni Hearts (e.g., Dergàrdgurün, Felhòrmorgrūmeð, Gemürjordok). The order is bound to secrecy on these matters. All documents and scripture of the order are scribed in Murdwürmor, the language of the Dwürden Mor. It is unclear why the Dwürden entrusted this Yrūn organization with their most sacred secret and obligation, but the alliance appears to have survived for millennia. The monks claim that they are the descendants of Odìmis, or at least the inheritors of her legacy. The Dwürdèni Record mentions little of Odìmis and her battles and is similarly quiet on matters of the Favor.

The Priesthood

Daily Activities

Holy Days and Rituals

Places of Worship

Nomenclature: Odìmis Dekàlic: Odìmis (god), Odìmi (pertaining to), Odìmyn (follower), Odìmyr (followers), Pryn Odìmis (priest), Pryr Odìmis (priests)