Saedir
The Saedir (Net Weavers or Netters) are a society of Jolnir women devoted to the gottyan Thera. Their origins lie in the ancient past of Ostland, the settled region of the Jolnir, among those whose lives depended upon the sea and its bounty. Similar to the Daenir of Ragna, the Saedir are both priestesses and powerful semiotic magicians, within the realm of their traditions. They are best known for their weather magic, power over sea life and their ability to summon servitors of Thera to their aid.
As priestesses, they oversee blessings of new ships as well as fishing and sea warfare expeditions. In the villages and towns they assist with births, healing and marriages and officiate at festivals to Thera. They also help to settle disputes over fishing rights and other such matters. They are most prized for their divinations, using that power to predict the weather as well as the migrations of fish, rostung and hval.
They are organized into lodges that are responsible for the communities within stretches of coast. These lodges take in novices from the communities they serve and train them to be Saedir priestesses. The training is exacting and many do not succeed in becoming full Saedir, however this is not considered a failure and even having been chosen as a novice and recieved some training in the mysteries is a mark of status in Heimval. Those who do succeed are then assigned to communities in need of them.
The lodges control nearly all Thera worship along the eastern and southern seaboards of Heimval, but their power and authority has weakened in Rotskjoldland since it became a province of the Kalmasan Samraj. Enclaves of Yngir who have resettled in Rotskjoldland since the war are solely devoted to Thera and worship her after their own traditions. They have used the diplomatic and economic pressure of Yngheim to gain the right to create their own hofs to Thera, outside of the control of the lodges, despite vociferous protest by the sisterhood.
The lodges are also not dominant in Brynheim, which worship Thera according to their own tradition, woven with their reverence of Vrede, the telluric spirit of the Vrede Sea. They are most powerful in Ostland as well as the Thalkunir kingdoms of the Gulf of Eltan. They are also very influential within the Rikja of Jonagval.
It is an open secret that the Saedir in these lands are using their influence to encourage the elites to join forces and retake Rotskjoldland from the foreigners. The famous Skjoldir warlord Skarvi Eightfingers has taken the most advantage of this and made common cause with the Saedir, donating much wealth to their lodges and ferrying them on his fleet where ever they wish to travel. The Saedir for their part, have assigned sisters to his ships to use their powers to aid him, as they do with Thalkunir sea lords.
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