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Grollen – The Child Lord of Peace

Grollen, The Child Lord of Peace, Former Elder God of Health, Summer, Forests, and Youth. (Deceased)

There are no longer any worshipers of Grollen. However, when there were worshipers, they came from all over Richtcrag. While he existed, he was widely revered and viewed as an extremely benevolent and caring deity, which was an odd shift from the wild and brutal ways of his siblings in the pantheon. However, the Child Lord was the best-loved in the pantheon by all except Vardel, who was extremely jealous of him.

Grollen was the last to rise into power, receiving prayers from the forests where many medicinal herbs and plants grew in the heat of summer. Through those prayers, he slowly began to take up the mantle of a deity of healing and summer.

Grollen was an extremely active deity when he was alive, usually granting prayers of healing and protection, most often to help save children and young adults from illness and wounds. He would often reward his followers for good deeds done for the children of the land.

The Child Lord often appeared as a lean adolescent boy with short, curly light brown hair. His face was always depicted with a kind and innocent smile, showing the naiveté and hopefulness of youth. His eyes were always the color of white opals, as if the taint and darkness of the world was yet to touch them. In murals he is often wearing a brass circlet with three feathers of white, red, and blue, with a scarlet tanager on his shoulder.

His image was often found in places of healing throughout Richtcrag before his death. Even now, it is said, a few forgotten shrines lie in hidden forest glades where the fine medicinal herbs still grow.

 

The Tale of Grollen: The Death of Peace, the Birth of the Warring Nations

Long ago, before Richtcrag was ravaged by warring lairds and clans, there was peace in the land. For while Grollen lived, he alone could cool the fiery temper of Ulfkell, his eldest sibling.

For many years the people of the land lived with this life, as did the deities in their daily routines. However, Vardel grew jealous of the love and calm that Grollen spread throughout the lands. So the Skybound Trickster devised a scheme to gain power.

One day, Yasin allowed their younger brother, Grollen, to join in on a hunt for a powerful white stag in a nearby woodland. The two loved these hunts, enjoying the journey, the explorations, and the company of one another. Neither of them realized that this day would turn out differently from every other.

They traced the stag to a nearby glade and spotted it. While Yasin strung their bow, Vardel, lurking in the shadows, created an illusion that made the stag flee from the glade. Grollen ran into the glade and looked about for the stag, only to see it appear behind him, emerging from a bush.

When Yasin witnessed their quarry return, they let loose their barbed arrow and let it fly true towards the stag. However, Vardel had played a trick on them both, for the stag was but an illusion. The arrow went through the phantom and straight into the body of the Child Lord. Yasin cried out and wept as they watched their brother and most beloved fall to the ground with an arrow shaft sticking from his heart.

Vardel couldn’t help but rejoice at the misfortune and cackled in glee. It was then that Yasin’s rage erupted, and the calm that covered the lands died. Every being in Richtcrag felt it and felt the death of something so innocent and pure.

The rest of the Pantheon appeared then, The Battle-Father, the Lord of Wilds, the Lord of Mountains, and the Lady of the Fields. They joined Yasin in their mourning of their beloved sibling and son.

It was then that the rest of them took up a piece of Grollen, as memory of their beloved brother and son. Yasin took a ring and placed it around their neck as a remembrance of the deception of Vardel, now his sworn enemy. Sylv took some strands of the Child Lord’s hair and planted them in secret groves, so that the medicinal herbs may always grow. Tyrl took from his youngest son his memories and placed them within the opal gem upon his crown. Bjar burned the body and took the bones, making them into totems to place in the wildlands where the beasts may know peace and calm. Tyrl took the ashes and used them to forge a mighty blade which now rests at his side as a reminder of what peace can be, forever to be a rein upon his rage.

Vardel fled the into the wilds, and with Grollen now gone, he began to slowly rise in power. However, he is always reminded of his deeds, for he must forever be on the move lest Yasin catch him and slay him in cold and righteous fury.

But through this selfish act for power and gain, the once-peaceful lands of Richtcrag became the land of conflict and chaos that we now know today.

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