Toni Sihvonen (order #92780) 62.142.248.1

Toni Sihvonen (order #92780) 6
Good Saxons
So where are the gentle and admirable Saxons like Bede,
Alcuin, and Alfred the Great? These worthies will arrive
on schedule, two centuries or more after King Arthur’s
death. They will temper the cruel ways of their ancestors
with Christianity, Latin learning, and the tolerant spirit of
a settled people. A Saxon campaign could be set in this
era using Pendragon for rules and (minus the knights and
castles) cultural background and geography: a year-byyear
chronology is available in The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle. Players can serve King Alfred of Wessex. a well
documented historical figure every bit as good as the legendary
King Arthur. They can help him defend Britain
against another wave of sea-borne invaders - the Danes.
Religion and Magic
The pagan Saxons follow Wotan, Thunor, and a host of
other gods and goddesses. A person may prefer one god
over another, but all gods receive their due worship and
respect. In turn, both gods and men are ruled by more
abstract powers: the World Tree that binds all things, the
Runes that describe them, and the Wyrd that seals their
fate. Outside the human world, and usually opposed to
it, are fearsome giants and trolls, and the creeping children
of the Night Goddess.
Saxons make no strict distinction between clergy and laity.
They honor their gods at simple household altars. Most
Saxons know the prayers, rites, and sacrifices for birth,
marriage, and death: for solstice, year-end, ship-blessing,
harvest-blessing, hearth-blessing, moot, and battle. This
knowledge is represented by the Religion (Wotanic) skill.
The higher a man rises in Saxon society, the more Religion
(wotanic) he needs, to serve properly as a warlord and a
judge.
Eminent men descend from the gods and can more easily
gain their favor for the theod. These goderes supervise
rituals -but this may be a temporary or conditional role,
or simply a retirement from the demands of Saxon nobility.
Other men, seemingly normal, are one day seized by
the gods to become berserks, prophets, shapeshifters, or
plain lunatics. One can learn things from them if one is
careful.
Magic means the knowledge of herbs, omens, and spells.
The latter are verbal formulas that can be recited for practical
effects, like cursing an enemy or healing a sick calf.
Persons who specialize in magic, called wiccas or wicces
(male or female magicians), live near the margins of
Saxon society and may be shunned or feared - until the
ceorls need a curse lifted or a night-monster banished.
Wicces gain a more prominent role in Saxon culture after
the defeat of male and Wotanic authority at Badon.
The greatest magic comes from runes; the primal alphabet
discovered by Wotan during a nine-day ordeal. A few
Saxons follow Wotan’s example by sacrificing their health
and sanity for rune secrets, which let them carve spells
into the fabric of Middle Earth itself.
The availability of runes makes Saxons more “magical“
than most Pendragon peoples. Yet runes are hard, and
Talent is very rare. There is rarely more than one minor
Saxon magician per two theods, plus a more powerful
magician serving (or married to) the cyning. Like other
Saxons, these magicians are loyal to their liege and theod,
or to themselves alone. Unlike druids, enchantresses, or
Christians, they never collaborate, except during a battle
involving many theods.
Some Saxons say that dead heroes become Wotan’s heorthgeneats
in Heofon, while dead cowards become shadows
in Hel, and that these two armies will fight at the end
of the world. To many warriors, though, “the afterlife” is
just a theory, and grave-goods given to ancestors are just
a precaution and a show of respect. The everlasting Glory
earned by a hero like Hengist is the only immortality men
can know.
Creation According to the Saxons
In the beginning was mighty Eallfaeder (Allfather) and
mysterious Niht (Night). Eallfaeder and Niht had three
children: Rymet, Eorthe, and Daeg (Space, Earth, and
Day). Eallfaeder and Niht created a world that froze in
the north and burned in the south. At the median, where
heat and cold met, grew a giant named Claeg (Clay).
While he slept, from his body grew the first race to inhabit
the world: the Is Ents (Ice Giants).
From the ice grew Fedanre (Nourisher), a giant cow.
From her teats sprang four streams of milk, which nourished
the giant Claeg. Fedanre licked the ice, and in three
days revealed the form of Tuist. Tuist had a son. Mann,
who fathered three children on an Ice Giant’s daughter:
these three were Wisdom, Willan, and Halignes
(Wisdom, Will, and Holiness). The three children argued
with Claeg and murdered him. The blood from his