Ordning
For giants, there is one god, Jötu, the lord of the giants who birthed five children, the founders of the five giant races. Giants sometimes debate whether these children are truly gods or not but regardless they have shrines and churches built in their honor. They call their religion the Ordning or literally “the Order of Things.”
Most followers of the Ordning are henotheists, believing in the existence of the Heavenly Council and other divinities but not actively worshiping them. Some deities actually appear cross-culturally. Among the Varskogans, Telerashi is considered to be the daughter of Jötu and druids following the circles of Acien Tali appear throughout Varangian villages. Even members of the Unspoken Six, such as Valdra, play a critical role in the mythology of the Ordning.
Structure
Jötu is the head of the Ordning and as its king he has charged himself with preparing the army of souls who will fight for him in the Twilight War. Only those who prove themselves to be great warriors through dying in battle or childbirth, can serve Jötu. When one dies and goes to Jötu’s realm, the great longhouse of Kothungshúr, they feast and are given all merry things until the Twilight War. When the War begins, Jötu will rally these soldiers and lead them all to their doom.
Duris has been given the task of claiming all those magicians and seers that follow the Ordning for the Twilight War. They spend their time plotting when and where the battles of the war will take place, laying great runes in the landscape that will aid the warriors in the final battle.
Styr has been given the task of fortifying the divine realms of Ysgaard and Helgaard, and the divine bridge that connects the two, Bygaard, for the Twilight War. All craftsmen, artisans, and stonecutters are brought to him in death where they are put to work building the great stone walls and decorating the halls and towers of Ysgard with their beautiful art.
In death, it is believed that all peasants are given to Frothga and sent to the Helgaard, the land of the forge. Here, peasants work just like the artisans but their task is making the weapons and food of Jötu’s army. They continue to serve even in death, and though Frothga is a hard mistress, it is believed that an obedient peasant will work with their whole family and be able to see them happy and well fed until the Twilight Age.
Those who die slaves or as animals are brought to Gronnar’s Pastures in Ysgaard. There they are fed even better than the warriors in Jötu’s hall, yet it is for a grim purpose. According to the Tale of Twilight, at the beginning of the Twilight War, all the animals and slaves will be given as a blood sacrifice to grant the warriors of Jötu extreme magical powers. They are essentially fattened up for slaughter. However, this also means that if the thralls and animals are willing to face this doom, they will be the first to achieve enlightenment.
Public Agenda
The goal of the Ordning and indeed of all the Ordered, is to prepared for the War of Twilight. This essentially means following the Tale of Twilight's prophecies and the Old Way, which is said to have been crafted in the Time Before to ensure that life would endure after the Twilight Era. Some claim that this emphasis on a strict social order is designed to keep populations of commoners and thralls in check by promising them divine favor or retribution upon the coming War of the Twilight. This kind of rhetoric is often used to convince those captured in thralldom to cooperate so that they can be taken to Gronnar and not considered a traitor and trapped in Thengaard to be tortured until the Era of Twilight.
Mythology & Lore
The primary mythological and religious text for the gods of the Ordning is the Tale of Twilight, which is said to recount that which will come to pass in the days of the Twilight Era, the Final Doomed moments of the Material Plane. Ordered claim that it was Jötu, himself a powerful seer, that gleaned the Tale of Twilight through the runecasting. Jötu then had his child Duris record the Tale and give it to all the giants that they might prepare the smaller races for the coming apocalypse.
Other stories told by giants include the exploits and histories of the gods of the Ordning. Cultures influenced by giant religion, such as the Varskogan of Varangia, often have echoes of these tales stitched into the fabric their oral histories.
Cosmological Views
What sets the Ordning apart from other major religions in Holos is its emphatic eschatological framework. Few myths in the Ordning speak of how the world was created, but the most important foundational story for the Ordered is the “Tale of Twilight.”
Legend claims that long ago, Jötu and his children helped the Heavenly Council seal the great dragonserpent Valdra within the deepest caverns of the earth. Yet, in the midst of the great battle, the Storm Father had a vision: a great war that would bring suffering to all creatures, spirits, and even the gods themselves—The War of the Twilight. He learned then that Valdra could never truly remain sealed—she would break free and devour all things unless he could find a way to slay her.
Jötu returned to his hall, Kothungshúr, and called together his children. He told them of this end. But there was hope. According to the ancient rune stones Jötu had cast, the Old Way held that if Jötu’s prophecy was carried out with grim, fatal precision, then all those who did as the runes proclaimed would be freed of their mortal suffering and exist in an eternal age of bliss. This afterlife would remain inaccessible to all until after Twilight Era. Thus, Jötu founded the Ordning and rendered unto his children the Tale of Twilight.
The Twilight Is Near
Founding Date
Dawn Era
Type
Religious, Pantheon
Alternative Names
"The Order of Things"
Demonym
The Ordered
Leader
Related Ethnicities
Related Myths
Comments