Wherever we went we set our mark on those

Wherever we went we set our mark on those

**of Note**

lands, the humans that followed us caught one or two tales of our tribe’s former days, and thus religion was born. Sadly, much was lost between what little of the truth the humans heard and what they wound up telling their children. That much you can already gather from the tales I told you of Odin and Loki. For one, they held that Loki, who was some sort of sorcerer or the like, birthed Great Fenris. Ha! As if his Mother Gaia would have lain with such a snake!

Maybe the humans derived their little story from the tale I told you of how the Gallows-God was tricked by a false image of Fenris that Loki created. Maybe they just thought that wolves were things of evil, and therefore must be of Loki. If those bloody humans could keep a story straight, maybe the world wouldn’t be in the state it is today.

The Return of Wotan What I am about to tell you now is briefly hinted at in human history. The human chronicler Snorri says that Odin came from his realm in the East after letting his two brothers, Ve and Vilje, have control of Asgard. He brought with him many sons, and together they first conquered Saxia, the north of Germany, and then Svitjod, Scythia, which is the current-day Ukraine, where our Kinfolk already had kingdoms.

He left his sons to rule his new kingdoms, and went north, to an island in Denmark where he built a castle.

He sent spies to the settlements in Sweden, and made arrangements with the Jotunn. If he knew that we were there, we do not know, but if he did he can’t have been as wise as they say.

One thing is certain. Odin had become very powerful over those thousands of years that had passed. He could make earth or stone open, he could bring to life the corpses of hanged men, which he brought with him, and he could change the physical conditions of both dead items and living beings. He gathered many earthly goods, and he amassed a group of twelve disciples, former chieftains, that followed him and to whom he taught his arts. He had given up one of his eyes for his powers, or so legends tell, and he was immortal, and would come back to life if he were killed. He conquered many lands on the continent and in Russia, and instituted regimes in his name while he roamed the earth in search for more knowledge and greater powers.

When the Tribal council in Uppsala got word of what was going on, we immediately responded. The first thing they did was to try and send word to Great Fenris, who was away searching for Odin in the spirit worlds. First we brought down the Aesir-kingdom in Saxia. The Sons of Great Fenris were the ruling pack of our tribe when Great Fenris was away. Do not be fooled by the name; they were not all male. At any rate, they went and crushed the stone citadel of the Aesir by one massive blow with each of their fists. The earth shook, and the terrified Aesir that survived flew like the cowards they were. No honor had they. The Sons of Great Fenris then instituted Fenrir-rule for the time being, and they returned to Uppsala, while we marched on Scythia, where we fought a bloody war with the sons of Odin. Many a Fenrir warrior proved his worth that night, and we brought their reign to a swift end.

Odin, returning from travels, was infuriated, and immediately launched an attack on the Sept of the Fimbul Winter Night. His army of hanged men and sorcerers came across the sea in a great ship called Skibladner, and Wotan himself aback of Sleipnir, his sorcerer-born steed, a giant horse with eight legs.

Great was the battle that raged that night, and many are the tales of brave warriors who met an honorable death at the hands of a mighty opponent.

Odin Glad-of-War was renowned for never losing a battle; in fact, many believed supernatural forces aided him. No mortal man was ever as strong as he was, I know that much. But he had not expected to take on the full mass of the Fenris-tribe, especially when we were all thirsting for revenge after what he did to our fathers.

As I already told you, it was not possible to beat Odin’s army in battle. Although we destroyed them, he made them come back to life, and he also called upon more forces that came out of the spirit world — unspeakable monsters he had made deals with, but also more men coming from another world, presumably Odin’s own realm. We, too, called upon guardians and friendly spirits, and we even attempted to call on the spirit of Great Fenris himself.

What happened next, words cannot say.

The legendary Sons of Great Fenris, our rulers, combined their strengths, and physically merged into an image of Great Fenris himself. They became as colossal and powerful as our father was, infused with his immortal spirit, and they walked as one towards Odin. The cowardly One-Eye tried to flee, but they struck down his flying mount, and threw Odin to the ground. Badly mangled, he called upon all of his powers, and seemed to draw energies from the land itself, and rose with an aura of might and force. Long was the holmgang between them, and hard was the fight, but the Sons of Great Fenris arose victorious over Get of Fenris the lifeless corpse of Odin. We quickly destroyed the corpse to keep him from reviving, and then the manythat-were-One separated, and were themselves again.

But the battle had taken its toll, and several of them died from injuries and poisoned wounds inflicted by Odin that could not be healed.

The names of those that fell will forever be recalled; they were Aegir-Quick-To-Rage, homid Modi; Vendel-Wise-Of-Many, homid Forseti; Tove-SlaysJotunn-With-Vengeance, lupus Modi; and TordHorned-Skald-With-Voice-Of-Gaia, metis Skald. May their names forever be sung and praised, because they were glorious warriors and One with Great Fenris before they died. Hail the Sons of Great Fenris!

The forces of Odin dispersed in fear, for the one that held the army together was gone, and they never rose to power again. But his legacy remained through the Germanic lands, and the humans worshipped Odin and his sons as gods. This we did not tolerate at first, but when it later became clear that we needed to hide ourselves from the eyes of the humans, it became a good myth to uphold the Veil.

Of the many warriors who proved themselves most worthy in the Battle for Uppsala, was a young wolf named Beowulf, and he was made Jarl of Saxia.

You may have heard a human tale of how a man named Beowulf slew a beast called Grendel, and maybe other tales that may or may not be true. But there was a Fenrir called Beowulf. He was a great warrior, and an honorable Jarl.

Another great warrior of that battle was BrynhildeWings-of-Fury. She led an all-female pack, the Valkyries, or Death-Bringers. They later traveled with the Ostrogoths to Eastern Europe, and ruled our tribe in those lands for a while, before disappearing out of our chronicles. Too bad; they were some of our best and most legendary warriors. I once heard a tale of how they joined the Black Furies. I do not know if this is true, but if so, that would explain how the Furies have become such great warriors; the Valkyries were almost as renowned as the Sons of Great Fenris were.